Japan–United Kingdom relations
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are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
.


History

The history of the relationship between Japan and England began in 1600 with the arrival of William Adams (Adams the Pilot, ''Miura Anjin''), (the first of very few non-Japanese samurai) on the shores of
Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
at Usuki in
Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kum ...
. During the
Sakoku was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and nearly a ...
period (1641–1853), there were no formal relations between the two countries. The
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
served as intermediaries. The treaty of 1854 began formal diplomatic ties, which improved to become a formal alliance 1902–1922. The British dominions pressured Britain to end the alliance. Relations deteriorated rapidly in the 1930s, over the Japanese invasions of Manchuria and China, and the cutoff of oil supplies in 1941. Japan declared war in December 1941 and seized Hong Kong,
British Borneo British Borneo comprised the four northern parts of the island of Borneo, which are now the country of Brunei, two Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan. During the British colonial rule before Wor ...
(with its oil), and Malaya, causing the two nations to engage in a bloody conflict for the next four years. With overwhelming forces the Japanese sank much of the British fleet and forced the surrender of Singapore, capturing many prisoners. They reached the outskirts of India until being pushed back. Relations improved in the 1950s-1970s, and as memories of the conflict faded, became warm. On 3 May 2011, British Foreign Secretary
William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
said that Japan is "one of ritains closest partners in Asia".


Chronology of Japanese–British relations


Beginning

*1577. Richard Wylles writes about the people, customs and manners of ''Giapan'' in the History of Travel published in London. *1580.
Richard Hakluyt Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America'' (1582) and ''The Pri ...
advises the first English merchants to find a new trade route via the
Northwest passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the ...
to trade
wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
for
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
with Japan (sending two
Barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
ships, the George piloted by Arthur Pet and William by Charles Jackman) which returned unsuccessfully by Christmas the same year. *1587. Two young Japanese men named Christopher and Cosmas sailed on a Spanish
galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch ...
to California, where their ship was captured by Thomas Cavendish. Cavendish brought the two Japanese men with him to England where they spent approximately three years before going again with him on his last expedition to the South Atlantic where they were heading to Japan to begin trade relations. They are the first known Japanese men to have set foot in the British Isles. *1593. Richard Hawkins leaves England onboard the Dainty in a bid to discover the 'Iſlands of Japan' via the Magellan Strait in 1594, the very route William Adams would take himself in 1599. Hawkins however was captured by the Spanish at
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, only returning in 1603 after a ransom of £12,000 was paid by his mother for his release.


Early

*1600. William Adams, a seaman from
Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a large town in the unitary authority area of Medway in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. It is also the largest town in t ...
, was the first English adventurer to arrive in Japan. Acting as an advisor to the Tokugawa ''shōgun'', he was renamed
Miura Anjin (24 September 1564 – 16 May 1620), better known in Japanese as , was an English navigator who, in 1600, was the first Englishman to reach Japan in a ship called 'de Liefde' under the leadership of Jacob Quaeckernaeck, the only surviving shi ...
, granted a house and land, and spent the rest of his life in his adopted country. He also became one of the first English
samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...
. *1605. John Davis, the famous English explorer, was killed by Japanese pirates off the coast of
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
, thus becoming the first known Englishman to be killed by a Japanese. *1613. Following an invitation from William Adams in Japan, the English captain
John Saris John Saris () was chief merchant on the first English voyage to Japan, which left London in 1611. He stopped at Yemen, missing India (which he had originally intended to visit) and going on to Java, which had the sole permanent English trading sta ...
arrived at
Hirado Island (also previously named Hiranoshima and Firando Island) is the 4th largest island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Its coasts are washed by Sea of Japan. The entire island and the part of the nearby Kyushu mainland is administered as part of Hirado city. ...
in the ship ''Clove'' with the intent of establishing a trading factory. Adams and Saris travelled to
Suruga Province was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and was bordered by the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay to the south. Its abbrev ...
where they met with
Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...
at his principal residence in September before moving on to
Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
where they met Ieyasu's son
Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...
. During that meeting, Hidetada gave Saris two varnished suits of armour for
King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
, today housed in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
. On their way back, they visited Tokugawa once more, who conferred trading privileges on the English through a Red Seal permit giving them "free licence to abide, buy, sell and barter" in Japan. The English party headed back to
Hirado Island (also previously named Hiranoshima and Firando Island) is the 4th largest island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Its coasts are washed by Sea of Japan. The entire island and the part of the nearby Kyushu mainland is administered as part of Hirado city. ...
on 9 October 1613. However, during the ten-year activity of the company between 1613 and 1623, apart from the first ship (''Clove'' in 1613), only three other English ships brought cargoes directly from London to Japan. *1623. The Amboyna massacre was perpetrated by the Dutch East India Company. After the incident England closed its commercial base at
Hirado Island (also previously named Hiranoshima and Firando Island) is the 4th largest island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Its coasts are washed by Sea of Japan. The entire island and the part of the nearby Kyushu mainland is administered as part of Hirado city. ...
, now in
Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...
, without notifying Japan. After this, the relationship ended for more than two centuries. *1625. A number of documents including the ''Iaponian Charter'', are the first published translated Japanese documents into English by
Samuel Purchas Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries. Career Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex son of an English yeoman. He graduated from St John's College, Cam ...


