The Japan Affair Thirty-Five Years of Comment on a Changing Relationship Between Two Island Monarchies

by Howell, David

• ISBN13: 9781908531452
• ISBN10: 1908531452
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2020-11-19
• Publisher: Gilgamesh Publishing

Summary

The intertwining histories of two island monarchies that have far more in common than might at first be thought... The story of the Japan-UK relationship goes back, of course, deep into history, with its light eras and its very dark ones. The pages in this volume pick up it up over the last four decades as relayed through a series of articles published in The Japan Times. They cover, very roughly and with lots of overlaps, three stages, beginning in the 1980s, then taking us through the first decade of the present century and bringing us up to the current day. This is the story of an evolving relationship between two island nations – a relationship which could be (and should be) of growing importance as the UK seeks to re-position itself in a totally transformed international landscape. Modern Japan defies Western analysis. It fails to fit into the Anglo-American model of liberal democratic capitalism which used to dominate Western thinking in the 20th century but which now looks shaky. It is collectivist and yet capitalist. It is closed yet open. It is democratic, yet there is something different about the way its democracy works.

Author Biography

??David Howell (Lord Howell of Guildford) has been contributing a regular fortnightly column to The Japan Times since 1985, with one break in 2010 when he returned for a period to Government.From 1987-1997 he was chair of the UK-Japan 2000 Group, set up in 1984 between the two Prime Ministers, Margaret Thatcher and Yasuhiro Nakasone, (subsequently re-christened the UK-Japan 21st Century Group). In 2001 he was awarded by the Emperor of Japan the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his work in promoting Japan-UK relations.