Gren Wedderburn was one of the first two doctors at the Tokyo Medical and Surgical Clinic set up by Tokyo Tower in 1951 as the Occupation was coming to an end, a service used by many expatriates in the 1950s and '60s. This chapter gives an overview of his time in Japan.

Ariyoshi Yoshiya (1901-82) was known as 'the grand old man of Japanese shipping'. This portrait focuses on his character and his love of both Britain and Japanese cultural traditions.

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. 

This essay charts Britain's contribution to the development of rugby in Japan, particularly as it relates to sporting activities within educational institutions.

This essay charts Charles Boxer's (1904-2000) abiding love for Japan throughout the Second World War and his internment as a POW, his position as chair of Portugese studies at London University, and his authorship of The Christian Century in Japan.

This essay offers an account and analysis of the career of one of the most charismatic and forwardthinking leaders in the Japanese Securities Industry, Chino Yoshitoki's (1923-2004), along with his work with the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.

This portrait charts the dual interaction of Christmas Humphreys (1901-83) with Japan as a junior at the Military Tribunal for the Far East and as a devotee of Buddhism.

Having completed his time as a language student, future Ambassador Sydney Giffard was sent to the Kansai to gain experience as a Vice-Consul. Here he describes life in Kansai in the 1950s, putting it in the context of progressive centralization in Tokyo.

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

Edward Heath (1916-2005) was the first British Prime Minister to make an official visit to Japan. This essay details Heath's 1972 visit and its aftermath.

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.

Lewis Bush was a POW who had lived in Japan prior to the war. This chapter comprises extracts from his account, The Road to Inamura.

This essay details the military career of Francis Festing (1912-76), along with his hobby as a connoisseur of Japanese swords and acts of reconcilliation.

Although few British politicians have had more than a cursory knowledge of Japan, large numbers of MPs have visited the country, and some have managed to achieve more than a passing acquaintance with it. The British Japan Parliamentary Group and the UK-Japan 2000 Group (later UK-Japan 21st Century Group) have been the driving force behind this. Here key figures from these organisations describe their dealings with Japan.

Novelist Frank Ashton-Gwatkin revisited Japan for the first time after the war in 1974. In this chapter he recalls his first experiences of Japan, where he worked for the Japan Consular Service in 1913.

Frank Hawley (1906-61) was the first post-war correspondent of The Times in Japan. He had already spent ten years in Japan as a young scholar, and a renowned collector of rare Japanese editions. This essay considers his journalistic and scholarly career.

Geoffrey Bownas was the first British scholar to study in Kyoto after the war, arriving there in 1952. Here he describes his experience, particularly with regard to the movement towards senzogaeri - 'returning home to the values of our ancestors'.

The subject of this portait is Harlod E. Palmer (1877-1949), 'Linguistic Advisor' to the Ministry of Education in Japan, and his outstanding contribution to teaching English as a foreign language as well as the establishment of the Institute for Research in English Teaching.

This essay provides an account of Honda Sōichirō's (1906-1991) life, personality, and business relationship with Britain.

Honor Tracy gives a sardonic and anti-American view of Japan in the latter days of the Occupation.

This essay details Ian Fleming's (1908-64) 1959 visit to Tokyo for the Sunday Times, as part of a five-week tour of his personal canon of 'the thrilling cities of the world', and the impact this and his subsequent visits to the country had on his writing.

Ian Nish, later Professor at SOAS, gives an account of his work in the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre, where he translated contemporary newspapers, along with documents from during the war, and was later involved in the first post-war elections.

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.

This chapter puts the individual accounts included within Japan Experiences into the context of Anglo-Japanese post-war relations.

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

Diplomat John Figgess was among the first of the British contingent to arrive in Tokyo in 1945 and in this chapter he describes his arrival and his work in Japan.

This essay gives an overview to some of the prominent businessmen who spent significant parts of their careers in Britain.

Kawakita Nagamasa (1903-1981) and his wife Kawakita Kashiko (1908-1993) drove Anglo-Japanese cinematic exchange in the mid to late 20th century, ensuring that high-quality British and Japanese films found new audiences.

Kenneth Gardner (1924-95) held senior posts in the British Museum and British Library, and was instrumental in these posts in promoting Japanese culture and Anglo-Japanese relations. This essay charts his career and significance within his field and beyond, including his war service as part of Translators V.

