japansociety
Japan-UK Review
Volume 2 No. 4 August 2007

Japan Book Review - Japan Stage, Movie, Arts and Event Review

Editor: Sean Curtin

Contents

Managing Editor: Clare Barclay
irroring the recent seismic shifts in the Japanese political world, there
have also been some equally significant changes for Japan Book
Review. This issue marks an important milestone in the developmentof the Reviews project as we launch our new regular reviews of Japanese language books, publish our first fictional book reviews and introduce our new
readers' comments section. While we have published reviews of Japanese language books in the past, we have now greatly expanded this project in collaboration with the Global Communications Platform in Tokyo and with assistance from the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) Japan-U.S.
Discussion Forum in Washington. Our on-line version is designed to provide a
new resource for reviews of Japanese language books and we hope it willdevelop into an important educational resource. Due to demand from ourreadership we are also beginning reviews of fictional books as well as publishing readers' comments about books we review. I hope these developments will
enhance your enjoyment of this publication. Finally, remember that our website has a great many more reviews that we are unable to print.

M

Sean Curtin
Japanese language book reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews_japan.htmll(1) Nihonyo Tsuyoki Kunito Nare (JapanBe a Strong Nation),(2) Utsukushii Kuni E (Toward a Beautiful
Country)(3) Atomic Sushi: Notes from the Heart ofJapan(4) Reader's comments: Atomic Sushi(5) China and the Global Energy Crisis(6) The Impact of the Russo-Japanese War(7) From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: The
Imperial Japanese Navy and the UnitedStates(8) The Contemporary Tea House: Japan's
Top Architects redefine a Tradition(9) Japanese Envoys in Britain, 1862-1964: A
Century of Diplomatic Exchange(10) Create Your Own Japanese Garden: A
Practical Guide(11) Britain and Japan: BiographicalPortraits, Volume VI(12) Kita Ikki and the Making of Modern
Japan: A Vision of Empire

New reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews.html
Archive reviews: http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews_archive.html

Japan Book Review
Nihonyo Tsuyoki Kunito Nare
(Japan Be a Strong Nation),by Yoshiko Sakurai,
Diamond (Tokyo), 2007, 304 pages, ISBN 978-4-478-00140-0

Review by Takahiro Miyao
Ms. Yoshiko Sakurai is a well-known journalist and social critic in Japan,
especially famous for her rightwing and sometimes ultra-nationalistic stance.
She regularly contributes her essays on social issues to various journals andmagazines, and this book is a collection of such contributions of the past year
or so. Her interests are wide-ranging, from such domestic issues as
bureaucratic reform and education reform to such international problems as
the history issues and the North Korea problem, a fact that can be seen in thetable of contents in this book.
Her current state of mind is clearly expressed in the Introduction, where she
maintains that the US is gradually losing its power, whereas China is rapidly
increasing its presence and influence in Asia. In particular, Ms. Sakurai
emphasizes that China has adopted "shrewd tactics" to isolate Japan morally byjapansociety

Japan-UK Review: August 2007

publicizing the history issues and to weaken the Japan-US
relationship by organizing anti-Japanese movements within
the US, where the recent Senate resolution on the "comfort
women" (or "sex slavery") problem is a result of such
movements. She also points out that some high-ranking
officials in the US government appear to be leaning toward
China, rather than Japan, due to the lack of knowledge about
China's intentions and Japan's position on their part.
Therefore, she concludes that Japan should be strong and havethe courage to speak out and insist on its principles and values
for the purpose of overcoming adversity and leading theworld in the 21st century.
Because of her seemingly nationalistic and anti-Chinese
stance, Ms. Sakurai has become a very popular figure in Japan,
especially among conservative Japanese, both young and old.
Having read all the chapters of this book, however, one might
wonder if she is a real nationalist as a Japanese (like Tokyo
Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who is well known for his book
"The Japan That Can Say No") or a hard-core anti-communist
conservative as an opinion leader regardless of her nationality.
Actually, she is relatively optimistic about American
intentions to support Japan (for example, she denies a change
in the American stance toward North Korea), whereas she isoverly critical of almost any move on the part of China. In thissense, her argument may be appealing more to conservatives
in the US rather than to their Japanese counterparts.
All this could be understood well by looking at Ms.
Sakurai's personal background; she was born in Vietnam,
educated in Hawaii, and trained to be a professional journalistat the Tokyo bureau of the "Christian Science Monitor," before
becoming a TV newscaster in Tokyo. Therefore, she should beconsidered an international journalist with critical views oncommunism in general and China in particular, rather than anationalistic opinion leader in Japan. At any rate, Ms. Sakurai
is one of the few Japanese women (rather, the few Japanese,for that matter) who can stand up and say no to China.
This review was produced in collaboration with the Global
Communications Platform and first published on the Platform:
http://www.glocom.org/