Sakoku

*1639.
Tokugawa Iemitsu Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川 家光, August 12, 1604 – June 8, 1651) was the third '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, w ...
announced his
Sakoku was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and nearly a ...
policy. Only the Dutch Republic was permitted to retain limited trade rights. *1640. Uriemon Eaton the son of
William Eaton William Eaton or Bill Eaton may refer to: * William Eaton (soldier) (1764–1811), United States Army soldier during the Barbary Wars * William Eaton (athlete) (1909–1938), British long-distance runner * William Eaton (guitarist), American luth ...
(a worker at the EIC post in Japan) and Kamezo (a Japanese woman), becomes the first Japanese to join Academia in England as a scholar at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
. *1646. Robert Dudley publishes a detailed original map of Japan and
Yezo (also spelled Yezo or Yeso) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the lands to the north of the Japanese island of Honshu. It included the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 18 ...
in his Secrets of the Sea
treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Tre ...
, based on the
Mercator Projection The Mercator projection () is a cylindrical map projection presented by Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It became the standard map projection for navigation because it is unique in representing north as up and s ...
*1668. 25 February.
Henry Oldenburg Henry Oldenburg (also Henry Oldenbourg) FRS (c. 1618 as Heinrich Oldenburg – 5 September 1677), was a German theologian, diplomat, and natural philosopher, known as one of the creators of modern scientific peer review. He was one of the fo ...
addresses the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
on the letters of
Richard Cocks Richard Cocks (1566–1624) was the head of the British East India Company trading post in Hirado, Japan, between 1613 and 1623, from its creation, and lasting to its closure due to bankruptcy. He was baptised on 20 January 1565 at St Chad's, Se ...
, particularly noting English trading privileges from the time of Cocks, striking new interest in trade with Japan in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. Based on this new interest, surviving member of the original factory William Eaton (fl.1613-1668), was contacted in order to reopen trade between England and Japan. *1670.
John Ogilby John Ogilby (also ''Ogelby'', ''Oglivie''; November 1600 – 4 September 1676) was a Scottish translator, impresario and cartographer. Best known for publishing the first British road atlas, he was also a successful translator, noted for publ ...
publishes the first translation of ''Atlas Japanensis'' in London, reprinted in 1671 & 1673 *1670. The EIC factories are set up at modern day
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
(1670-1685) after Koxinqa invites the British to set up a factory *1672.
Tongking Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
EIC factory begins operations (along with 'Tywan') with the intention by the British to be used as bases for further trade with Japan *1673. An English ship named ''Returner'' visited
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
harbour with factors from the first Hirado factory, and asked for a renewal of trading relations. But the Edo shogunate refused after Dutch prompting. The government cited the withdrawal 50 years earlier, and found it unacceptable that the
English king The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...
had married the Portuguese
Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...
, claiming the English to favour the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. *1683.
Molly Verney Mary Verney (1675 - February 1696) known also as ''Molly'', & ''Mall Klenyg'' was a British noblewoman best known for having the first instance of recorded use of the word Japan as a verb in English in 1683. Biography Verney was born in 1675 to ...
begins learning
Japanning Japanning is a type of finish that originated as a European imitation of East Asian lacquerwork. It was first used on furniture, but was later much used on small items in metal. The word originated in the 17th century. American work, with ...
as a handicraft in London *1703. James Cunninghame FRS attempts to initiate trade with Japan from
Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exon ...
and the chaplain James Pound in his service notes of VOC activity in Japan until they are attacked by locals in 1705 *1713.
Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
writes of William Adams and his 'famous voyage to Japan' in his satire ''Memoirs of Count Tariff'' *1723-25.
Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...
send the English court physician
Johann Georg Steigerthal Johann Georg Steigerthal (2 February 1666, Dirk Böttcher: ', Verlag Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, S. 347, Nienburg - 27 June 1740, Hanover) was a court physician and medical writer. Life Steigerthal was one of the sons of Johann Georg Steig ...
to Lemgo to retrieve
Engelbert Kaempfer Engelbert Kaempfer (16 September 16512 November 1716) was a German naturalist, physician, explorer and writer known for his tour of Russia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693. He wrote two books about his travels. '' ...
's East Asian collection for his personal library *1727. Johann Caspar Scheuchzer translates and publishes the first edition of
Engelbert Kaempfer Engelbert Kaempfer (16 September 16512 November 1716) was a German naturalist, physician, explorer and writer known for his tour of Russia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia, and Japan between 1683 and 1693. He wrote two books about his travels. '' ...
s ''History of Japan'' in London *1731. Arthur Dobbs advocates the finding of the North West Passage to 'be able to send a Squadron of ships, Even to force Japan into a Beneficial Treaty of Commerce with Britain.' *1740.
Robert Petre, 8th Baron Petre Robert James Petre, 8th Baron Petre (3 June 1713 – 2 July 1742) was a renowned horticulturist and a British peer. Petre was responsible in the late 1730s for the layout of the gardens at Worksop Manor in Nottinghamshire. He was also responsib ...
imports the first
Camellia japonica ''Camellia japonica'', known as common camellia, or Japanese camellia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Theaceae. There are thousands of cultivars of ''C. japonica'' in cultivation, with many colors and forms of flowers. In the U.S. ...
into England *1741. The Middleton Expedition is launched to find the Northwest Passage with orders to not engage 'Japanese ships' until the following year should they come across one, with plans halting to trade or settle Japan owing to the circumstances surrounding the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
*1745.
Thomas Astley Thomas Astley (died 1759) was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 18th century. He ran his business from Saint Paul's Churchyard (circa 1726-1742) and Paternoster Row (circa 1745). He belonged to the Company of Stationers. He published the ...
reprints by popular demand the Logbook of William Adams in his ''A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels ; in Europe, Asia, Africa and America'' under ''Nippon'' *1753. 50 Japanese objects from the Sloane collection acquired by Kaempfer during his residence in Japan are bequeathed to the British Museum *1791.
James Colnett James Colnett (1753 – 1 September 1806) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a maritime fur trader. He served under James Cook during Cook's second voyage of exploration. Later he led two private trading expeditions that ...
sails HMS ''Argonaut'' from
Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...
to Japan becoming the second unsuccessful attempt at trade with Sakoku Japan. *1796.
William Robert Broughton William Robert Broughton (22 March 176214 March 1821) was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS ''Chatham'' as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through th ...
surveys the North-western coast of Japan, becoming shipwrecked on the coast of Miyako-jima *1808. The Nagasaki Harbour Incident: enters Nagasaki and lays an unsuccessful ambush on Dutch shipping. *1812. The British
whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
HMS Saracen (1812) stopped at
Uraga, Kanagawa is a subdivision of the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the south eastern side of the Miura Peninsula, at the northern end of the Uraga Channel, at the entrance of Tokyo Bay. History With the establishment of th ...
and took on water, food, and firewood *1813.
Thomas Raffles Thomas Raffles (1788–1863) was an English Congregational minister, known as a dominant nonconformist figure at the Great George Street Congregational Church in Liverpool, and as an abolitionist and historian. Early life The only son of Willi ...
attempts trade with Japan under a British flag to oust Dutch trade monopoly, only for the '' ooperhoofd'' to fly the ships under Dutch colours, being rescinded by
Governor-General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
on the basis of excessive expense in 1814, also finally being halted in May 1815 by Raffles after the handover of the British colony of Java to the Dutch *1819. The third British ship 'The Brothers' piloted by Captain Peter Gordon, visited Uraga on 17 June seeking to trade with Japan, unsuccessful at Edo to get any treaty *1819. August 3. The first British Whaler HMS Syren begins to exploit the Japan whaling grounds. *1824. 12 English whalers stray ashore looking for food and are apprehended by Aizawa Seishisai leading to new repulsion acts against foreign vessels. *1830. The convict crew of the ''Cyprus'' piloted by William Swallow are repelled under the repulsion acts of 1825. *1831. Discussions are held at the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
to hold a base on the
Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic rea ...
to trade with Japan and the Ryukyuu Archipelago *1832.
Otokichi , also known as Yamamoto Otokichi and later known as John Matthew Ottoson (1818 – January 1867), was a Japanese castaway originally from the area of Onoura near modern-day Mihama, on the west coast of the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefectur ...
, Kyukichi and Iwakichi, castaways from
Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...
, crossed the Pacific and were shipwrecked on the west coast of North America. The three Japanese men became famous in the Pacific Northwest and probably inspired
Ranald MacDonald Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between C ...
to go to Japan. They joined a trading ship to the UK, and later
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. One of them, Otokichi, took British citizenship and adopted the name John Matthew Ottoson. He later made two visits to Japan as an interpreter for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
. *1840. Indian Oak becomes shipwrecked off the coast of
Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...
and a junk is built by Okinawan peoples for the survivors *1842. On the basis of the British naval victory at the
First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
, the Repel Edicts are renounced by the
Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...
. *1843.
Herbert Clifford Captain Herbert John Clifford (1789, Nova Scotia – 9 September 1855, Tramore, Waterford, Ireland) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and the founder of the Loochoo Naval Mission (1843). In 1818, he published ''Vocabulary ...
founds the
Loochoo Naval Mission The Loochoo Naval Mission (1843-1861) was a Church of England mission society to provide Christian outreach to outlying Ryukyu Islands, today part of Japan but a sovereign country during those times. The work of the mission was significant both i ...
*1850. Bishop Smith arrives at
Ryukyu The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonagu ...
to carry out missionary work *1852. Charles MacFarlane publishes ''Japan: An Account, Geographical and Historical, from the Earliest Period at which the Islands Composing this Empire Were Known to Europeans, Down to the Present Time, and the Expedition fitted out in the United States'', which surmises all known European accounts of Japan and travels to Japan before the
Ansei Treaties The Ansei Treaties (Japanese:安政条約) or the Ansei Five-Power Treaties (Japanese:安政五カ国条約) are a series of treaties signed in 1858, during the Japanese Ansei era, between Japan on the one side, and the United States, Great Bri ...


1854–1900

*1854. 14 October. The first limited Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty was signed by Admiral Sir James Stirling and representatives of the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
(Bakufu). *1855. In an effort to find the Russian fleet in the Pacific Ocean during the
Crimean war The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, a French-British naval force reached the port of
Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...
, which was open to British ships as a result of the Friendship Treaty of 1854, and sailed further north, seizing the
Russian-American Company The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс ...
's possessions on the island of
Urup Urup ( ja, 得撫島, Uruppu-to; russian: Уру́п, Urúp, ain, ウルㇷ゚, Urup) is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain in the south of the Sea of Okhotsk, northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu la ...
in the Kuril archipelago. The
Treaty of Paris (1856) The Treaty of Paris of 1856 brought an end to the Crimean War between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the United Kingdom, the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on 30 March 1856 at ...
restitutes the island to Russia. *1858. 26 August. The
Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce The was signed on 26 August 1858 by Lord Elgin and the then representatives of the Japanese government (the Tokugawa shogunate), and was ratified between Queen Victoria and the Tycoon of Japan at Yedo on 11 July 1859. The concessions which Ja ...
was signed by the Scotsman
Lord Elgin Earl of Elgin is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 July 1641. The Earl of Elgin is the h ...
and representatives of the Tokugawa shogunate for Japan, after the Harris Treaty was concluded. Britain obtained extraterritorial rights on Japanese with the
British Supreme Court for China and Japan The British Supreme Court for China (originally the British Supreme Court for China and Japan) was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles o ...
, in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
. A British iron paddle schooner named ''Enpiroru'' was presented to the Tokugawa administration by Bruce as a present for the Emperor from
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
. *1859. Merchant Thomas Blake Glover arrives in Japan via China. *1861. The Tsushima Incident occurs which sees the British repel a Russian naval vessel from invading Tsushima on request from the Bakufu *1861. 5 July. The British legation in
Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
was attacked. *1862. The ''
shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamaku ...
'' sends the
First Japanese Embassy to Europe The First Japanese Embassy to Europe (Japanese:第1回遣欧使節, also 開市開港延期交渉使節団) was sent to Europe by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1862. The head of the mission was Takenouchi Yasunori, governor of Shimotsuke Provinc ...
, led by
Takenouchi Yasunori Takenouchi Yasunori (1806 - March 3, 1867) was a Japanese Samurai Lord during Bakumatsu period. Takenouchi was governor of Shimotsuke Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Fré ...
. *1862. 14 September. The Namamugi Incident occurred within a week of the arrival of
Ernest Satow Sir Ernest Mason Satow, (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist. Satow is better known in Japan than in Britain or the other countries in which he served, where he was known as . He was a key fig ...
in Japan. *1862–75. British Military Garrison established at
Yamate is the name of a historic neighbourhood in Naka-ku, Yokohama often referred to in English as ''The Bluff.'' The neighbourhood is famous as having been a foreigners' residential area in the Bakumatsu, Meiji and Taishō periods. While still domi ...
,
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
. *1863. The
Chōshū Five The were members of the Chōshū han of western Japan who travelled to England in 1863 to study at University College London. The five students were the first of many successive groups of Japanese students who travelled overseas in the late Baku ...
began their education at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
under the guidance of Professor
Alexander William Williamson Prof Alexander William Williamson FRS FRSE PCS MRIA (1 May 18246 May 1904) was an English chemist. He is best known today for the Williamson ether synthesis. Life Williamson was born in 1824 in Wandsworth, London, the second of three childr ...
. *1863. Bombardment of Kagoshima by the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
. (Anglo-Satsuma War). *1864.
Bombardment of Shimonoseki The refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control the Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of ...
by Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States. *1865. With the influx of Japanese imports, artists such as Rossetti and Crane began to be influenced by Japanese objects and
Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ta ...
prints *1865. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC) from Britain was established in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
. *1865.
Chōshū Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was based ...
bought the warship '' Union'' from Glover and Co., an agency of
Jardine Matheson Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (also known as Jardines) is a Hong Kong-based Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange and ...
established in
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
, in the name of
Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, l ...
which was not against the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
then. *1866
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...
established a Japanese branch in Yokohama. *1867. The Icarus affair, an incident involving the murder of two British sailors in
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
, leading to increased diplomatic tensions between Britain and the Tokugawa shogunate. *1868.
Coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
by
Chōshū Domain The , also known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871.Deal, William E. (2005) ''Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan,'' p. 81 The Chōshū Domain was based ...
and
Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, l ...
achieved the
Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
. *1869. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh becomes the first European prince to visit Japan arriving on on 4 September 1869. Audience with the
Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...
in Tokyo. *1872. The
Iwakura mission The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy (, ''Iwakura Shisetsudan'') was a Japanese diplomatic voyage to the United States and Europe conducted between 1871 and 1873 by leading statesmen and scholars of the Meiji period. It was not the only such m ...
visited Britain as part of a diplomatic and investigative tour of the United States and Europe. *1873. The
Imperial College of Engineering The Imperial College of Engineering (工部大学校, ''Kōbudaigakkō'') was a Japanese institution of higher education that was founded during the Meiji Era. The college was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works for ...
opened with
Henry Dyer Henry Dyer (23 August 1848 – 25 September 1918) was a Scottish engineer who contributed much to founding Western-style technical education in Japan and Scottish-Japanese relations. Early life Henry Dyer was born on 16 August 1848, ...
as principal. *1879 British Court for Japan was established in Yokohama. *1880. Japan government established Yokohama Specie Bank for only foreign transaction bank in Japan, with the support of
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...
. *1881. Azusa Ono suggests using the British model for the new Japanese constitution * 1886.
Normanton incident The was a set of reactions and events surrounding the sinking of a British merchant vessel named ''Normanton'' off the coast of what is now Japan's Wakayama Prefecture on October 24, 1886. When the Normanton ran aground, the ship's officers app ...
British merchant vessel sinks off the coast of Wakayama Prefecture. Crew escape while 25 Japanese passengers perish. Widespread Japanese public outrage as subsequent Board of Enquiry under extraterritorial court finds the British crew not guilty. The case is later reopened, and the crew are given three month sentences. *1885–87. Japanese exhibition at
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...
, London. *1887–89. Jurist
Francis Taylor Piggott Sir Francis Taylor Piggott (25 April 1852 – 12 March 1925) was a British jurist and author. He was the Chief Justice of Hong Kong from 1905 to 1912.
, the son of ex-MP Jasper Wilson Johns, was inaugurated as a legislational consultant for
Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the '' genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated sa ...
, then and the first Prime Minister of Japan. *1890. Government of Japan established the Constitution of Imperial Japan which House of Peers was not come with
Universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...
. *1891. The Japan Society of London is founded by
Arthur Diosy Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...
. *1894. The
Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation The signed by Britain and Japan, on 16 July 1894, was a breakthrough agreement; it heralded the end of the unequal treaties and the system of extraterritoriality in Japan. The treaty came into force on 17 July 1899. From that date British subje ...
was signed in London on 16 July. The treaty abolished
extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...
in Japan for British subjects with effect from 17 July 1899 *1899. Extraterritorial rights for British subjects in Japan came to an end. *1900. (January). Last sitting of the British Court for Japan.


