This essay details the contribution of Frank Daniels (1900-83) towards teaching Japanese during the Second World War, and also his role in establishing a major centre for Japanese Studies at SOAS.

Ken Gardner was a Japanese language student during the war and returned to SOAS afterwards, becoming assistant librarian responsible for Japanese books. He then worked as Keeper of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts at the British Museum, and visited Japan in 1967.

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.

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.

This portrait details the scholarly career of P.G. O'Neill (1924-2012), his study of the Japanese language, Japanese festivals and Nō theatre.

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

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.

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.

In this chapter, the lives of Sir Francis Taylor Piggott (1852-1925) and his son F.S.G. Piggott (1883-1966) are detailed in their relation to Japan and involvement with the Japan Society of London. Sir Francis was one of the founders of the Society, and his son was the guiding energy behind its post-war revival.

Yanada Senji (1906-1972) played a key role in the wartime training of translators and interrogators at SOAS. This portait details his academic career and the deep personal struggles associated with providing key assistance to the war effort against his homeland.