The Japan Society Review

Professor Gough’s Historical Dreadnoughts is biography rather than autobiography. It is a joint biography of two historians of the Royal Navy in the twentieth century. While much of the book is taken up with disputes between these two historical giants – historians have been known to disagree! –it contains much of relevance to the story of the Asia-Pacific war.

Ramesh Benegal (1926-2003) was born in Rangoon, Burma, to an Indian family. When Rangoon was bombed by the Japanese, he was evacuated at the age of 15 with his mother in the hope of reaching India by an overland route. This proving impossible, he returned to Rangoon. Ramesh became infused with aspirations for Indian independence and felt that the Japanese could help in achieving this.

Intellectual Property, Innovation and Management in Emerging Economies, Edited by Ruth Taplin and Alojzy Z. Nowak, Routledge, 2010, ISBN10:0-415-55960-X, £85 This thought-provoking book argues that a country’s development of a robust intellectual property rights (IPRs) framework is fundamental to long-term economic success in today’s globalized world. This is something not just vital for […]

Project Japan and Art Media, Edo to Now by Graham Cooper, with essays contributed by Japanese architects Fumihiko Maki, Kisho Kurokawa, Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma and Makoto Sei Watanabe, Images Publishing, Australia, 2009, 240 pages, numerous colour illustrations, ISBN 978 1 86470 300 2 Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi Graham Cooper introduced his book […]

By Ian Nish 454 pp including index and appendices ISBN 978-1-905246-87-8, Global Oriental, 2011 Ian Nish, Professor Emeritus in International History at LSE, spent two years with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan from 1946-48. He arrived in Kure in October 1946 as an interpreter-translator attached to the Combined Services Direct Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) […]

Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits VII. Complied & Edited by Sir Hugh Cortazzi, Global Oriental and the Japan Society 2010, 665 pages, ISBN: 978-1906876265. Review by Sean Curtin.

Private Yokoi’s War and Life on Guam, 1944-1972, The Story of the Japanese Imperial Arm’s Longest WWII Survivor in the Field and Later Life, by Omi Hatashin, Global Oriental, 2009, 237 pages including index and a black and white plate section, ISBN 978-1-905246-69-4.

"My Work: 10 Years as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Construction of Peace (私の仕事 ― 国連難民高等弁務官の十年と平和の構築)"

How to Become Myself (あしたの私のつくり方) directed by Jun Ichikawa (市川準), 97 minutes, Release Date 28 April 2007. Review by Susan Meehan.

A Life in Aikido: The Biography of Founder Morihei Ueshiba. By Kisshomaru Ueshiba (植芝 吉祥丸). Kodansha International, 2008, 320 pages, ISBN-13: 978-4770026170 Review by Hugh Purser