20th century

*1902. The Japanese–British alliance was signed in London on 30 January. It was a diplomatic milestone that saw an end to Britain's
splendid isolation ''Splendid isolation'' is a term used to describe the 19th-century British diplomatic practice of avoiding permanent alliances, particularly under the governments of Lord Salisbury between 1885 and 1902. The concept developed as early as 1822 ...
, and removed the need for Britain to build up its navy in the Pacific. *1905. The Japanese–British alliance was renewed and expanded. Official diplomatic relations were upgraded, with ambassadors being exchanged for the first time. *1907. In July, British thread company J. & P. Coats launched Teikoku Seishi and began to thrive. *1908. The Japan-British Society was founded in order to foster cultural and social understanding. *1909. Fushimi Sadanaru returns to Britain to convey the thanks of the Japanese government for British advice and assistance during the Russo-Japanese War. *1910. Sadanaru represents Japan at the state funeral of Edward VII, and meets the new king
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother ...
at Buckingham Palace. *1910. The Japan–British Exhibition is held at Shepherd's Bush in London. Japan made a successful effort to display its new status as a great power by emphasizing its new role as a colonial power in Asia. *1911. The Japanese – British alliance was renewed with approval of the dominions. *1913. The IJN Kongō, the last of the British-built warships for Japan's navy, enters service. *1914–1915. Japan joined
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
as Britain's ally under the terms of the alliance and captured German-occupied Tsingtao (
Qingdao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...
) in China Mainland. They also help Australia and New Zealand capture archipelagos like the
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Inte ...
and the
Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
. *1915. The
Twenty-One Demands The Twenty-One Demands ( ja, 対華21ヶ条要求, Taika Nijūikkajō Yōkyū; ) was a set of demands made during the First World War by the Empire of Japan under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu to the government of the Republic of China on 18 ...
would have given Japan varying degrees of control over all of China, and would have prohibited European powers from extending their influence in China any further. It is eventually scrapped. *1917. The
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
helps the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
and allied navies patrol the Mediterranean against
Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in W ...
ships. * 1917–1935. Close relationships between the two country steadily worsens. *1919. Japan proposes a racial equality clause in negotiations to form the
League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...
, calling for "making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality." Britain, which supports the
White Australia policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
, cannot assent, and the proposal is rejected. *1921. Britain indicates it will not renew the
Anglo-Japanese Alliance The first was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A d ...
of 1902 primarily because of opposition from the United States and also Canada. *1921. Crown Prince
Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
visited Britain and other Western European countries. It was the first time that a Japanese crown prince had traveled overseas. *1921. Arrival in September of the Sempill Mission in Japan, a British technical mission for the development of Japanese Aero-naval forces. It provided the Japanese with flying lessons and advice on building aircraft carriers; the British aviation experts kept close watch on Japan after that. *1922.
Washington Naval Conference The Washington Naval Conference was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, DC from November 12, 1921 to February 6, 1922. It was conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations. It was attended by nine ...
concluding in the Four-Power Treaty,
Five-Power Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington N ...
, and Nine-Power Treaty; major naval disarmament for 10 years with sharp reduction of Royal Navy & Imperial Navy. The Treaties specify that the relative naval strengths of the major powers are to be UK = 5, US = 5, Japan = 3, France = 1.75, Italy = 1.75. The powers will abide by the treaty for ten years, then begin a naval arms race. *1922.
Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...
,
Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...
travelling on , arrives in Yokohama on 12 April for a four-week official visit to Japan. *1923. The Japanese -British alliance was officially discontinued on 17 August in response to U.S. and Canadian pressure. *1930. The London disarmament conference angers Japanese Army and Navy. Japan's navy demanded parity with the United States and Britain, but was rejected; it maintained the existing ratios and Japan was required to scrap a capital ship. Extremists assassinate Japan's prime minister, and the military takes more power. *1931. September. Japanese Army seizes control of Manchuria, which China has not controlled in decades. It sets up a puppet government. Britain and France effectively control the League of Nations, which issues the
Lytton Report are the findings of the Lytton Commission, entrusted in 1931 by the League of Nations in an attempt to evaluate the Mukden Incident, which led to the Empire of Japan's Japanese invasion of Manchuria, seizure of Manchuria. The five-member commiss ...
in 1932, saying that Japan had genuine grievances, but it acted illegally in seizing the entire province. Japan quits the League, Britain takes no action. *1934. The Royal Navy sends ships to Tokyo to take part in a naval parade in honour of the late Admiral
Tōgō Heihachirō Marshal-Admiral Marquis , served as a '' gensui'' or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He claimed descent from Samurai Shijo Kingo, and he was an integral part of preserving ...
, one of Japan's greatest naval heroes, the " Nelson of the East". *1937. The ''Kamikaze'', a prototype of the Mitsubishi Ki-15, travels from Tokyo to London, the first Japanese-built aircraft to land in Europe, for the
coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The coronation of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and as Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May ...
. *1938 Yokohama Specie Bank acquired
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...
. *1939. The Tientsin Incident almost causes an Anglo-Japanese war when the Japanese blockade the British concession in
Tientsin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
, China.


World War II

*1941. 7/8 December.The Pacific War begins as Japan attacks British possessions in the Far East. *1941–42. In the first few months of war Japanese forces race from victory to victory. They capture
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
,
British Borneo British Borneo comprised the four northern parts of the island of Borneo, which are now the country of Brunei, two Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan. During the British colonial rule before Wor ...
, Malaya,
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
and
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. *The surrender of Singapore is a major defeat for the British; over hundred thousand British and Commonwealth soldiers become prisoners of war. Many British and Commonwealth POWs die in very harsh conditions of captivity. *1944. The
Japanese invasion of India J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...
via Burma ends in disaster. The resulting battles of
Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the f ...
and Kohima becomes the worst defeat on land to that date in Japanese history. *1945. August. The last significant land battle of the Second World War involved British and Japanese forces. It took place in Burma – a failed Japanese breakout attempt in the
Pegu Yomas The Pegu Range ( my, ပဲခူးရိုးမ; Pegu Yoma or Bago Yoma) is a range of low mountains or hillsSeekins, Donald M. (2006) ''Historical dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)'' Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Marylandpage 357 and uplands between ...
. *1945. 2 September. Aboard the USS ''Missouri'' in
Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populou ...
, Admiral Bruce Fraser is among the allied commanders formally accepting the
surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Na ...
. *1945–46. British troops deploy
Japanese Surrendered Personnel Japanese Surrendered Personnel (JSP) is a designation for captive Japanese soldiers (similar to Disarmed Enemy Forces and Surrendered Enemy Personnel). It was used in particular by the British Army to refer to Japanese forces in Asia which had sur ...
during the
First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
and the Indonesian Revolution in
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
and the
Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...
. A battalion commander, Major Kido is recommended by General
Philip Christison General Sir Alexander Frank Philip Christison, 4th Baronet, (17 November 1893 – 21 December 1993) was a British Army officer who served with distinction during the world wars. After service as a junior officer on the Western Front in the Fir ...
for a DSO.


