The Japan Society Review

Conductor and translator Toru Sasakibara, director Kyoko Fujishiro, original script and music by W.S. Gilbert & A. Sullivan For the first time ever a Japanese theater company came to the UK to perform the Mikado in Japanese to an enthusiastic British audience. The lively and brilliantly colourful production was part of the 2006 International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton, Derby. It perfectly blended Japanese and British elements to create an astonishingly successful hybrid which was true to the original, while incorporating some crowd-pleasing Japanese innovations. Review by Sean Curtin

Directed by Lee Sang-II For the third year running, the Embassy of Japan organised an excellent festival of new Japanese films at BAFTA over the weekend of 14-16 September 2007. Guided by the expert hands of Tony Rayns and Alexander Jacoby, the choice of films on offer was extremely good. Review by Susan Meehan

By Oka Yoshitake, edited by Shinohara Hajime and Mitani Taiichiro (Japanese) Readers may like to receive a brief notice (rather belatedly, I fear) of an interesting and insightful work. It is the London Diary of the Japanese academic, Oka Yoshitake (1902-1990) who became after the war one of the most eminent professors of Japanese political history at the University of Tokyo. As an assistant at that university, he spent the years 1936-7 on sabbatical in Britain, based in London. He wrote substantial diary entries daily and these were dutifully assembled by two of his successors after his death. Review by Ian Nish

By Tadashi Yamamoto and Charles Morrison, et. al. This book assesses the importance of enhanced ASEAN-Japan cooperation as a step toward a greater East Asian regional community. Fifteen international relations experts from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and Japan, as well as China, South Korea, and the United States, review the history and current status of this bilateral relationship and propose how it can be strengthened. Review by Tomohiko Taniguchi

By Sadao Asada Drawing on previously unused Japanese records from the three naval conferences of the 1920s—the Washington Conference of 1921-22, the Geneva Conference of 1927, and the London Conference of 1930—the author examines the strategic dilemma facing the Japanese navy during the 1920s and 1930s against the background of advancing weapon technology and increasing doubt about the relevance of battleships. He also analyzes the decisions that led to war with the United States—namely, the 1936 withdrawal from naval treaties, the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, and the armed advance into south Indochina in July 1941—in the context of bureaucratic struggles between the army and navy to gain supremacy. Review by Ian Nish

By Sukehiro Hirakawa Professor Hirakawa in a postscript (page 544) emphasises the importance "for Westerners to study not only the life and thought of the Orient but also to study those of the Occident from the Oriental points of view." This book is a significant contribution to this task. It is written in good clear English and demonstrates the width of the author's knowledge and cultural understanding. For anyone interested in Japanese literature and Japan's relations with the rest of the world this book contains much of interest as well as insights into a wide range of historical as well as cultural issues. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Motomi Oguchi and Joseph Cali In this book, renowned garden designer Motomi Oguchi offers the reader a step-by-step, practical approach to creating Japanese gardens, drawn from a wealth of experience that covers thirty years and encompasses the design of more than 400 gardens. The author uses real examples from gardens he has designed, constructed, and photographed to illustrate his key points, approaching each work from the perspective of the home or building owner. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Arata Isozaki, Tadao Ando and Terunobu Fujimori The tea house is one of Japans most original buildingsa very small, very simple space consisting of tatami mat, tokonoma (the alcove where wall scrolls are hung and flower arrangements placed), ro (the sunken stove where tea is heated) and nijiriguchi (the half door through which guests enter) . For generations, Japanese architects have embraced the challenge of the tea house despite severe formal constraints. Now, this beautiful and fascinating volume takes the traditional tea house and turns it on its head. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko Williams The central focus of this well written, moving and excellently researched book is the decades-long relationship between a British Army officer, Captain Arthur Hart Synnot, and a Japanese woman, Masa Suzuki, spanning the early 1900s up to the 1940s. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Andrew Cobbing and Masataro Itami Through a detailed reconstruction of Kawada's life and career, this book provides a remarkable case study of a single life impacting on developments in the Meiji period. The biography also takes us through different epochs. Not least, it contains the rare account of an East-West love story which unfolds through eighty-nine letters, all of which are transcribed and republished here. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi