Japan Society E-Library

Scholars & academics

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Snowden, Paul

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary had its origins as a pioneer project by British English teachers in Japan. This portrait considers the Japan career of its first editor A.S. Hornby (1898-1978) and his significant contribution to language learning.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Bowring, Richard

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850-1935) was a writer and prominent Japanologist, inspiring a generation of influential students. In this chapter, his life and career are assessed.  

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Thwaite, Anthony

In addition to the writers mentioned in Chapter 4, 'Cultural Relations Resumed', who lectured and taught in Japanese universities, Anthony Thwaite worked in Japan from 1953 to 1957, and wrote about his experiences in Tokyo during this period.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Turner, Louis

This portrait looks at doyen historian Arnold Toynbee's (1889-1975) cult status in Japan, detailing his three visits to the country.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Ion, Hamish

Arthur Lloyd (1852-1911) is best known as a missionary, teacher, author and pioneer in the study of Japanese Buddhism. He is also regarded - along with David Murray and Guido Verbeck - as one of.the pioneers of Japan's modern educational system.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Koyama Noboru

Although Arthur Morrison (1863-1945) was primarily a writer and novelist, his collection of Japanese art would go on to form one of the core collections of Japanese prints and paintings at the British Museum. This essay details his career as a writer and connoisseur of Japanese art.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Harries, Phillip

This chapter details Arthur Waley's (1899-1966) career as one of the great translators of Japanese literary works and as an inspiration to generations of Japan scholars. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Rousmaniere, Nicole Coolidge

This essay compares and contrasts the parallel careers of two of the Victorian era's most influential collectors of Japanese art, Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-97) and James Lord Bowes (1834-1899)

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Ballhatchet, Helen

This chapter details the life of Baba Tatsui (1850-1888) and his attempts to introduce Japan to western ideas of government, with particular focus on his time spent in Victorian Britain, where he developed a great understanding of the political system and was not entirely uncritical of Britain and its role in the world.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Cronin, Joseph

Basil Hall Chamberlain was a leading British Japanologist in the late 19th century. After writing an informal encyclopaedia on Japan, he spent much of his time criticising bushido as well as the idea of Japanese uniqueness and superiority.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Shaigiya-Abdelsamad, Yahya

The subject of this essay is Basil William Robinson, who became an expert on Japanese swords and helped to inspire interest in the Japanese sword and associated art and crafts.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Hunter, Janet

This chapter covers the development of technological education in early Meiji Japan, including a profile of the career of Kikuchi Kyōzō (1859-1942).

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Hoare, James Edward

Captain Francis Brinkley provides the subject of this essay, in particular his journalism and scholarship regarding Japan over his forty year career in the country.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Kabrna, Paul

Cargill Knott (1856-1922) was among a number of foreign specialists invited to Japan by the Meiji Government. During his time in the country, he conducted extensive research in the field of seismology, undertaking a magnetic survey of Japan.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Kornicki, Peter

Carmen Blacker (1924-2009) became one of Britain's most original and perceptive scholars of Japan, and this account charts the development of her love for the country and the impact this had upon her choice and pursuit of a career in academia.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Blacker, Carmen

Carmen Blacker visited Japan in 1952 on a post-graduate studentship granted by HM Treasury, to study the 19th century scholar Yukichi Fukuzawa. While there she was invited to summer with the novelist Jiro Osaragi, during which time she began her work on Japanese religion and spent a week at the famous temple of Engakuji at Kamakura.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

Eric Ceadel was lecturer in Japanese at the University of Cambridge, and visited Japan in 1950 to buy books for the University Library.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Daniels, Gordon

Charles Alfred Fisher (1916-82) was an ex-prisoner of war, who played a significant, if forgotten role, in the rise of Japanese Studies.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: Cummins, James

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

Charles Dunn (1915-1995) was one of the scholars responsible for the expansion of Japanese studies after the Second World War. This essay details his career as a scholar and dealings with the Japanese language.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume I
Author: Dore, Ronald

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Bowring, Richard

Chapter 33 is a brief chapter focusing on Douglas Mills, a much-admired lecturer in Japanese Studies, who was instrumental in the creation of the British Association of Japanese Studies (BAJS).

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Kikuchi Yoshiyuki

Edward Divers (1837-1912) and Robert William Atkinson (1850-1929) were influential in the development of the field of chemistry in Meiji Japan. This essay details their respective contributions, along with their thoughts on Japan.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Snowden, Paul

Edward Vivian Getby's (1892-1955) was one of the central figures in the establishment of the field of English as a foreign language. This essay details the influence of Japan on his career, and looks at his contributions in relation to those of A.S. Hornby, with whom he worked on the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Greenwood, Russell

This creative portrait details the experience and framing of Japan in the mind and writing of D.J. Enright during the early fifties.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Kornicki, Peter

The subject of this portrait is the remarkable life and career of Eric Bertrand Ceadel (1921-79), founding father of Japanese studies at Cambridge University.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Kornicki, Peter

Detailing Sir Ernest Satow's (1843-1929) diplomatic and scholarly career, including his time as head of the British Mission in Japan.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Yokoyama Manabu

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Burleigh, David

Cosmopolitan novelist and writer Frank Tuohy (1925-99) lived in several different countries, but it was in Japan that he spent the longest time. This essay offers an account of his life there, as well as his own reflections on Japan and the impact the country had on his fiction.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: Farnie, Douglas

This portrait covers the life and intellectual career of Freda Utley, aetheist, idealist, and writer, particularly as it related to Japan as an emerging power.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Kornicki, Peter

This essay provides a re-assessment of 'forgotten figure' Frederick Victor Dickins' (1838-1915) career in Japan as a scholar, lawyer and contributor to Japanese Studies.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Bownas, Geoffrey

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'.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Daniels, Gordon

Hagihara Nobutoshi (1926-2001), writer, journalist, tv commentator and internationalist, has been for long time involved in activities in the UK. During his time in different foundations, he strongly supported British scholars and provided platforms for prominent British academics. This chapter tells his story. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Cobb, David

This portrait charts the varied history of the acceptance and adoption of the Japanese poetic form Haiku into British culture.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: Smith, Richard C., and Imura, Motomichi

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Hotta-Lister, Ayako

Even though journalist Hasegawa Nyozekan's (1875-1969) periods of residence in Britain were short, he wrote about them extensively in the popular press. This essay details his life, and journalistic and philosophical career.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Hirata Yoko

This essay charts the literary and translation efforts of Honma Hisao (1886-1981), particularly in regard to Oscar Wilde; how he looked outward at English literature, inward at Meiji era literature and then combined the two in the comparative study of world literature.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Nish, Ian

Ian Nish had been in Japan during the Occupation, and in the late 1950s was a lecturer at Sydney University. He visited Japan every year from 1957 to '63 for research.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Nish, Ian

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Saito Yoshifumi

Grammarist Ichikawa Sanki (1886-1970) made a significant contribution to the development of English philology in Japan. This essay examines the interaction between Britain and Sanki throughout his scholarly career.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Koyama Noboru

Inagaki Manjirō combined the desire to embrace Western ideas and Japan's imperial ambitions during the Meiji era. This essay details his life and diplomatic career, providing an overall analysis of both.

Book: British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972
Author: Hoare, James Edward

J. E. Hoare's Introduction to Part IV: Scholar Diplomats and Consuls. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: Albery, Nobuko

This portrait offers an intimate account of the life of the remarkably private Ivan Morris (1925-77) - scholar, teacher, writer and translator.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume II
Author: Nakami Mari

This essay details the scholarly and journalistic efforts of J.W. Robertson-Scott (1866-1962), who wrote on Japanese foreign affairs, rural communities and agriculture during the First World War.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Pedlar, Neil

James Alfred Ewing taught physics in Meiji Japan, and helped to inspire the country's first generation of modern physicists.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Koyama Noburu

This portrait discusses James Summers' (1828-91) contributions to the teaching of English Literature in Japan, along with a discussion of his work in relation to the Taisei Shimbun - one of the first Japanese language newspapers published outside of Japan.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Metzger-Court, Sarah

A consideration of George Allen's (1900-1982) career as an economist and lecturer in Japan. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume II
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

Even though John Batchelor (1855-1945) was not an expert in linguistics, ethnology or folklore, his contributions to the understanding of the Ainu people is nonetheless significant. This essay details his missionary career and a life devoted to the Ainu people.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Blacker, Carmen

John Corner is offten described as a colourful and controversial biologist, and this portrait considers his career and contributions to botany.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Kornicki, Peter

John McEwan is a Briton who learnt Japanese in order to translate and interrogate during the Second World War. After the war, he became a lecturer in Japanese History at Cambridge University.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Pedlar, Neil

This portrait covers the writing and journalistic career of John Morris in the build up to the Second World War, and his contact with George Orwell during his time with the BBC.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Various

John Sargent continues to be regarded as the foremost British geographer of Japan. This essay details his career and contributions to the field.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Ruxton, Ian

This essay provides an account of the life and career of Joseph Longford (1849-1925), one of the forgotten scholars of the Japan service.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Watanabe Toshio

This essay details Josiah Conder's (1852-1920) life as the first advocate for the building of Japanese gardens in Britain, and his theory of Japanese garden design.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Hendry, Joy

Anthropologist Joy Hendry describes her time conducting fieldwork, studying family life in rural Japan.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Baker, John R., and Biggs, Frances K.