Dorothy Britton was born in Japan before the war and returned there during the Occupation. This chapter gives an account of her life as a bridge between Japanese and English cultures.

Lew Radbourne was a member of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, attached to the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre. In this chapter he describes being sent to Japan in 1947 after studying at SOAS.

Christopher Wood recalls his time as a British soldier in Shikoku in 1946.

Louis Allen studied Japanese at SOAS during the war, and worked in Burma as a translator and interrogator. Here he describes his experiences of that time, as well as a remarkable reunion twenty years later.

F.S.G Piggott was one of a small number of japanophiles left in post-war Britain, preferring to overlook the worst excesses of Japan's pre-war leaders. This chapter details his nostalgic view of life in pre-war Japan.

This essay details the miltary and diplomatic career of Major-General F.S.G. Piggott (1883-1966), whose efforts to secure peace and improve relations between Japan and Britain were fatally clouded by an uncritical love for Japan. Following the Pacific War he devoted his life to the restoration of Anglo-Japanese friendship.

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) played a significant role in promoting Japanese manufacturing investment in Britain and opening up the Japanese markets, and ensured that Britain was no longer seen as suffering from what the Japanese called eikokubyō (the English disease).

This essay explores their relationship between Richard Storry - one of Britain's leading historians of Japan - and leading Japanese intellectual Marumaya Masao (1914-96), both of whom pioneered analysis of the Pacific War's implications for Japan. 

Royal Dutch Shell  was one of the few 'British' companies (a majority of the company's expatriates were British) to train its staff in the Japanese language. Here Paul Bates, Neville Fakes and Michael Wingate recall their experiences with Shell from 1952 to '72, with a focus on the process of doing business in Japan at this time.

Morita Akio (1921-99) was one of the main driving forces behind the Sony Corporation. This essay details his career, personality, and business philosophy, as well as his relationship with Britain.

John Morris was one of a handful of British individuals without service connections in Japan in the early days of the occupation. Having written about his experiences in Japan prior to the war, he set off to write a sequel.

Paul Bates, who studied at SOAS before spending time with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, sums up his time in the Occupation.

William Gerard Beasley, subsequently a professor at SOAS, arrived in Japan in 1945 with the Americans. This chapter comprises extracts from a talk given on his experiences of the flurry of activity in the early occupation, particularly with regard to demilitarization and early post-war economics.

Peter Bates sums up the feelings of the arriving British troops and their impressions.

As a prisoner of war, Peter Dean was one of the first westerners to experience Japan after the surrender.

This portrait considers Peter Hewett's (1920-82) major contribution to the post-war growth inAnglo-Japanese trade.

The importance of attracting capital investment to Britain was increasingly recognised by British governments from the 1970s onwards. Businessman Peter Parker became closely involved with Japanese investment in Britain. Here he recounts his later experiences with Japan and considers the future.

Peter Parker reached Japan in October 1945 as a British officer. In this chapter he describes his experiences both of Japan and the American Occupation.

This portrait details Philip Malins' (1919-) military career and key role of  in postwar reconciliation between Britain and Japan.

Shortly before his resignation as Prime Minister in 1954 Yoshida Shigeru visited Britain. This essay examines the political controversy surrounding Yoshida's visit, as well as the visit itself and an assessment of its success.

R.H. Blythe (1898-1964) was not a scholar, but his writing had a profound influence upon the popular British understanding of Zen Buddhism, haiku and the Japanese monarchy.

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.

Prominent British journalists from the Guardian, The Times, the BBC and The Economist pick out the key themes from their time in Japan.

One of the key service sectors for Britain in Japan was the airline industry, and until the late 1980s the main British company involved was British Airways. Here David Wilkinson, BA's manager in Japan from 1978 to '87 gives an account of his experience there, along with his wife, Ann Wilkinson's reflections. Following this, Martin Naylor recalls the important role played by the Japan British Society in the 1960s and '70s. During a forty-year career in Japan, Dick Large worked for John Swire & Sons (during which time he precided over Swire Japan's international shipping operations), Cathay Pacific and BA. Here he reflects on this period.

Having first gone to Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, Lew Radbourne returned in 1949 as a junior expatriate with Dodwell and Company. Duncan Fraser first worked in Japan with Jardin Matheson and Company Limited and ended his service there as Direct of Royals Royce (Far East). Here both recall the early years of working and trading in Japan

Roger Buckley reflects on the difficulties of being a teacher in Japan both at a language school and a university.

