Description
Book SynopsisCommissioned by the Japan Society as the companion volume to British Envoys in Japan, 1959-1972 (2004), this collection of essays on a century of official Japanese representation in the United Kingdom completes the history of bilateral diplomatic relations up to the mid-1960s, concluding with Ambassador Ohno Katsumi’s highly successful six-year assignment in 1964. In all, twelve authors, half of whom are Japanese , contribute to the work. In addition to the nineteen biographies, there are essays on the history of the Japanese Embassy buildings in London, an overview of Japanese envoys in Britain between 1862 and 1872 by Sir Hugh Cortazzi, as well as aspects of embassy life which illuminate some of the factors impacting on the life-style of residents in London in former times, including an entertaining personal memoir by Ayako Ishizaka of ‘A Diplomat’s Daughter in the 1930s’. By way of appendix, the volume concludes with a short history of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho) up to the present day.
Table of ContentsList of Contributors; Preface; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations/Order of Names; 1 The Japanese Embassy in London and its Buildings; 2. Japanese Envoys in Britain, 1862-72; 3. TERASHIMA MUNENORI (1832-93). Master of Early Meiji Diplomacy; 4. UENO KAGENORI (1845-1888). A Most Influental Diplomat; 5. MORI ARINORI (1847-89). From Diplomat to Statesman; 6. KAWASE MASATAKA (1840-1919). The Longest-serving Envoy; 7. AOKI SHUÅ ZOÅ (1844-1914). Brief Encounter; 8. KATO Å TAKAAKI (1860-1926). A Remarkable Diplomat and Statesman; 9. HAYASHI TADASU, (1850-1913). Working for the Alliance; 10. INTERLUDE: Life in the Legation/Embassy, 1884-1913; 11. KOMURA JUTAROÅ (1855-1911). Great Statesman; Struggling Diplomat; 12. INOUYE KATSUNOSUKE (1861-1929). A Highly-respected Envoy; 13. CHINDA SUTEMI (1857-1929). Ambassador in Peace and War; 14. HAYASHI GONSUKE (1860-1939). Leading the Way to the Washington Conference; 15. MATSUI KEISHIROÅ (1868-1946). An Efficient Public Servant; 16. MATSUDAIRA TSUNEO (1877-1949). Diplomat and Courtier; 17. YOSHIDA SHIGERU (1878-1967). Difficult Years for Anglo-Japanese Relations; 18. SHIGEMITSU MAMORU (1887-1957). Critical Times in a Long, Ambivalent Career; 19. INTERLUDE: Snapshots of the London Embassy in the 1930s; 20. INTERLUDE: A Diplomat's Daughter in the 1930s; 21. ASAKAI KOÅ ICHIROÅ (1906-1995). High-ranking Envoy Reconnects with Britain; 22. MATSUMOTO SHUNICHI (1897-1988). First Post-war Ambassador; 23. NISHI HARUHIKO (1893-1986). Conscientious and Patriotic Bureaucrat; 24. OHNO KATSUMI (1905-2006). A Mission to Renew Anglo-Japanese Relations; APPENDIXES: I List of Ministers/Ambassadors with Dates; II A Concise History of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Index