The essay details the career of Botanist Kathleen Mary Drew Baker (1901-57), and how her studies helped to save the Japanese Nori industry.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Maclean, Nicolas

This essay provides an account of sociologist Keith Thurley's (1931-92) lifelong commitment to industrial cooperation between Europe and Asia, and to the study of contemporary Japan.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Gardner, Kenneth

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.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

Art historian and critic Kenneth Clark visited Japan in 1963, giving him the opportunity to indulge his love of Japanese art.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Brown, Yu-Ying

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Koyama Noboru

This portrait considers how Kikuchi Dairoku's (1855-1917) exposure to England and his education there meant that his own career anticipated the development of Japan at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume II
Author: Murray, Paul

The outstanding Western interpreter of Meiji Japan, Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), provides the subject for this portrait; his time in America, Japan, and his relationships to his contemporaries.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Gordon, Martin

Across Lord Eric Roll's (1907-2005) work as economist, investment banker and civil servant lie dealings with Japan. This essay provides an account and analysis of those dealings.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Purvis, Phillida

This portrait details the life and career of scholar Louis Allen (1922-91), especially his wartime service and postwar reconciliation efforts.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Allen, Louis

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Best, Antony

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.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Blacker, Carmen

Marie Stopes (1907-1958) is most widely known as the pioneer of birth control and sex education for women in Britain. This chapter details her often forgotten early years in Japan, including her published works on Japanese theatre and her love affair with a professor at Tokyo University, as well as her employment as the first female Western scientist to work at Tokyo University.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Kersten, Rikki

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. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Hunter, Janet

Michio Morishima (1923-2004) was one of Japan's few internationally renowned economists in the second half of the twentieth century. This portrait details his life and career both in and oustide of Japan, which he left due to dissatisfaction with the academic establishment.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume I
Author: Blacker, Carmen

This essay considers the remarkable scholarly career of the brilliant but eccentric polymath Minakata Kumagusu (1867-1941), an expert in natural history, folklore and classicism, as well as an assessment of the significance of his time in London to his work.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Ion, Hamish

This chapter covers the life of Walter Weston (1861-1940) an Anglican clergyman who is also responsible for pioneering mountain climbing as a popular leisure sport in Japan. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Robinson, Eleanor

This portrait considers historian Mutō Chōzō's (1881-1942) life and his pioneering work A Brief History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, the first of such works.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: Ohta Akiko

This portrait details the significance of Nakamura Masanao's (1832-91) encounter with Victorian Britain and his subsequent translation into Japanese of Samuel Smiles' Self Help.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: White, Jenny

Nakaya Ukichiro (1900-1962), scientist specialised in low-temperature sciences and famous for creating the first artificial snow crystals, studied at Kings College London from 1928 to 1929. Not much is known about this period of his life and this chapter aims to shed light on these essential years of his formation. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Tsunematsu, Sammy I.

This essay seeks to explore how Natsume Sōseki's (1867-1916) time in London influenced his literary works and world view, particularly with regard to the pre-Raphaelite movement.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Norimasa Morita

This essay provides an account of how Nishiwaki Junzaburō's (1894-1982) poems and writings on modernist and surrealist poetry transformed the poetic landscape in Japan.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Nish, Ian

Nitobe Inazō (1862-1933) was Japan's first international civil servant at the League of Nations. This essay deals with Nitobe’s experiences in the secretariat of the League during its early days in London.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Saitō Eiri

ÅŒtsuka Hisao (1907-1996) was a pioneering scholar of Western economic and political history and a celebrated intellectual in post-war Japan.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Purvis, Phillida

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

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Beasley, William Gerard

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.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Kornicki, Peter

In this chapter Peter Kornicki describes how he became the first non-Japanese since the end of the war to be given a professorial position at a Japanese national university.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Nish, Ian

This essay recounts the scholarly career of Peter Lowe (1941-2012) in the field of Japanese history as it relates to Anglo-Japanese relations.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Robinson, Peter