Post War

*1945–1951. Japan comes under allied occupation. The British Commonwealth Force occupy the western prefectures of Shimane, Yamaguchi, Tottori,
Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...
and
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui ...
and the territory of Shikoku Island. In 1951, this becomes the
British Commonwealth Forces Korea British Commonwealth Forces Korea (BCFK) was the formal name of the British Commonwealth army, naval and air units serving with the United Nations (UN) in the Korean War. BCFK included Australian, British, Canadian, Indian, and New Zealand units. ...
with the commencement of the
Korean war {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
. *1948. The
1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...
was held in London. Japan did not participate. *1951.
Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...
– the peace treaty in which Anglo-Japanese relations were normalized. The Japanese government accepts the judgements of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. According to Peter Lowe, the British were still angry over the humiliation of the surrender of Singapore in 1942; resentment at American domination of the occupation of Japan; apprehension concerning renewed Japanese competition in textiles and shipbuilding; and bitterness regarding Japanese atrocities against British prisoners of war. *1953. Nineteen-year-old Crown Prince Akihito (Emperor from 1989 to 2019), represents Japan at the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
*1953. The
British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
in Japan was established. *1957. Japanese Prime Minister
Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. Known for his exploitative rule of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Sh ...
decided to compensate the government of France and
Banque de l'Indochine The Banque de l'Indochine (), originally Banque de l'Indo-Chine ("Bank of Indochina"), was a bank created in 1875 in Paris to finance French colonial development in Asia. As a bank of issue in Indochina until 1952 (and in French Paci ...
in
pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and ...
. *1963. The
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
set Japanese as a subject in its Oriental Institute (the Sub-Faculty of East Asian Studies). *1966.
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
played at
Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...
in Tokyo to overwhelming adulation. This performance emphasized growing good will between Britain and Japan in their foreign relations policies. *1971. HIM Emperor Hirohito pays a
state visit A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter also acting as the official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking for the host ...
to the United Kingdom after an interval of 50 years. *1975.
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
pays a state visit to Japan. *1978. Beginning of the BET scheme (British Exchange Teaching Programme) first advocated by Nicholas MacLean. *1980s. The British-Japanese Parliamentary Group was established in Britain in the early 1980s. *1983.
Naruhito is the current Emperor of Japan. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era, following the abdication of his father, Akihito. He is the 126th monarch according to Japan's traditional order of succession ...
(now Emperor of Japan) studied at
Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...
, until 1985, and researched transport on the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
. *1986.
Nissan Motors , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bran ...
began to operate its car plant in
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
, as
Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd (NMUK) is a British subsidiary car manufacturing plant in Sunderland. It is owned and operated by the European division of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan. Geography Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK is loc ...
. *1986.
The Prince ''The Prince'' ( it, Il Principe ; la, De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new princes and royals. The general theme of ''The ...
and
Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was fi ...
conducted a successful royal visit. *1987. JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) program starts when the BET scheme and the Fulbright scholarship are merged. *1988.
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is a United Kingdom-based charity (registered no. 299955) established in 1988 to support closer links between Britain and Japan. It was founded with a benefaction from Daiwa Securities Co Ltd (now known as Da ...
established. *1990. The Alumni Association for British JET Participants JETAA UK is established *1991. The first
Sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a '' rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring ('' dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by t ...
tournament to be held outside Japan is hosted at the
Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
in London. *1992.
Toyota Motors is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
began to operate its car plant at Burnaston near
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
. *1993.
Helen McCarthy Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and '' Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author o ...
becomes the first English-speaking author to write a book about
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
, and begins cataloguing the anime fandom in the UK. *1998. Emperor
Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. B ...
pays a state visit to the United Kingdom.


21st century

*2001. The year-long "Japan 2001" cultural-exchange project saw a major series of Japanese cultural, educational and sporting events held around the UK. *2001.
JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and i ...
gifts a 0 Series Shinkansen ( No. 22-141) to the
National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant ...
at
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, she is the only one of her type to be preserved outside Japan. *2007. HIM Emperor
Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. B ...
pays his second state visit to the United Kingdom. *2011. UK sends over rescue men with rescue dogs and supplies to help the Japanese, after the 11 March
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peni ...
. *2012. A UK trade delegation to Japan, led by Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, announces an agreement to jointly develop weapons systems. *2012. The
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...
are held in London. Japan takes part for the first time, and its team comes home with 38 medals, seven of them gold. * February 2015.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educ ...
on an official visit tours areas devastated by the
2011 Tsunami Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...
including Fukushima, Ishinomaki, and
Onagawa is a town located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 6,319, and a population density of 97 persons per km2 in 3,110 households. The total area of the town is . Geography Onagawa is located on the rugged ...
. * September 2016. Citing concerns for Japanese owned business operating in the United Kingdom in the wake of the European Union membership referendum, the
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organ ...
directly issues a 15-page memorandum on its own website requesting that the British Government strike a
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
agreement safeguarding UK's current trading rights in the European Single Market. * December 2018. A new trade deal between Japan and the European Union which is hoped could also act as blue-print for post-Brexit trade between Japan and the UK was approved by the European Parliament. * September 2020. The UK and Japan agree a free trade agreement — the first made by the UK since leaving the European Union. * May 2022. UK Prime Minister
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
and Japanese Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida is a Japanese politician serving as Prime Minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 an ...
meet in-person in
Downing Street Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk f ...
and sign a
Reciprocal Access Agreement A Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) ( ja: 部隊間協力円滑化協定, Force-to-force Cooperation Facilitation Agreement) refers to a bilateral defense and security pacts between Japan and governments that provides shared military training and m ...
. The agreement, which was made in response to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
and China's rise in
Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...
region, seeks to expand joint military exercises and increase working together for disaster relief. It also hopes to make nations who are allies of the UK and Japan less dependent on oil and gas exported from Russia. * June 2022. The JS Kashima made a port call in London as part of an exchange event between Japan and Britain and to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the
Anglo-Japanese Alliance The first was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A d ...
. * September 2022. HIM Emperor
Naruhito is the current Emperor of Japan. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era, following the abdication of his father, Akihito. He is the 126th monarch according to Japan's traditional order of succession ...
represents Japan at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in his first visit abroad as emperor. See also the chronology on the website of British Embassy, Tokyo.


