Officers from all three services have done stints in post-war Japan as advisers during the Occupation years. Their tasks were to observe the demilitarization of Japan and then to develop contacts with the Self-Defense Forces, and more recently to promote defence sales from British manufacturers. Here a number of previous service attachés recount their experience in Japan. 

Edmund Blunden returned to Japan as cultural adviser to the United Kingdom Liaison Mission. Here he describes rural Japan.

This essay details Ernest Bevin's (1881-1951) role in Britain's post war attitudes and policies towards occupied Japan at the start of the Cold War, as Britain strived to remain a global power and public oppinion of Japan remained poor.

As the first British Ambassador to Japan after the War, Esler Dening (1897-1977) was the central figure in Anglo-Japanese relations at a time when British opinion was distinctly anti-Japanese.

Peter Lowe's Introduction to Part III of British Envoys in Japan: The Post-war Years.

Among the outstanding students of Japanese during the war, Ronald Doore was so succesful that he was asked to stay on at SOAS as an additional teacher. He had to wait five years after the war for his first trip to Japan, and here he gives his account of Japan in the penultimate year of the Occupation.

The pre-war Japan Consular Service sent selected new entrants each year to study Japanese, creating a corps of Japanese-speaking consuls. The Foreign Office realised that Japanese-speaking officers would be needed after the war in the embassy, and in consular posts in Japan, and so revived the practice in 1951. In this chapter Dick Ellingworth and Brian Hitch describe the system.

Sir Esler Dening looks back on his time in post-war Japan.

Sir Alvary Gascgoine (1946-1951) headed the British liaison mission in Tokyo from 1946 to '51, and was responsible for establishing postive relations with General Douglas MacArthur.

Sir Alvary Gascgoine (1946-1951) headed the British liaison mission in Tokyo from 1946 to '51, and was responsible for establishing postive relations with General Douglas MacArthur.

Concerning Sir Esler Dening (1897-1977) as a main figure in Anglo-Japanese relations following the ending of the Pacific War, at a time when British opinion was anti-Japanese. 

This essay provides an account of the life and career of Sir John Figgess (1909-97), businessman, intelligence officer, diplomat and art expert.

Vere Redman (1901-1975) worked, throughout his career as a journalist, press attaché, and in the British Ministry of Information, to contribute to understanding between British and Japanese. This essay recounts his journalistic efforts as they relate to Anglo-Japanese relations.

William Beasley (1919-2006) was a pioneer in introducing Japanese history into British academic circles as a teacher, researcher and author. This essay recounts his career in academia.