Utsukushii Kuni E(Toward a Beautiful
Country)
by Shinzo Abe,
Bunshun Shinso, Bungei Shunju,
2006, 232 pages (In Japanese)
Review by Fumiko Halloran
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at 53 the youngest to hold that
office in the post-war period, has written a revealing bookabout his life, political philosophy, and vision for a goodsociety. The timing of its publication was impeccable as thebook hit the stores just before he was elected to thepremiership. The book, "Toward A Beautiful Country," swiftlyrose on the bestseller lists.
In his preface, Mr. Abe divides political leaders into those
who fight for what they believe and those who choose not tofight. He counts himself among the former. For him, fighting

2

politicians take action for the people even if they are criticized,
presumably by other politicians, opinion leaders, and thepress. On the other hand, non-fighting politicians are those
who may be agreeable on the surface but never take actions
that would invite criticism.
He points to an episode in the pre-war British Parliament
when Arthur Greenwood, a member of the Labour Party,
questioned Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who wasseeking to appease the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler.
Chamberlain's eloquence in answering Greenwood's
questions almost stumped him but his colleagues shouted:"Arthur, speak for England!" Encouraged, Greenwood
proceeded to give a powerful speech demanding that Britain
go to war to stop Germany from its military aggression. Mr.
Abe concludes that he wants to be a fighting politician who
listens to the public saying "Speak for Japan."Throughout the book, Mr. Abe goes back to British political
history in which his hero is Britain's wartime leader, Prime
Minister Winston Churchill. Abe discusses the difference
between British and American liberals and defines himself as"conservative," adding that he wants to be a "conservativewith open mind." Some American journalists have casuallybranded Mr. Abe as "right wing," which is not the same as"conservative." Had they read this book, they might haverealized that Mr. Abe is a complicated person who examines
issues from many angles.
From the time he was six years old, Mr. Abe grew up in apolitical environment that shaped his views. His grandfather,
Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, was criticized by opponentsof the revised US-Japan Security Treaty in 1960. Mr. Kishi wasconvinced that by revising the 1952 treaty, which limited
Japan's rights, Japan would gain a more nearly equal position
in its security relations with the US even as the treaty
committed the US to defend Japan. Opponents of the revised
treaty, however, sought to demonize Mr. Kishi as a villain.
From this experience, Mr. Abe seems to have learned to
distrust sweeping political passions. He particularly
developed a distrust of the press that he sees as having its own
political bias and agenda.
Mr. Abe is no stranger to international politics. His father,
Shintaro Abe, was the foreign minister in the cabinets of Prime
Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone from 1982 to 1987. In that role,
Abe Sr. visited 39 foreign countries, taking Abe Jr along as his
executive assistant 20 times. As Chief Cabinet Secretary in the
Koizumi cabinet, Mr. Shinzo Abe made a strong impression
on the public in foreign policy, such as statements on the
North Korean kidnapping issue.
On issues such as the Yasukuni Shrine, economic sanctions
against North Korea, revision of the constitution, andexpanding the activities of the defense forces abroad, Mr. Abe
pursues one theme, which is to establish Japan as a truly
sovereign nation. He wants to lead a Japan that can assert its
national interests in an equal relationship with other powers.
He rejects, however, the stamp of narrow-minded nationalism
and argues that one's love of country does not lead to
excluding others.
On Yasukuni, Mr. Abe points out that prior to 1985, theChinese government never criticized the visits by Prime
Ministers Masayoshi Ohira, Zenko Suzuki or Yasuhiro
Nakasone even though the names of Class A war criminals
had been added to the registry at the shrine. After the Asahi

japansociety Japan-UK Review: August 2007

Shimbun criticized Prime Minister Nakasone's visit in 1985,
the Chinese government began its campaign of criticism. Mr.
Abe refers to the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty of 1978 that states
the two countries agreed not to intervene into each other's
domestic affairs. Obviously Mr. Abe believes that paying
respects to the war dead is natural feeling for Japanese,making this a domestic issue. After his visit to China
immediately after he was elected prime minister, the Chinese
government has not brought up the Yasukuni issue. Even so,
the issue will remain in the shadows as a potential threat for
his foreign policy. Polls in Japan last year showed that amajority of Japanese supported Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's visit to the shrine last August because they did notwant him to cave in to the Chinese and Koreans. At the sametime, they had complicated reactions to the issue of Class A
war criminals. One argument was that it was not right to list
the names of the war criminals because none had died inbattle. Some were acquitted, others died before the verdict,and the rest were hanged. The Yasukuni issue has once again
stirred debate about Japan's war responsibility among
Japanese.
Mr. Abe spends considerable time on American foreign
policy, starting with isolationism, Manifest Destiny, and the
expansion of its military power in the 20th century. He
cautions Japanese that their image of American Democrats aspeace-oriented and Republicans as war-oriented is simpleminded and mistaken. He believes that regardless of party
affiliation and different approaches, the American belief inmaintaining superiority of their country is the same. For him,
US-Japan alliance is vital not only for security but for sharedvalues and beliefs in freedom, democracy, and a market
economy.
Even with all this focus on foreign policy, Mr. Abe writes
extensively on domestic issues including retirement and social
security, aging, child bearing, education, and taxes. He wants
to see a society that rewards those who work hard in a faircompetition. He wants to see a Japan where the government
protects its citizens, but encourages them to take initiative andnot depend on the government. He wants to see a society thatprovides multiple opportunities. That may sound like an
American dream but Mr. Abe's thinking is deeply rooted inJapanese history and cultural values.
What to make of him? He says he would be a fighting
politician but would listen to the voice of the public. In thisbook, he goes to a considerable length to explain who he is
and what his thinking is. Yet in recent polls, his approval rate
has dropped from 70% at the outset to below 30% just prior tothe catastrophic July 2007 Upper House election and evenlower before his shock resignation in early September 2007. A
major Japanese complaint was that he did not explain his
thinking enough to show them where Japan was going. In
contrast, Prime Minister Koizumi had a knack for sound biteson TV and never explained anything in detail, yet was very
popular. Perhaps Mr. Abe's biggest challenge was his failure tocapture the hearts of the Japanese public.
A different version of this review first appeared on the National
Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) Japan-U.S. Discussion Forum andis reproduced with permission. The original review can be foundhere:
http://www.nbr.org/foraui/message.aspx?LID=5&pg=1&MID=26931japansociety Japan-UK Review: August 2007