Britons in Japan

* William Adams (Miura Anjin) -
Hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as '' gokenin.'' Howev ...
& Advisor to the
Shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...
Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...
* Arthur Adams -
Zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...
who studied Japanese sealife onboard in 1845 *
Rutherford Alcock Sir John Rutherford Alcock, KCB (25 May 1809''London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812''2 November 1897) was the first British diplomatic representative to live in Japan. Early life Alcock was born in St J ...
- British Diplomat to Japan from 1858 - 1864 and the first 'outsider' to climb
Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest ...
in 1860 *Anna d'Almeida - First Female British Travel Writer to have visited Japan in 1862, not the first known female writer on Japan however, that being the translator Mary Margaret Busk in 1841 * William Anderson - A prominent collector who donated to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
*
Edwin Arnold Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work ''The Light of Asia''.The Light of Asia ''The Light of Asia'', or ''The Great Renunciation'' (''Mahâbhinishkramana''), is a book by Sir Edwin Arnold. The first edition of the book was published in London in July 1879. In the form of a narrative poem, the book endeavours to describ ...
, visited Japan in 1889 and married Lady Tama Kurokawa *
William George Aston William George Aston (9 April 1841 – 22 November 1911) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat, author and scholar-expert in the language and history of Japan and Korea. Early life Aston was born near Derry, Ireland.Ricorso Aston, bio notes/ref> He dis ...
- Consular official and Japanologist *
Matilda Chaplin Ayrton Matilda Charlotte Ayrton ( Chaplin; 22 June 1846 – 19 July 1883) was an English physician. She studied medicine in London, Edinburgh and Paris, pursuing higher studies at the latter's universities, and is one of the Edinburgh Seven, the ...
- Scholar and founder of a Midwife Hospital between 1873 - 1875 in Japan * William Edward Ayrton - Professor of Physics & Telegraphy at the
Imperial College of Engineering The Imperial College of Engineering (工部大学校, ''Kōbudaigakkō'') was a Japanese institution of higher education that was founded during the Meiji Era. The college was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works for ...
, introduced the
Arc Lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...
to Japan in 1878 * Michael Buckworth Bailey - First Anglican consular staff from 1862 - 1874 *
Thomas Baty Thomas Baty (8 February 1869 – 9 February 1954), also known by the name Irene Clyde, was an English writer, lawyer and expert on international law who spent much of his career working for the Imperial Japanese government. Baty was also an act ...
- Legal advisor to the
Japanese Empire The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...
*
John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...
- Anglican Missionary specialist on the
Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...
*
Felice Beato Felice Beato (1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, ...
- British/Italian/Corfiote Photographer * Edward Bickersteth - First Anglican Bishop of South Tokyo *
Isabella Bird Isabella Lucy Bird, married name Bishop (15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904), was a nineteenth-century British explorer, writer, photographer, and naturalist. With Fanny Jane Butler she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar i ...
- Victorian Traveller and Author * John Reddie Black - Publisher of newspapers, principally ''The Far East'', which issued photos by
Suzuki Shin'ichi I was the older Japanese photographer of that name. Suzuki was born as the third son of a family named Takahashi) in Iwashina () (now Matsuzaki, Shizuoka) in July 1835. Both his parents died when he was young, and in 1854 he moved into the Suzu ...
in 1873-4 * Carmen Blacker - English Japanologist
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
lecturer *
Thomas Blakiston Thomas Wright Blakiston (27 December 1832 – 15 October 1891) was an English explorer and naturalist. Early life and career Born in Lymington, Hampshire, Blakiston was the son of Major John Blakiston. His grandfather was Sir Matthew Blakis ...
- English Naturalist noted for
Blakiston's Line The Blakiston Line or Blakiston's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn between two of the four largest islands of Japan: Hokkaidō in the north and Honshū, south of it. It can be compared with faunal boundary lines like the Wallace Line. Cer ...
and Blakiston's Fish Owl *
Reginald Horace Blyth Reginald Horace Blyth (3 December 1898–28 October 1964) was an English writer and devotee of Japanese culture. He is most famous for his writings on Zen and on haiku poetry. Early life Blyth was born in Essex, England, the son of a railway cl ...
- Helped to introduce Zen and Haiku to the West during WWII into the 1950s, one of his students being
Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...
*
Alan Booth Alan Booth (5 December 194624 January 1993)
(''
The Roads to Sata ''The Roads to Sata'', written in 1985 by Alan Booth, tells the story of his journey in 1977, on foot, from Cape Sōya in Hokkaidō, the northernmost point of Japan, to Sata SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that conn ...
and a Noh enthusiast *
Duncan Gordon Boyes Duncan Gordon Boyes VC (5 November 1846 – 26 January 1869) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Th ...
- Winner of the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...
at
Shimonoseki is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsush ...
, 1864 *
Anna Brassey Anna Brassey, Baroness Brassey ( Allnutt; 7 October 1839 – 14 September 1887) was an English traveller and writer. Her bestselling book ''A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months'' (1878) describes a voyage around the ...
- An Early Traveller was Brassey in 1877 *
William Robert Broughton William Robert Broughton (22 March 176214 March 1821) was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS ''Chatham'' as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through th ...
- Surveyed Eastern
Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...
and
Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
in
HMS Providence (1791) HMS ''Providence'' was a sloop of the Royal Navy, famous for being commanded by William Bligh on his second breadfruit voyage between 1791 and 1794. The Admiralty purchased ''Providence'' on the stocks from Perry & Co, Blackwall Yard in Feb ...
between 1795 - 1798 *
Richard Henry Brunton Richard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE (26 December 1841 – 24 April 1901) was the so-called " Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He was employed by the government of Meiji period Japan as ...
- Father of Japanese Lighthouses * Ella Du Cane - British Artist who visited in 1904 * Helen Caddick - Travelled to Japan in 1893 *
Basil Hall Chamberlain Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850 – 15 February 1935) was a British academic and Japanologist. He was a professor of the Japanese language at Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during th ...
- Translator and Prominent Japanologist *
Edward Bramwell Clarke Edward Bramwell Clarke (31 January 1874 – 28 April 1934) was an educator in Meiji period Japan, who is credited with introducing the sport of rugby to Japan. Early life Clarke was born at the treaty port of Yokohama, the son of a baker. He g ...
- Professor who helped introduce rugby to Japan *
Richard Cocks Richard Cocks (1566–1624) was the head of the British East India Company trading post in Hirado, Japan, between 1613 and 1623, from its creation, and lasting to its closure due to bankruptcy. He was baptised on 20 January 1565 at St Chad's, Se ...
- Head Merchant of the first British venture in Hirado from 1613 - 1623 * Samuel Cocking - Yokohama Merchant * Josiah Conder - Architect known for the
Rokumeikan The was a large two-story building in Tokyo, completed in 1883, which became a controversial symbol of Westernisation in the Meiji period. Commissioned for the housing of foreign guests by the Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru, it was designed by Bri ...
, his books on Japanese gardening and being a pupil of Kawanabe Kyosai *
Hugh Cortazzi Sir Arthur Henry Hugh Cortazzi, (2 May 1924 – 14 August 2018) was a British diplomat. He was also a distinguished international businessman, academic, author and prominent Japanologist. He was Ambassador from the United Kingdom to Japan ...
- Japanologist and former Ambassador *
James Main Dixon right , 235px , James Main Dixon, 1902 James Main Dixon FRSE (1856, Paisley – 27 September 1933) was a Scottish teacher and author, and an important scholar of the Scots language. Life He was born in Paisley in Scotland the son of Rev J. ...
, former FRSE - Scottish Professor who taught Natsume Soseki * William Gray Dixon - se
Land of the Morning
* Archibald Douglas - Foreign Advisor to the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
, introduced football to Japanese Naval Cadets *
Christopher Dresser Christopher Dresser (4 July 1834 – 24 November 1904) was a British designer and design theorist, now widely known as one of the first and most important, independent designers. He was a pivotal figure in the Aesthetic Movement and a major con ...
- Designer and major influence on the
Anglo-Japanese style The Anglo-Japanese style developed in the United Kingdom through the Victorian period and early Edwardian period from approximately 1851 to the 1910s, when a new appreciation for Japanese design and culture influenced how designers and craftspe ...
& Writer on Japan *
Henry Dyer Henry Dyer (23 August 1848 – 25 September 1918) was a Scottish engineer who contributed much to founding Western-style technical education in Japan and Scottish-Japanese relations. Early life Henry Dyer was born on 16 August 1848, ...
- First principal of the
Imperial College of Engineering The Imperial College of Engineering (工部大学校, ''Kōbudaigakkō'') was a Japanese institution of higher education that was founded during the Meiji Era. The college was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works for ...
(Kobu Daigakko), taught Tanabe Sakuro in 1877 who designed
Lake Biwa Canal is a historic waterway in Japan connecting Lake Biwa to the nearby City of Kyoto. Constructed during the Meiji Period the canal was originally designed for the transportation of lake water for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes, but a ...
which became Japans' first
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
power facility * Alfred East - English watercolour artist commissioned by the Fine Art Society to paint scenes in Japan in 1889 *
Lord Elgin Earl of Elgin is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 July 1641. The Earl of Elgin is the h ...
- Signatory to the British 'unequal' treaty of 1858 *
William Empson Sir William Empson (27 September 1906 – 15 April 1984) was an English literary critic and poet, widely influential for his practice of closely reading literary works, a practice fundamental to New Criticism. His best-known work is his first ...
- Lived in Japan during the 1930s, known for The Face of the Buddha *
James Alfred Ewing Sir James Alfred Ewing MInstitCE (27 March 1855 − 7 January 1935) was a Scottish physicist and engineer, best known for his work on the magnetic properties of metals and, in particular, for his discovery of, and coinage of the word, '' hy ...
- Scottish Professor *
Reginald Farrer Reginald John Farrer (17 February 1880 – 17 October 1920), was a traveller and plant collector. He published a number of books, although is best known for ''My Rock Garden''. He travelled to Asia in search of a variety of plants, many of wh ...
- Field Botanist who lived in Tokyo in 1903 *
Henry Faulds Henry Faulds (1 June 1843 – 24 March 1930) was a Scottish doctor, missionary and scientist who is noted for the development of fingerprinting. Early life Faulds was born in Beith, North Ayrshire, into a family of modest means. Aged 13, he wa ...
- Scottish doctor who founded a hospital in Tsukiji which became the basis for
St. Luke's International Hospital is a general and teaching hospital located in the Tsukiji district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. First opened in 1902, as a medical mission facility by the Episcopal Church in the United States, the hospital is now one of central Tokyo's largest and m ...
and helped introduce
Joseph Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of ...
's antiseptic methods to Japanese Surgeons * Hugh Fraser - British minister 1889–94 *
Mary Crawford Fraser Mary Crawford Fraser (April 8, 1851 – 1922), usually known as Mrs. Hugh Fraser, was a writer noted for her various memoirs and historical novels. Early life Mary Crawford was born in Italy on April 8, 1851. She was the daughter of American s ...
- se
Diplomatist's Wife in Japan
* Thomas Blake Glover - Scottish trader who was key to the industrialisation of Meiji Japan, smuggled over the Choshu Five to Britain * Abel Gower - Consul * William Gowland - Father of Japanese Archaeology *
Thomas Lomar Gray Thomas Lomar Gray (4 February 1850 – 19 December 1908) was a Scottish engineer noted for his pioneering work in seismology. Early life Born in Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland, Gray graduated in 1878 from the University of Glasgow with a BSc in eng ...
- Engineering Professor and Seismologist * Arthur Hasketh Groom - Creator of the first golf course in Japan *
John Harington Gubbins John Harington Gubbins (24 January 1852 – 23 February 1929) was a British linguist, consular official and diplomat. He was the father of Sir Colin McVean Gubbins. Education Gubbins attended Harrow School and would have gone on to Cambridge Un ...
- Diplomat to the
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent form ...
*
Nicholas John Hannen Sir Nicholas John Hannen (24 August 1842 – 27 April 1900) was a British barrister, diplomat and judge who served in China and Japan. He was the Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan from 1891 to 1900 and also served c ...
- British barrister for the
British Supreme Court for China and Japan The British Supreme Court for China (originally the British Supreme Court for China and Japan) was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles o ...
from 1871 to 1900 in varying roles *
Charles Holmes Sir Charles John Holmes, KCVO (11 November 1868, Preston, Lancashire – 7 December 1936, Kensington, London) was a British painter, art historian and museum director. His writing on art combined theory with practice, and he was an expert on ...