Malcolm MacDonald (1901-81) presided over an era of Anglo-Japanese relations during which he was forced to consider Japan's position post Second World War and its impact upon the British Empire. This essay acknowledges his relative ambivelance towards Japan, but also his key role in diplomacy with the country.

This portrait charts the life and influence of the complicated and enigmatic Shirasu Jirō (1902-1985), described here as 'a symbol of his time' having lived through some of the best and worst episodes of Anglo-Japanese relations. During his life, he was a student at Cambridge, journalist, businessman, farmer and a crucial link between the Japanese government and the office of the Supreme Commander Allied Powers.

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.

This portrait seeks to assess Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden's (1897-1977) attitude towards Britain's former ally and contemporary adversary, Japan, as well as detail his efforts to rebuild relations in the wake of the bitter legacy of the Pacific War.

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 profile considers equally Sir George Sansom's (1883-1965) career as a diplomat, in which he pioneered the serious study of the Japanese economy, and historian. 

This profile considers equally Sir George Sansom's (1883-1965) career as a diplomat, scholar and historian. 

This essay provides an account of Julian Ridsdale's (1915-2004) interest in Japan and politics, and how these two came together in his long service to Anglo-Japanese Parliamentary relations.

Intertwined throughout Miles Lampson's (1880-1964) diplomatic career were dealings with and a genuine affection for Japan. This biography traces those dealings, beginning with his involvement in the 1906 Garter Mission, and provides a portrait of this British diplomatic figure.

This portrait details Sir Oscar Morland's (1904-1980) career and long association with Japan, as part of the Far East Consular Service and later as British ambassador to Japan. 

Businessman Sir Peter Parker (1924-2002) made an outstanding contribution to Anglo-Japanese relations in the final decades of the twentieth century. This essay offers an account and analysis of his career and impact in relation to Japan.

Robert Scott’s (1905-82) career goes some way to illustrate Japan’s impact on the world in the 20th Century, particularly with regard to British and American foreign policy in South East Asia following the Second World War.

This essay considers the careers of journalists and writers in post-war occupied Japan, and the impact of their writing upon British perceptions of Japan.

This portrait examines the six year internment of businessman Takayuki Eguchi in Pentonville prison during the Second World War.

In the 1950s the Foreign Office maintained the tradition of sending language students to Japan. Here future Ambassador Tim Whitehead recalls his time, from 1956, as one such student, including his extensive travelling around the country.

Taking several influential Japanese authors whose works have been translated into English, this portrait assesses their individual impact in Britain and an offers an overview of their qualities.

This essay provides an account and analysis of The Shōwa Emperor's (Hirohito's) visit to Britain in 1970. It marked the first Japanese state visit to Britian, as well as the first time a Japanese emperor had ever made a visit abroad.

Dick Ellingworth, First Secretary and Olympic Attaché at the Embassy from 1963 recalls the state of Japan at this time, and the Embassy's role in the Tokyo Olympics.

This essay details Uyeno Yutaka's (1915- ) family, personal, and business history specifically as it relates to interactions with Britain in the pertrochemical industry.

In 1947 Vere Redman reinstated the policy of attaching a prominent writer as teacher of English to the mission in Japan, to be 'placed at the disposal of Japanese Universities'. Edmund Blunden, George Fraser and D.J. Enright all held this post, and this chapter records their thoughts on Japan, along with those of a number of prominent figures with the British Council in Japan, Reg Close, Francis King, Leslie Phillips, Ronald Bottrall, E.W.F.Tomlin.

This essay details the role of William Patrick - Britain's appointed judge - in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, 1946-48, along with the problems faced by the Tribunal.

The politically active part of Sir Winston Churchill's (1874-1965) life almost coincided with the emergence, decline and rebirth of modern Japan. This essay details Churchill's part in Anglo-Japanese relations both pre and post Second World War.

Yone Noguchi (1875-1947) was the first Japanese-born writer to publish poetry in English, and had links with many famous English literary figures. This portrait charts his poetic career including his visits to the USA and London.

This portrait details the two years Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1941) and Mme Yoshida spent at the London embassy from 1936-38 - a difficult period in Anglo-Japanese relations.

This portrait details the two years Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967) and Mme Yoshida spent at the London embassy from 1936-38 - a troubling period for both of them as they did what they could to stabilise Anglo-Japanese relations.