Peter Robinson was Professor of English at Sendai University, and here he reflects on aspects of working in Japan.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Swan, Peter

Peter Swan went to Japan in 1953 to study Chinese painting, and during his time there covered many facets of Japanese art. Here he gives an account of his visit.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Purvis, Phillida

Phillida Purvis lived in Japan during the 1980s and experienced a number of different 'incarnations', as a student, diplomat, teacher of international relations, wife and mother. Here she picks out themes from her life as an expatriate in Japan.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Dore, Ronald

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume II
Author: Britton, Dorothy

Richard Ponsonby-Fane (1878-37) was a prodigious scholar and writer on Japan, and yet his name is absent from encyclopaedias or bibliographies. Here Dorothy Britton celebrates his personal legacy.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Storry, Richard

Richard Storry was in Japan teaching before the war, and afterwards was a research fellow in Oxford. This chapter details his 1958 visit to Japan to collect material on Prince Fumimaro Konoye, Japanese Prime Minister from 1937 to '39 and 1940 to '41. It also describes a visit made in 1973, at the height of the oil crisis.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Nish, Ian

A portrait of Richard Storry's (1913-82) life-long affair with Japan as a teacher, writer and researcher.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Buckley, Roger

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

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Yamanouchi Hisaaki

Saitō Takeshi (1887-1982) contributed significantly to the development of English Studies in Japan, as well as inspiring the field of 'British [Cultural] Studies', and this portrait outlines his impact on academia in Japan.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

Hugh Cortazzi recounts two meetings with author Shiba Ryōtarō, best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Norimasa Morita

Following a period of study in Britain and Germany, Shimamura Hōgetsu (1871-1918) pioneered the introduction of Western drama and theatre (shingeki) to Japan. This essay details his srtuggles and successes.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Smith, Dennis

Sir Charles Eliot (1862-1931) became British Ambassador at Tokyo in 1919. This chapter details his life and career as an often overlooked figure in Anglo-Japanese relations, who made significant contributions to scholarship and whose time as ambassador coincided with the end of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Book: British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972
Author: Smith, Dennis

This profile considers the career of Sir Charles Eliot (1862-1931) including his contributions to the field of oriental scholarship and his time as ambassador, overseeing the end of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: Blacker, Carmen

Sir Edwin Arnold's (1832-1904) time in Japan can be described as nothing less than a love-affair. This portrait considers the impact of Japan upon his writing and poetic career, as well as the impact Arnold had on the understanding of Japan in Britain as he sought to promote and explain Japanese culture.

Book: British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972
Author: Kornicki, Peter

This article details Sir Ernest Mason Satow's (1843-1929) further pursuits in Japan between 1873 to 1884. 

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Daniels, Gordon

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. 

Book: British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972
Author: Daniels, Gordon

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

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

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

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

This essay describes how Sir John Pilcher (1912-90), as British ambassador in Japan between 1967 and 1972, helped to revive Anglo-Japanese friendship after the Second World War and was long remembered with affection both in Japan and by his friends and colleagues.

Book: British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

This essay describes how Sir John Pilcher (1912-1990), as British ambassador in Japan between 1967 and 1972, helped to revive Anglo-Japanese friendship after the Second World War and was long remembered with affection both in Japan and by his friends and colleagues.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Hatcher, John

Despite there being very little of Japan in Somerset Maugham's (1874-1965) writings, he spent much time there and gained much popularity among the Japanese. This essay offers an account and analysis of Maugham's time in Japan.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume V
Author: Ruxton, Ian

Despite his being perhaps lesser known than other Meiji era statesmen this essay makes the case of Suematsu Kenchō's (1855-1920) significant contributions in many areas of Japanese politics.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Iwagami Kazunori and Paride Stortin

Takakusu Junjirō (1866-1945), played an essential role in the establishment of modern Indology and Buddhist studies in the Japanese academy. His academic growth has been fostered in Europe, especially during his time at Oxford University. This chapter explains his career path and achievements in Buddhist studies. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Morita, Nori

Tanaka Hozumi (1876-1944) was a scholar and renowned university administrator who made a huge contribution to the modernization of Waseda University and guided it through the Second World War. Tanaka has lived in the USA and the UK before starting his career in Japan in 1903.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

This volume was published on the occasion of the centenary of the Japan Society, and in this chapter Sir Hugh Cortazzi chronicles its hundred year history, from its founding at the 1891 Congress of Orientalists, via the two world wars and a number of royal visits, through to the 1991 Japan Festival and an assessment of the Society's then challenging state of affairs.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume III
Author: Cortazzi, Hugh