- Owner of the Studio Magazine, visited Japan in 1889, who along with
Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...
were heavily influenced by
Japanese aesthetics Japanese aesthetics comprise a set of ancient ideals that include '' wabi'' (transient and stark beauty), '' sabi'' (the beauty of natural patina and aging), and ''yūgen'' (profound grace and subtlety). These ideals, and others, underpin much of ...
*
Edward Atkinson Hornel Edward Atkinson Hornel (17 July 1864 – 1933) was a Scottish painter of landscapes, flowers, and foliage, with children. He was a cousin of James Hornell. His contemporaries in the Glasgow Boys called him Ned Hornel. Biography Hornel was born ...
- Scottish Artist influenced by Japanese design who visited from 1893 to 1894 *
Collingwood Ingram Collingwood "Cherry" Ingram (30 October 1880 – 19 May 1981), was a British ornithologist, plant collector and gardener, who was an authority on Japanese flowering cherries. Personal life Collingwood Ingram was a son of Sir William Ingram and M ...
- known as ''"Cherry Ingram"'', a specialist cherry tree collector * Grace James - Japanese folklorist and children's Writer *
Elizabeth Keith Elizabeth Keith (30 April 1887 – 1956) was a Scottish artist and writer. She was a print-maker and watercolorist whose works were significantly influenced by her travels to Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines. Early life Keith was born ...
- Artist who visited from 1915 - 1935 intermittently, working in the
Shin-hanga was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century). It maintained the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' c ...
style *
Cargill Gilston Knott Cargill Gilston Knott FRS, FRSE LLD (30 June 1856 – 26 October 1922) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan. He later became a Fellow of the Royal Society, ...
- Scottish Physicist whose work in seismology led to the first earthquake hazard survey of Japan * Frank Toovey Lake – Young sailor who died aged 19 interred in Sanuki Hiroshima whose grave has been up-kept since 1868 *
Bernard Leach Bernard Howell Leach (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery". Biography Early years (Japan) Leach was born in Hong Kong. His mother Eleanor (née ...
- An influential Potter whose formative years were spent in Japan * Mary Cornwall Legh - Anglican Missionary who worked with those with
Leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria '' Mycobacterium leprae'' or '' Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve d ...
*
John Liggins Rev. John Liggins (11 May 1829 – 8 January 1912) was an English-born Episcopalian missionary to China and Japan. The first Protestant missionary and ordained representative of Anglican Communion to reach Japan, together with his seminary c ...
- Anglican Missionary who landed in 1859 * Arthur Lloyd - Anglican missionary notable for his work on
Mahayana Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
* Ernest A Hart - Prominent 19th century Art collector, visited Japan in 1891 with Alice Hart *
Jan Linton Jan Linton is a British singer, musician and producer from Warrington who helped internationalise the music scene in Tokyo, Japan. Biography Jan Linton studied violin from the age of four, moving briefly onto piano, before discovering pop ...
- British musician active in Tokyo and
Juliana's Juliana's, also known as Juliana's Tokyo (ジュリアナ東京), was a Japanese discothèque that operated in Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo from May 15, 1991 till August 31, 1994. It was famous for its dance platforms, on which office ladies dres ...
club from 1990-2005 *
Joseph Henry Longford Joseph Henry Longford (25 June 1849 in Dublin – 12 May 1925 in London) was a British consular official in the British Japan Consular Service from 24 February 1869 until 15 August 1902. He was Consul in Formosa (1895–97) after the First ...
- Consul and Academic *
Claude Maxwell MacDonald Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, (12 June 1852 – 10 September 1915) was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan. Early life MacDonald was born the son of Mary Ellen MacDonald (''nee'' Dougan) and Ma ...
- Diplomat *
Ranald MacDonald Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between C ...
- The first native English teacher in Japan * Charles Maries - English botanist sent by
Veitch Nurseries The Veitch Nurseries were the largest group of family-run plant nurseries in Europe during the 19th century. Started by John Veitch sometime before 1808, the original nursery grew substantially over several decades and was eventually split into ...
who collected in Japan from 1877 - 1879 *
Annette Meakin Annette Mary Budgett Meakin (1867–1959) was a British travel author. She and her mother were the first English women to travel to Japan via the Trans-Siberian railway. Life Annette M. B. Meakin was born on 12 August 1867. Her parents were Edw ...
- First Englishwoman to get to Japan via the
Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
, also wrote about the
Ainu people The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Ya ...
in 1901 *
John Milne John Milne (30 December 1850 – 31 July 1913) was a British geologist and mining engineer who worked on a horizontal seismograph. Biography Milne was born in Liverpool, England, the only child of John Milne of Milnrow, and at first raised i ...
- Professor and Father of Seismology * Algernon Bertram Mitford (Lord Redesdale) - Diplomat & Author of
Tales of Old Japan ''Tales of Old Japan'' (1871) is an anthology of short stories compiled by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Lord Redesdale, writing under the better known name of A.B. Mitford. These stories focus on various aspects of Japanese life before th ...
* Edmund Morel – 'the father of Japanese railways', a foreign Advisor to the Meiji government on railways * Augustus Henry Mounsey - British Diplomat in the 1870s *
Ivan Morris Ivan Ira Esme Morris (29 November 1925 – 19 July 1976) was an English writer, translator and editor in the field of Japanese studies. Biography Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage to Edita Morris () and Ir ...
- Japanese Academic, translator of the
Sarashina Nikki The is a memoir written by the daughter of Sugawara no Takasue, a lady-in-waiting of Heian-period Japan. Her work stands out for its descriptions of her travels and pilgrimages and is unique in the literature of the period, as well as one of th ...
in 1971 *
James Murdoch James Rupert Jacob Murdoch (born 13 December 1972) is a British-American businessman, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and was the chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019. He was the chairman and CEO fo ...
- Wrote the first academic history of Japan in English *
Iso Mutsu Countess , born Gertrude Ethel Passingham, was a British writer. She married a Japanese nobleman and diplomat, came with him to Japan in 1910 and lived in Kamakura until her death in 1930.The Japan TimesKamakura: Fact and Legend In 1918 she wrote ...
- Author of Kamakura: Fact and Legend *
Edward St. John Neale Edward St. John Neale (1812–1866) was a British Lieutenant-Colonel and Diplomat who was active in Asia in the 1860s. He was the Chargé d'affaires of Great Britain in Japan in 1862–1863. Neale, who had been stationed in Beijing from 1860 ...
, Lt.-Col, Secretary of Legation then Chargé d'Affaires 1862–1863 * Mary Clarke Nind,
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
missionary who toured Japan in May 1894 *
Marianne North Marianne North (24 October 1830 – 30 August 1890) was a prolific English Victorian biologist and botanical artist, notable for her plant and landscape paintings, her extensive foreign travels, her writings, her plant discoveries and the ...
, Victorian Traveller and Botany painter who visited in 1875 * Laurence Oliphant – Secretary of the Legation in 1861 * Bathia Catherine Ozaki - - Saburo Ozaki's's wife, who married in 1869 and are considered an early 'International' Japanese couple, akin to Alethea Sannomiya (m. 1874), the earliest example being Yuki Magome who married William Adams about 1605 * Sherard Osborn - Visited and published in 1859 some of the first woodcut illustrations from Japan in England *
Yei Theodora Ozaki O'Yei or ''Theodora'' was an early 20th-century translator of Japanese short stories and fairy tales. Her translations were fairly liberal but have been popular, and were reprinted several times after her death. Biography Ozaki was born in Lon ...
- A 20th-century translator of Japanese fairy tales for children in English * Henry Spencer Palmer - Foreign Advisor on Civil Engineering for the Yokohama area and
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
correspondent *
Harry Smith Parkes Sir Harry Smith Parkes (24 February 1828 – 22 March 1885) was a British diplomat who served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary and Consul General of the United Kingdom to the Empire of Japan from 1865 to 1883 and the Chinese ...
- Diplomat during
Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...
* Alfred Parsons - Visited and wrote of Japan from 1892 – 1895 in "Notes in Japan" * John Perry - Colleague of Ayrton at the
Imperial College of Engineering The Imperial College of Engineering (工部大学校, ''Kōbudaigakkō'') was a Japanese institution of higher education that was founded during the Meiji Era. The college was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works for ...
, Tokyo *
Charles Lennox Richardson Charles Lennox Richardson (16 April 1834 – 14 September 1862) was a British merchant based in Shanghai who was killed in Japan during the Namamugi Incident. His middle name is spelled ''Lenox'' in census and family documents. Merchant Richards ...
- slain in the Namamugi Incident *
Hannah Riddell Hannah Riddell (1855–1932) was an English woman who devoted her life to the care of patients with leprosy in Japan. Life Early life and her determination Hannah Riddell was born in 1855 in Barnet, then a village to the North of London. Her ...
- Opened the first leprosy research laboratory in Japan in 1918 *
Frederick Ringer Frederick Ringer (1838–1907) was a British merchant who took over Thomas Glover's role as leader in the Nagasaki foreign settlement. Ringer House (built 1865) is situated in Glover Garden. During the decades from the late 19th to early 20th ...
- Industrialist and Nagasaki Businessman *
George Bailey Sansom Sir George Bailey Sansom (28 November 1883 – 8 March 1965) was a British diplomat and historian of pre-modern Japan, particularly noted for his historical surveys and his attention to Japanese society and culture. Early life Sansom was born ...
- Japanologist of the early 20th century * Ernest Mason Satow - Notable Diplomat and Japanologist *
Timon Screech Timon Screech (born 28 September 1961 in Birmingham) was professor of the history of art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London from 1991 - 2021, when he left the UK in protest over Brexit. He is now a profess ...
-
SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...
Professor of Arts * John William Robertson Scott - Writer of ''The Foundations of Japan'' which describes rural life in WWI Japan * Alexander Allan Shand - British Banker who proposed the idea of the
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a centra ...
in the 1870s * Alexander Croft Shaw - Anglican missionary *
Alexander Cameron Sim Alexander Cameron Sim (28 August 1840 – 28 November 1900) was a British-born pharmacist and entrepreneur active in Japan during the Meiji period. He was also the founder of the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club. Biography Sim was born in Aberlo ...
- founder of Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, introduced lemonade (
Ramune () is a Japanese carbonated soft drink. It was introduced in 1884 in Kobe by the British pharmacist Alexander Cameron Sim. Like Banta, an Indian lemon drink, is available in a Codd-neck bottle, a heavy glass bottle whose mouth is sealed by ...
) to Japan. * Admiral Sir James Stirling – Signatory to the
1854 Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The ...
treaty * F.W. Strange - Introduced Collegiate Rowing to Meiji Japan in 1877 at Yokohama YARC * Frederick William Sutton - Early English Photographer *
Arthur Waley Arthur David Waley (born Arthur David Schloss, 19 August 188927 June 1966) was an English orientalist and sinologist who achieved both popular and scholarly acclaim for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. Among his honours were t ...
- First Native English Translator of The Tale of Genji *
Walter Weston Walter Weston (25 December 1861 – 27 March 1940), was an English clergyman and Anglican missionary who helped popularise recreational mountaineering in Japan at the turn of the 20th century. Background and early life Weston was born 25 Dec ...
- Rev. who publicised the term "Japanese Alps" * William Willis - Doctor * Channing Moore Williams - Founder of
Rikkyo University , also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Rikkyo is known as one of the six leading universities in the field of sports in Tokyo (東京六大学 "Big Six" — Rikkyo University, University of ...
, he also helped to set up the
Anglican Church in Japan The ''Nippon Sei Ko Kai'' ( ja, 日本聖公会, translit=Nippon Seikōkai, lit=Japanese Holy Catholic Church), abbreviated as NSKK, sometimes referred to in English as the Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan, is the national Christian church rep ...
*
Ernest Henry Wilson Ernest Henry "Chinese" Wilson (15 February 1876 – 15 October 1930), better known as E. H. Wilson, was a notable British plant collector and explorer who introduced a large range of about 2000 Asian plant species to the West; some sixty bear ...
- Plant Collector who brought 63
sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...
to the West from 1911 - 1916, the also has his namesake *
Charles Wirgman Charles Wirgman (31 August 1832 - 8 February 1891) was an English artist and cartoonist, the creator of the ''Japan Punch'' and illustrator in China and Meiji period-Japan for the ''Illustrated London News''. Wirgman was the eldest son of Ferdi ...
- Editor of ''
Japan Punch The ''Japan Punch'' was a satirical comic magazine and journal that was authored, illustrated and published by English painter and cartoonist Charles Wirgman from 1862 to 1887. The publication reflected the social context of Bakumatsu Yokohama a ...
'' * Annie Yeamans - Circus performer who toured Yokohama in 1866 The chronological list of
Heads of the United Kingdom Mission in Japan The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Japan is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in Japan, and is the head of the UK's diplomatic mission there. The following is a chronological list of British heads of mission ( ministe ...
.


