This book endeavours to unravel the complicated skeins of Japanese theatre in the modern period and offers an appreciation of the richness of choice of presentational and representational theatre forms.
Since the end of world War II there has been continuing but different conflict between the major theatrical genres. Kabuki continues to defend its ground successfully, but the 'new drama' (shingeki) became firmly established in its own right in the 1960s. It was a vigorous and exuberant 'underground' theatre which exploited anything and everything in the Japanese and western theatre...

Previous biographies of the so-called First Englishman in Japan - most notably P.G. Rogers and Richard Baker (The Needlewatchers) earlier this century - did not have access to the more recent research of scholars such as Derek Masarella, Anthony Farrington, Michael Cooper and Charles Boxer.

Continuing the context of Anglo-Japanese exchange and historic connections from the first volume, Volume II incorporates a further 20 studies of key personalities. This includes: Edmund Morel, pioneer railway builder in Meiji Japan; Alexander Shand, an important figure in the development of Japanese banking; Lafcadio Hearn, the great interpreter of Japanese culture; Rev Dr John Batchelor, whose work with the Ainu people of northern Japan is well-known; and, more recently, Shigeru Yoshida, Japan's first post-war prime minister, and Christmas Humphreys, founder of the Buddhist Society, whose...

There is virtually nothing - until the arrival of this study - addressing the significance of the enormous contributions in science and technology towards the realization of Japan's 'economic miracle' during the occupation period. Describes the Scientific and Technical Division of McArthur's GHQ.

The success of the first two volumes in this series has prompted this third volume of 25 further protraits of key personalities, including Natsume Soseki, Thomas Blackiston, Ivan Morris, Admiral Saito and Ozaki Yukio.

In the spring of 1865, when Japan was in the grip of a major civil war, eighteen samurai and an interpreter risked their lives to embark secretly on a voyage to the unknown lands of the barbarian west. Their destination was Britain - at the hub of a vast empire. These were the Satsuma students, some of them still in their teens, all carrying orders from their domains to travel abroad. It was an extraordinary and daring expedition. Their experience of life in the west not only transformed their perception of the outside world, but through their diverse activities in later life, had a profound...

In earlier times, for the Chinese, Korea was 'the country of courteous people from the east', and for westerners 'the land of the morning calm' or 'hermit kingdom'. In this fascinating collection of writings on times past in Korea the author helps to lift the veil on this once closed country, providing the reader with a wide selection of first-hand accounts by travellers who 'discovered' Korea - some as snapshots by those passing through, others more detailed evaluations of Korean culture and everyday life by those who spent time there. The collection covers a period of over 400 years - from...

As the preface to this new edition points out, Mitford (Algernon Bertram, the first Lord Redesdale) was a gifted writer whose descriptions of Japan, during the critical time of transition from a feudal to a modern state in the late nineteenth century, are a testimony to his narrative skills, accuracy and objective reporting - qualities which are sometimes overshadowed by the higher profile given to his contemporary Ernest Satow. Accordingly, this new paperback edition, which makes the Mitford memoirs available to a much wider audience, includes a wide selection of extracts from Mitford's...

The fourth volume in a series, this work is devoted to the lives of key people, both British and Japanese, who have made significant contributions to the development of Anglo-Japanese relations. The appearance of this volume brings the number of portraits published to over 100.

This is the first in-depth study of the early trial-and-error experiences of contracting between Japanese and western merchants trading in the Japanese Treaty Ports in the eighteen year period immediately following the opening of the ports in 1859. Fundamental to the equation were the inevitable east-west cultural and legal ambiguities that impacted on the traders. The learning curve for both westerners and Japanese regarding the nature and application of western contracting law was predictably difficult, tortuous and open to constant misunderstanding. Nevertheless, it was within such a...