Jump to content

Japan–United Kingdom relations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by CaliforniaChampagne (talk | contribs) at 06:11, 29 June 2020 (→20th century: Spelling correction). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Japanese – British relations
Map indicating locations of Japan and United Kingdom

Japan
United Kingdom
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Japan, LondonBritish Embassy, Tokyo
Envoy
Ambassador Koji TsuruokaAmbassador Paul Madden

Japan–United Kingdom relations (日英関係, Nichieikankei) are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between Japan and the United Kingdom.

History

The history of the relationship between Japan and England began in 1600 with the arrival of William Adams (Adams the Pilot, Miura Anjin) on the shores of Kyushu at Usuki in Ōita Prefecture. During the Sakoku period (1641–1853), there were no formal relations between the two countries. The Dutch 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 (with its oil), and Malaya. They sank much of the British fleet and forced the surrender of Singapore, with many prisoners. They reached the outskirts of India until being pushed back. Relations improved in the 1950s and, as memories of the wartime atrocities fade, have become warm. On 3 May 2011, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Japan is "one of [Britain]'s closest partners in Asia".

Chronology of Japanese–British relations

  • 1587. Two young Japanese men named Christopher and Cosmas sailed on a Spanish galleon to California, where their ship was seized 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. They are the first known Japanese men to have set foot in the British Isles.

Early

William Adams (1564–1620)
  • 1600. William Adams, a seaman from Gillingham, Kent, was the first English adventurer to arrive in Japan. Acting as an advisor to the Tokugawa shōgun, he was renamed Miura Anjin, granted a house and land, and spent the rest of his life in his adopted country. He also became one of the first known foreign Samurai.
  • 1605. John Davis, the famous English explorer, was killed by Japanese pirates off the coast of Thailand, thus becoming the first known Englishman to be killed by a Japanese.[1]
The 1613 letter of King James I remitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu (Preserved in the Tokyo University archives)
  • 1613. Following an invitation from William Adams in Japan, the English captain John Saris arrived at Hirado Island in the ship Clove with the intent of establishing a trading factory. Adams and Saris travelled to Suruga Province where they met with Tokugawa Ieyasu at his principal residence in September before moving on to Edo where they met Ieyasu's son Hidetada. During that meeting, Hidetada gave Saris two varnished suits of armour for King James I, today housed in the Tower of London.[2] 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.[3] The English party headed back to Hirado Island 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 occurred. After the incident England closed its commercial base at Hirado Island, now in Nagasaki Prefecture, without notifying Japan. After this, the relationship ended for more than two centuries.
  • 1639. Tokugawa Iemitsu announced his Sakoku policy. Only the Netherlands was permitted to retain limited trade rights.
  • 1673. An English ship named "Returner" visited Nagasaki harbour, and asked for a renewal of trading relations. But the Edo shogunate refused. The government blamed it on the withdrawal 50 years earlier, and found it unacceptable that Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, who was from Portugal, and favoured the Roman Catholic Church.
  • 1808. The Nagasaki Harbour Incident: HMS Phaeton enters Nagasaki to attack Dutch shipping.
  • 1832. Otokichi, Kyukichi and Iwakichi, castaways from Aichi 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 to go to Japan. They joined a trading ship to the UK, and later Macau. 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.

1854–1900

The First Japanese Embassy to Europe, in 1862
Photo at Knightsbridge by W. S. Gilbert, c. 1885

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, and removed the need for Britain to build up its navy in the Pacific.[6][7]
  • 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.
Guide to the Japan–British Exhibition of 1910.
  • 1910. Sadanaru represents Japan at the state funeral of Edward VII, and meets the new king George V 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. [8]
  • 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 as Britain's ally under the terms of the alliance and captured German-occupied Tsingtao (Qingdao) in China Mainland. They also help Australia and New Zealand capture archipelagos like the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands.
  • 1915. The Twenty-One Demands would have given Japan varying degrees of control over all of China, and would have prohibited European powers from extending their Chinese operations any further.[9]
  • 1917. The Imperial Japanese Navy helps the Royal Navy and allied navies patrol the Mediterranean against Central Powers ships.
  • 1917-1935. Close relationships between the two country steadily worsens. [10]
  • 1919. Japan proposes a racial equality clause in negotiations to form the League of Nations, calling for "making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality."[11] Britain, which supports the White Australia policy, cannot assent, and the proposal is rejected.
  • 1921. Britain indicates it will not renew the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 primarily because of opposition from the United States and also Canada.[12]
  • 1921. Crown Prince Hirohito 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. [13]
  • 1922. Washington Naval Conference concluding in the Four-Power Treaty, Five-Power Treaty, 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.[14]
  • 1922. Edward, Prince of Wales travelling on HMS Renown, 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.[15]
  • 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 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.[16][17]
  • 1934. The Royal Navy sends ships to Tokyo to take part in a naval parade in honour of the late Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, 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.
  • 1938 Yokohama Specie Bank acquired HSBC.[18]
  • 1939. The Tientsin Incident almost causes an Anglo-Japanese war when the Japanese blockade the British concession in Tientsin, China.

World War II

Post War

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 gifts a 0 Series Shinkansen (No. 22-141) to the National Railway Museum at York, she is the only one of her type to be preserved outside Japan.
  • 2007. HIM Emperor Akihito pays his second state visit to the United Kingdom.
Second Japan-UK Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting on 8 January 2016 in Tokyo.

See also the chronology on the website of British Embassy, Tokyo.[32]

Britons in Japan

Embassy of the United Kingdom in Tokyo
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.


The chronological list of Heads of the United Kingdom Mission in Japan.

Japanese in the United Kingdom

Embassy of Japan in London

(see article 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.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Education

Japanese School in London
In Japan
In the UK
Former institutions in the UK

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

Ministers plenipotentiary

Ambassadors

List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Japan

Main article: List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Japan

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Stephen Turnbull, Fighting ships of the Far East (2), p 12, Osprey Publishing
  2. ^ Notice at the Tower of London
  3. ^ The Red Seal permit was re-discovered in 1985 by Professor Hayashi Nozomu, in the Bodleian Library. Massarella, Derek; Tytler Izumi K. (1990) "The Japonian Charters" Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp 189–205.
  4. ^ Thierry Mormanne : "La prise de possession de l'île d'Urup par la flotte anglo-française en 1855", Revue Cipango, "Cahiers d'études japonaises", No 11 hiver 2004 pp. 209–236.
  5. ^ Information about 1885–87 Japanese exhibition at Knightsbridge
  6. ^ Phillips Payson O'Brien, The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902–1922. (2004).
  7. ^ William Langer, The Diplomacy of Imperialism 1890–1902 (2nd ed. 1950), pp. pp 745–86.
  8. ^ John L. Hennessey, "Moving up in the world: Japan’s manipulation of colonial imagery at the 1910 Japan–British Exhibition." Museum History Journal 11.1 (2018): 24-41.
  9. ^ Gowen, Robert (1971). "Great Britain and the Twenty-One Demands of 1915: Cooperation versus Effacement". The Journal of Modern History. 43 (1). University of Chicago: 76–106. ISSN 0022-2801.
  10. ^ Malcolm Duncan Kennedy, The Estrangement of Great Britain and Japan, 1917-35 (Manchester UP, 1969).
  11. ^ Gordon Lauren, Paul (1978). "Human Rights in History: Diplomacy and Racial Equality at the Paris Peace Conference". Diplomatic History. 2 (3): 257–278. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.1978.tb00435.x.
  12. ^ J. Bartlet Brebner, "Canada, the Anglo-Japanese alliance and the Washington conference." Political Science Quarterly 50.1 (1935): 45-58. online
  13. ^ Bruce M. Petty, "Jump-Staring Japanese Naval Avation." Naval History (2019) 33#6 pp 48-53.
  14. ^ H. P. Willmott (2009). The Last Century of Sea Power: From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922. Indiana U.P. p. 496.
  15. ^ Paul W. Doerr (1998). British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939. p. 120.
  16. ^ A.J.P. Taylor, English History: 1914–1945 (1965) pp 370–72.
  17. ^ David Wen-wei Chang, "The Western Powers and Japan's Aggression in China: The League of Nations and" The Lytton Report"." American Journal of Chinese Studies (2003): 43–63. online
  18. ^ Xiao Yiping, Guo Dehong, 中国抗日战争全史 Archived 4 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine、Chapter 87: Japan 's Colonial Economic Plunder and Colonial Culture, 1993.
  19. ^ Thomas S. Wilkins, "Anatomy of a Military Disaster: The Fall of" Fortress Singapore" 1942." Journal of Military History 73.1 (2009): 221–230.
  20. ^ Bond, Brian; Tachikawa, Kyoichi (2004). British and Japanese Military Leadership in the Far Eastern War, 1941–1945 Volume 17 of Military History and Policy Series. Routledge. p. 122. ISBN 9780714685557.
  21. ^ Peter Lowe, "After fifty years: the San Francisco Peace Treaty in the context of Anglo-Japanese relations, 1902–52." Japan Forum 15#3 (2003) pp 389–98.
  22. ^ Protocole entre le Gouvernement du Japon et le Gouvernement de la République française, 1957. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan.
  23. ^ a b "Ceremonies: State visits". Official web site of the British Monarchy. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  24. ^ Mineko Iwasaki (2012). Geisha of Gion: The True Story of Japan's Foremost Geisha. p. 287.
  25. ^ http://linguanews.com/php_en_news_read.php?section=s2&idx=2321
  26. ^ The British-Japanese Parliamentary Group, About us, official site.
  27. ^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
  28. ^ "UK: Akihito closes state visit". BBC News. 29 May 1998. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  29. ^ "HRH The Duke of Cambridge to visit Japan and China – Focus on cultural exchange and creative partnerships". princeofwales.gov.uk/. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  30. ^ Parker, George (4 September 2016). "Japan calls for 'soft' Brexit – or companies could leave UK". Financial Times. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  31. ^ "Kamall: UK can replicate new EU-Japan trade deal". Conservative Europe. 12 December 2018.
  32. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Further reading