Thomas Wright Blakiston (1832-91), explorer, engineer and ornithologist, is best known for his discovery of 'Blackiston's Line' a zoogeographical boundary along the Tsugaru Strait.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: O'Connor, Peter

Timothy Conroy (1883-1935) had a high opinion of his knowledge pertaining to Imperial Japan, one which was not shared widely other than in Fleet Street. However, the publication of his book The Menace of Japan in 1933 coincided with the explosion of Japanese military activity in China, a fact that led considerable credibility to his writings.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Powell, Brian

This chapter considers the career of Tsubouchi Shōyō (1859-1935) as a pre-eminent scholar and translator of Shakespeare, focussing on his connections to the town of Sherbourne, Dorset. 

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Blacker, Carmen

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.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Blunden, Edmund; Reg Close; Dennis Enright; George Fraser; Francis King; and E.W.F. Tomlin

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.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Beasley, William Gerard

Having served in Japan during the Occupation, Bill Beasley returned there to carry out post-doctoral research during a sabatical year in 1950, and again in 1956 and 1963.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Ion, Hamish

This essay details the two halves of Walter Dening's (1846-1913) career in Japan, first as a missionary with the CMS, and later as an agnostic teacher and journalist, when he became one of the best informed Western authorities on Meiji religious and literary thought.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IV
Author: Haffenden, John

This portrait details the colourful teaching career of the great literary scholar and critic William Empson (1906-84) in Japan, and provides a fascinating insight into the life and attitudes of an eccentric foreigner in an unfamiliar and increasingly threatening culture.

Book: Britain and Japan 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities
Author: Kornicki, Peter

This chapter assesses the life of William George Aston (1841-1911), a diplomat and prominent scholar of Japan. Though Aston remains somewhat of a shadowy figure due to the lack of knowledge of his private life, this appraisal details how his scholarly works in the fields of linguistics and religion have stood the test of time.

Book: British Envoys in Japan 1859-1972
Author: Kornicki, Peter

This profile details William George Aston's (1841-1911) career in the consular service and his scholarly achievments as a writer of Japanese language learning books. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VII
Author: Nish, Ian

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Kaner, Simon

William Gowland (1842-1922) is arguably one of the most important figures in Japanese Archaeology. This essay details his wider career and dealings with Japan's ancient archaeological sites.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Koyama, Noboru

William J.S. Shand and Henry J. Weintz helped fuel the British interest in Japan through their publication of self-taught Japanese books.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Seki Eiji

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Nish, Ian

Dr. Wolf Mendl (1926-1999) was one of a small number of British academics focussed upon the history of regional conflict in East Asia, with a particular interest in China-Japan relations during the Cold War. This portrait looks at the impact of his time in Japan on his personal life and scholarly career.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Oba Sadao, and Anne Kaneko

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume IX
Author: Townsend, Susan C.

This essay details colonial studies scholar Yanaihara Tadao's (1893-1961) impressions during his 1920-21 tour of Britain, and examines the ways in which his study abroad and his Christian beliefs influenced his thought.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Tomida, Hiroko

Yasui Tetsu (1870-1945) has been an exceptional figure in the development of women’s higher education. She helped establish the Tokyo Joshi Daigaku (Tokyo Women’s Christian University) and her works have been deeply influenced by her studies at the Cambridge Training College for Women Teachers. Her life in Japan is well documented, however less is known about her experience in the UK. This article focuses on her time in Britain. 

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VIII
Author: Norimasa Morita

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.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume VI
Author: Norimasa Morita

Yoshida Ken'ichi, bunshi, writer, and essayist devoted his entire life to literature (1912-77). This essay details his interaction with English literature and culture and his writing career, both in Japan and Britain.

Book: Japan Experiences - Fifty Years, One Hundred Views: Post-War Japan Through British Eyes
Author: Mayall, Lees; Powell, Anthony; and Tracy, Honor

Yoshida Ken'ichi was a literary critic, author and scholar of English literature. This chapter gives an account of his meetings with Honor Tracy, Lees Mayall and Anthony Powell.

Book: Biographical Portraits Volume X
Author: Numata, Sadaaki

Chapter 52 outlines the educational path of many Japanese diplomats who studied at British universities. The posting of soon-to-become diplomats to the UK to learn foreign languages and prepare for service abroad started in 1888.

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