Thursday 3 May 2007
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Britain and Japan in the Twentieth Century: One Hundred Years of Trade and Prejudice
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Edited by Philip Towle and Nobuko Margaret Kosoge
Published by I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd
‘Britain and Japan in the Twentieth Century’ examines Anglo-Japanese relations over the course of the 20th century and charts the fascinating history of how both nations overcame many years of prejudice and conflict to form a bond fused by financial, political and military cooperation. In the 1930s, many Japanese became convinced that their exports were being kept out of India by British tariffs and it was not until the 1980s that the British government fully accepted the futility of any protectionist impulse and encouraged Japanese companies to invest in Britain. Today each country not only assists the other economically but also no longer blames the other for its own domestic problems. This publication elucidates how both nations have struggled to achieve stability and harmony in their relations with each other in the face of contrasting cultural identities.
About the contributors
Dr Philip Towle
Philip Towle is Reader in International Relations at the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge University, where he has taught since 1980. He worked previously for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Australian National University in Canberra and the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. His publications include ‘Enforced Disarmament from the Napoleonic Campaigns to the Gulf War’, ‘Democracy and Peacemaking: Negotiations and Debates’ and ‘From Ally to Enemy: Anglo-Japanese Military Relations, 1900-45’.
Professor Nobuko Margaret Kosuge
Nobuko Margaret Kosuge is a Professor in the Faculty of Law, Yamanashi Gakuin University and a former Visiting Scholar at the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge University. Her past publications include ‘Post-war Reconciliation’, ‘Japanese Prisoners of War’ (with Philip Towle and Yoichi Kibata), and ‘War Memories and the Far Eastern Prisoners of War’ (with Yoichi Kibata and Philip Towle).