Japanese in the United Kingdom

The family name is given in italics. Usually the family name comes first in regards to Japanese historical figures, but in modern times not so for the likes of Kazuo Ishiguro and Katsuhiko Oku, both well known in the United Kingdom. * ''Aoki'' Shuzo - Diplomat, signed the 1894 treaty in London * HRH ''Arisugawa'' Takehito - Served with the Royal Navy and frequently visited England between 1879-1905 * Ruth Okabe Buhicrosan (1851 - 1914) - Japanese-British published author in 1885, wife of
Tannaker Buhicrosan Tannaker Buhicrosan (タナカー・ブヒクロサン) (25 February 1839 – 10 August 1894), christened Frederik "Frank" Eduard Marie Martinus Blekman, and also known as Furederikku Burekkuman, was a Dutch-Japanese translator, international bu ...
* Uriemon ''Eaton'' - First person of Japanese descent to attend British College in 1639 * Misao ''Gamo'' - Japanese socialite and diplomats wife in Edwardian Britain * Tsuneko Gauntlett - Prominent Social Rights Activist, member of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
* ''Genda'' Minoru - Naval attaché and planner of the Pearl Harbor strike; in 1940 he saw
Spitfires The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...
and Bf 109s in combat over London during the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
* ''Hayashi'' Gonsuke - Minister who promoted Japanese arts in 1894 in London * ''Hayashi'' Tadasu - A student in London from 1866 - 1868 * Yuzuru ''Hiraga'' - IJN naval officer who was educated at
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
from 1905 - 1908, part of the design team for the famous Yamato battleship * Taka ''Hirose'' - Bassist of the band Feeder * ''Hoshi'' Tōru - First Japanese lawyer in 1877 * ''Inagaki'' Manjirō - Cambridge University graduate and diplomat * Imekanu -
Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...
Yukar ( ain, ユカㇻ) are Ainu sagas that form a long rich tradition of oral literature. In older periods, the epics were performed by both men and women; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Ainu culture was in decline, women were general ...
poet who worked with
John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...
* Kazuo ''Ishiguro'' - Famous Writer, see The Remains of the Day * ''Iwakura'' Tomomi - see
Iwakura mission The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy (, ''Iwakura Shisetsudan'') was a Japanese diplomatic voyage to the United States and Europe conducted between 1871 and 1873 by leading statesmen and scholars of the Meiji period. It was not the only such m ...
especially * Shinji ''Kagawa'' - played for English
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
club
Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
*
Kamisaka Sekka was an important artistic figure in early twentieth-century Japan. Born in Kyoto to a Samurai family, his talents for art and design were recognized early. He eventually allied himself with the traditional Rinpa school of art. He is considere ...
- Studied and spread
Japonisme ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...
and
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
, studied in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
from 1901 - 1910 * ''Kikuchi'' Dairoku - Cambridge University graduate and politician *
Tatsuno Kingo was a Japanese architect born in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, Kyushu. Doctor of Engineering. Conferred Jusanmi (従三位, Junior Third Rank) and Kunsanto (勲三等, Order of Third Class). Former dean of Architecture Department at Tokyo Imperia ...
- Studied under Conder and
William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...
between 1877 and 1883 in Japan and England *Gunji Koizumi - Brought Judo to UK, students include Sarah Mayer, first non-Japanese woman to earn a black belt (martial arts), Black belt *Kunisawa Shinkurō, ''Kunisawa'' Shinkurō - Yōga painter who studied in England in the Meiji era *Yoshio Markino, Yoshio ''Markino'' - Japanese Artist active in London in the first half of the 20th century *Mori Arinori, ''Mori'' Arinori - Studied at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
in 1865 one of the Satsuma students *Naoko Mori, Naoko ''Mori'' - Actress - famous for playing Toshiko Sato in Torchwood and Doctor Who *Yoshinori Muto, Yoshinori ''Muto'' - Footballer for Newcastle United *Shunsuke Nakamura, Shunsuke ''Nakamura'' - played for Scottish football club Celtic F.C., Celtic *Natsume Sōseki, ''Natsume'' Sōseki - Author of I Am a Cat *Utako Shimoda, ''Utako'' Shimoda - Visited Britain in 1894 to study Women's Education where she was received by
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
*Teruko Sono, Teruko ''Sono'' - First female lawyer in Japan, visited in 1893 raising £155,000 to build Komatsu-juku (a girls School) opened in 1894 in Azabu *Tsuda Umeko, ''Tsuda'' Umeko - Leader of Women in Japan#Education, Women's Rights in Education who used St Hilda's College, Oxford and other British HE schools to help model a female-driven Women's University in 1902Umeko Tsuda: a Pioneer in Higher Education for Women in Japan, Mari Kunieda, July–December 2020, Vol.7, No.2, p.37, Tiempo y Educación, Espacio, e-ISSN: 1698-7802, Tsuda University *Tetsu Yasui, ''Tetsu'' Yasui - Studied in Britain between 1897-1900, then in Wales between 1907-1909 *Shinji Okazaki, Shinji ''Okazaki'' - footballer for Leicester City F.C, Leicester City *Katsuhiko Oku, Katsuhiko ''Oku'' - Oxford University rugby player, diplomat in Japanese embassy in London who died in Iraq, 2003. Posthumously promoted to ambassador. See also th
Oku-Inoue fund
for the children of Iraq. *Kishichiro Okura, Kishichiro ''Okura'' - 20th century Entrepreneur *Hisashi Owada, Hisashi ''Owada'' - Cambridge University graduate, father of Princess Masako *Sputniko!, Hiromi Marissa ''Ozaki'' - Royal College of Art Major, Artist and Designer (active 2007–present) *Rina Sawayama, Rina ''Sawayama'' - 21st century Musician *Suematsu Kencho, ''Suematsu'' Kenchō - Cambridge University graduate and statesman *Ginnosuke Tanaka, Ginnosuke ''Tanaka'' - Cambridge University graduate, introduced rugby to Japan *Tōgō Heihachirō, ''Tōgō'' Heihachirō - Spent time in the UK, one of Japan's greatest naval heroes, the "''Nelson of the East''" *Gnyuki ''Torimaru'' - Fashion designer (b.1937) going under his Yuki label in the 1970s-1980s, known for his jersey-drape dresses as worn by Diana to Japan in 1986 *Dame Mitsuko Uchida, Mitsuko ''Uchida'' - Classical Pianist *Sadakazu Uyenishi, ''Uenishi'' Sadakazu - Bartitsu practitioner, Edith Margaret Garrud & Emily Diana Watts also practiced Suffrajitsu under his tutelage *Sada Yacco, ''Kawakami'' Sadayakko or Sada Yacco - Performed in London as Ophelia and was promoted by Ellen Terry *Will Sharpe - BAFTA Winning Actor and Director known for Giri/Haji (2019) *Maya Yoshida, Maya ''Yoshida'' - footballer currently playing for Premier League club Southampton F.C., Southampton *Yamao Yozo, ''Yamao'' Yōzō - Member of the Choshu Five, see also Japanese students in the United Kingdom *Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito - First member of the Japanese Royal Family to study abroad in 1871 *Diana Yukawa - Solo Violinist and Composer