  • The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600–2000 (5 vol.) essays by scholars.
  • Akagi, Roy Hidemichi. Japan's Foreign Relations 1542–1936: A Short History (1979) online 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) online
  • 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. online
  • 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) excerpt and text search
  • 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) excerpt and text search; online
  • Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits edited by Hugh Cortazzi Global Oriental 2004, 8 vol (1996 to 2013)
  • British Envoys in Japan 1859–1972, edited and compiled by Hugh Cortazzi, Global Oriental 2004, ISBN 1-901903-51-6
  • Cortazzi, Hugh, ed. Kipling's Japan: Collected Writings (1988).
  • Denney, John. Respect and Consideration: Britain in Japan 1853 – 1868 and beyond. Radiance Press (2011). ISBN 978-0-9568798-0-6
  • Dobson, Hugo and Hook, Glenn D. Japan and Britain in the Contemporary World (Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge Series) (2012) excerpt and text search; online
  • Fox, Grace. Britain and Japan, 1858–1883 (Oxford UP, 1969).
  • 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. online
  • 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. online
  • Scholtz, Amelia Catherine. Dispatches from Japanglia: Anglo-Japanese Literary Imbrication, 1880–1920. (PhD Diss. Rice University, 2012). online
  • Sterry, Lorraine. Victorian Women Travellers in Meiji Japan (Brill, 2009).
  • Takeuchi, Tatsuji. War and diplomacy in the Japanese Empire (1935); a major scholarly history online free in pdf
  • Thorne, Christopher G. Allies of a kind: The United States, Britain, and the war against Japan, 1941–1945 (1978) excerpt and text search
  • Thorne, Christopher G. The Limits of Foreign Policy: The West, The League and the Far Eastern Crisis of 1931–1933 (1973) online free to borrow
  • Towle, Phillip and Nobuko Margaret Kosuge. Britain and Japan in the Twentieth Century: One Hundred Years of Trade and Prejudice (2007) excerpt and text search
  • Woodward, Llewellyn. British Foreign Policy in the Second World War (History of the Second World War) (1962) ch 8
  • Yokoi, Noriko. Japan's Postwar Economic Recovery and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1948–1962 (Routledge, 2004).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Japan–United_Kingdom_relations&oldid=965066417"