Education

; In Japan: *British School in Tokyo ; In the UK: *Japanese School in London *Rikkyo School in England *Teikyo School United Kingdom *Chaucer College *Teikyo University of Japan in Durham ; Former institutions in the UK: *Gyosei International School UK (closed) *Shi-Tennoji School in UK (closed) *Gyosei International College in the U.K. (merged into the University of Reading)


List of Japanese diplomatic envoys in the United Kingdom (partial list)


Ministers plenipotentiary

* Terashima Munenori 1872–1873 * Kagenori Ueno 1874–1879 * Mori Arinori 1880–1884 * Masataka Kawase 1884–1893 * Aoki Shūzō 1894 * Katō Takaaki 1895–1900 * Hayashi Tadasu 1900–1905


Ambassadors

* Hayashi Tadasu 1905–1906 * Komura Jutarō 1906–1908 * Katō Takaaki 2nd time, 1908–1912 * Katsunosuke Inoue 1913–1916 * Chinda Sutemi 1916–1920 * Gonsuke Hayashi 1920–1925 * Keishiro Matsui 1925–1928 * Matsudaira Tsuneo 1929–1935 * Shigeru Yoshida 1936–1938 * Mamoru Shigemitsu 1938–1941 * Shunichi Matsumoto 1952–1955 * Haruhiko Nishi 1955–1957 * Katsumi Ōno 1958–1964 * Morio Yukawa 1968–1972 * Haruki Mori 1972–? * Masaki Orita 2001–2004 * Yoshiji Nogami 2004–2008 * Shin Ebihara 2008–2011 * Keiichi Hayashi 2011–2016 * Koji Tsuruoka 2016–present


List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Japan


See also

* List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Japan * History of Japanese foreign relations ** Ian Nish, historian * Japanese entry into World War I * British Japan Consular Service * o-yatoi gaikokujin – foreign employees in Meiji era Japan * Foreign cemeteries in Japan * Japan Society of the UK * Australia–Japan relations * Canada–Japan relations * China–Japan relations * France–Japan relations, French–Japanese relations * Germany–Japan relations * Ireland–Japan relations * Japan–Malaysia relations * Japan–Netherlands relations * Japan–New Zealand relations * Japan–Russia relations * Japan–Singapore relations * Japan–South Korea relations * Japan–United States relations * Japanese in the United Kingdom, British people of Japanese descent * Australia–United Kingdom relations * Canada–United Kingdom relations * China–United Kingdom relations * Ireland–United Kingdom relations * Malaysia–United Kingdom relations * New Zealand–United Kingdom relations * Singapore–United Kingdom relations * South Korea–United Kingdom relations * United Kingdom–United States relations * Iwakura Mission, visits Europe 1871–1873 * gaikoku bugyō, commissioners of foreign affairs *
Chōshū Five The were members of the Chōshū han of western Japan who travelled to England in 1863 to study at University College London. The five students were the first of many successive groups of Japanese students who travelled overseas in the late Baku ...
, visits UK 1863 * Japanese students in the United Kingdom * List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868


Notes


Further reading

* ''The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600–2000'' (5 vol.) essays by scholars. ** ''Volume I: The Political-Diplomatic Dimension, 1600–1930'' ed. by I. Nish and Y. Kibata. (2000
online chapter abstracts
** ''Volume II: The Political-Diplomatic Dimension, 1931–2000'' ed by I. Nish and Y. Kibata. (2000
online chapter abstracts
**''Volume III: The Military Dimension'' ed by I. Gow et al. (2003
online chapter abstracts
** ''Volume IV: Economic and Business Relations'' ed. by J. Hunter, and S. Sugiyama. (2002
online chapter abstracts
**''Volume V: Social and Cultural Perspectives'' ed by G. Daniels and C. Tsuzuki. (2002
online chapter abstracts
* Akagi, Roy Hidemichi. ''Japan's Foreign Relations 1542–1936: A Short History'' (1979
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560pp * Auslin, Michael R. ''Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy'' (Harvard UP, 2009). * Beasley, W.G. ''Great Britain and the Opening of Japan, 1834–1858'' (1951
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* Beasley, W. G. ''Japan Encounters the Barbarian: Japanese Travelers in America and Europe'' (Yale UP, 1995). * Bennett, Neville. "White Discrimination against Japan: Britain, the Dominions and the United States, 1908–1928." ''New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies'' 3 (2001): 91–105
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* Best, Antony. "Race, monarchy, and the Anglo-Japanese alliance, 1902–1922." ''Social Science Japan Journal'' 9.2 (2006): 171–186. * Best, Antony. ''British intelligence and the Japanese challenge in Asia, 1914–1941'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002). * Best, Antony. ''Britain, Japan and Pearl Harbour: Avoiding War in East Asia, 1936–1941'' (1995
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* Buckley, R. ''Occupation Diplomacy: Britain, the United States and Japan 1945–1952'' (1982) * Checkland, Olive. ''Britain's Encounter with Meiji Japan, 1868–1912'' (1989). * Checkland, Olive. ''Japan and Britain after 1859: Creating Cultural Bridges'' (2004
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Hugh Cortazzi Sir Arthur Henry Hugh Cortazzi, (2 May 1924 – 14 August 2018) was a British diplomat. He was also a distinguished international businessman, academic, author and prominent Japanologist. He was Ambassador from the United Kingdom to Japan ...
Global Oriental 2004, 8 vol (1996 to 2013)
''British Envoys in Japan 1859–1972''
edited and compiled by Hugh Cortazzi, Global Oriental 2004, * Cortazzi, Hugh, ed. ''Kipling's Japan: Collected Writings'' (1988). * Denney, John. ''Respect and Consideration: Britain in Japan 1853 – 1868 and beyond''. Radiance Press (2011). * Dobson, Hugo and Hook, Glenn D. '' Japan and Britain in the Contemporary World'' (Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge Series) (2012
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* Fox, Grace. ''Britain and Japan, 1858–1883'' (Oxford UP, 1969). * Harcreaves, J. D. "The Anglo-Japanese Alliance." ''History Today'' (1952) 2#4 pp 252–258 online * Heere, Cees. ''Empire Ascendant: The British World, Race, and the Rise of Japan, 1894-1914'' (Oxford UP, 2020). * Kowner, Rotem. "'Lighter than Yellow, but not Enough': Western Discourse on the Japanese 'Race', 1854–1904." ''Historical Journal'' 43.1 (2000): 103–131
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* Langer, William. ''The Diplomacy of Imperialism 1890–1902'' (2nd ed. 1950), pp. pp 745–86, on treaty of 1902 * Lowe, Peter. ''Britain in the Far East: A Survey from 1819 to the Present'' (1981). * Lowe, Peter. ''Great Britain and Japan 1911–15: A Study of British Far Eastern Policy'' (Springer, 1969). * McOmie, William. ''The Opening of Japan, 1853–1855: A Comparative Study of the American, British, Dutch and Russian Naval Expeditions to Compel the Tokugawa Shogunate to Conclude Treaties and Open Ports to their Ships'' (Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental, 2006). * McKay, Alexander. ''Scottish Samurai: Thomas Blake Glover, 1838–1911'' (Canongate Books, 2012). * Marder, Arthur J. '' Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, vol. 1: Strategic illusions, 1936–1941''(1981); ''Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, vol. 2: The Pacific War, 1942–1945'' (1990) * Morley, James William, ed. ''Japan's foreign policy, 1868–1941: a research guide'' (Columbia UP, 1974), toward Britain, pp 184–235 * Nish, Ian Hill. ''China, Japan and 19th Century Britain'' (Irish University Press, 1977). * Nish, Ian. ''The Anglo-Japanese Alliance: The Diplomacy of Two Island Empires 1984–1907'' (A&C Black, 2013). * Nish, Ian. ''Alliance in Decline: A Study of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1908–23'' (A&C Black, 2013). * Nish, Ian. "Britain and Japan: Long-Range Images, 1900–52." ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' (2004) 15#1 pp 149–161. * Nish, I., ed. ''Anglo-Japanese Alienation, 1919–1952'' (1982), * Nish, Ian Hill. ''Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits'' (5 vol 1997–2004). * O'Brien, Phillips, ed. ''The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902–1922'' (Routledge, 2004), Essays by scholars. * Scholtz, Amelia. "The Giant in the Curio Shop: Unpacking the Cabinet in Kipling's Letters from Japan." ''Pacific Coast Philology'' 42.2 (2007): 199–216
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* Scholtz, Amelia Catherine. ''Dispatches from Japanglia: Anglo-Japanese Literary Imbrication, 1880–1920.'' (PhD Diss. Rice University, 2012).
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* Sterry, Lorraine. ''Victorian Women Travellers in Meiji Japan'' (Brill, 2009). * Takeuchi, Tatsuji. ''War and diplomacy in the Japanese Empire'' (1935); a major scholarly histor
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* Thorne, Christopher. "Viscount Cecil, the Government and the Far Eastern Crisis of 1931." ''Historical Journal'' 14, no. 4 (1971): 805–26
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* Thorne, Christopher G. ''The Limits of Foreign Policy: The West, The League and the Far Eastern Crisis of 1931–1933'' (1973
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* Towle, Phillip and Nobuko Margaret Kosuge. ''Britain and Japan in the Twentieth Century: One Hundred Years of Trade and Prejudice'' (2007
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External links



– at Cambridge University

– in Tokyo
The British Association for Japanese StudiesThe British Consulate
– in Nagoya
The British Consulate-General
– in Osaka

– the cultural arm of the British government overseas
The British Chamber of Commerce in JapanThe British Embassy
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