Atomic Sushi:
Notes from theHeart of Japan,
By Simon May,
Alma Books, 2006
(hardback) 2007
(paperback), 256 pages,
ISBN: 1-84688-002-5
Review by Sir HughCortazzi
UnfortunatelyImissed the launch of thehard back edition of thisbook last year at the
Daiwa Foundation in
London.
Manymembers of the Society may have seen reviews in the Financial
Times and the TLS, but some may have missed these. At any
rate I think that it is worth drawing the attention of members
to this amusing and ironic account of a year in Japan teaching
philosophy at Tokyo University (the prestigious Todai). The
book is declared to be a work of fiction. This allows the author
to use poetic licence and to disguise names, but it is clearly apersonal account of some of his experiences in Japan.
Anyone who has had to cope with Japanese bureaucracy
will find May's accounts of his encounters with university
bureaucracy amusing if somewhat exaggerated. They may
see in his frustrations a reminder of some of their own
experiences although we should remember that bureaucrats
the world over suffer from a lack of flexibility and a reverence
for rules and precedents however stupid (Indian and some
European bureaucrats have little to learn from their Japanesecounterparts).
May notes the "stark contrast between the bureaucrats'
insatiable appetite for empty procedures and their casualness
over a vital educational matter" namely the university
examinations. No clear standards were laid down for "setting
or marking papers." There were no independent outside
examiners and May was told that graduate students' in his
department “were never failed." "Undergraduates did nothave it too much harder" with 60% getting "excellent" andanother 30% "good." "Todai, among the hardest to enter of theworld's universities, must therefore be one of the very easiest
to leave."
His comments on the Dome in Hiroshima will be familiar to
most observers of modern Japan. May reiterates what others
have said before that "the Japanese people and, in particular,
the public bureaucracies…have never come to terms with theevil of the fascist policies of the 1930s. The criminal acts of aperverted regime and national spirit have not been confronted
to even a fraction of the extent that Germans have so
courageously managed." Walking round the modern rebuilt
Hiroshima he "couldn't help wondering how a nation so
innately receptive to beauty could live among such atrocious
ugliness."Among the many amusing sketches in this book I
particularly enjoyed his account of New Year in Kyoto and of"gate-crashing" a wedding in Hiroshima where, of course, no3

one listened to the numerous speeches and instead pounced
on the food. He is amusing about the ostentatious vulgarityof the wedding palace, the clothes of the bride and groom andthe theatre of cutting the cake!
Simon May clearly enjoyed his year and derived muchamusement from his encounters with Japanese, seeking
wherever possible to meet people outside his university circle.
Undoubtedly however Japanese food gave him his highest
satisfaction especially sushi although he also admired
Japanese kaiseki despite the huge cost at a high class restaurant
such as at the Tawaraya inn in Kyoto. I was amused by how
he was overcharged by a sushi master after he had lost facewhen May had drawn attention to a rat crossing the floor!
Well worth putting a copy of Atomic Sushi in your luggage
for your next trip by air or rail!

Atomic Sushi: Reader’s Comments
by Ann Dent
British readers will find Simon May's "Atomic Sushi"
interesting and very amusing, any Japanese reader will find it
insulting. It is stated on a preliminary page, "This is a work offiction," so what is fiction and what is fact? That an educatedacademic should have done so little research before taking up
a prestigious appointment at Japan's top university islamentable. Simon May's ignorance of the historical andpsychological difference between the Japanese and the British,
which is critical to any understanding or judgement, isevident in his book. To write an amusing account of a foreign
civilization is open to bad taste, tactless behaviour andrudeness. I wonder if "Atomic Sushi" has been translated into
Japanese? I sincerely hope not! Meanwhile, the Brits willlaugh, have fun and enjoy it.

China and the Global
Energy Crisis Development andProspects for China's
Oil and Natural Gas,
by Tatsu Kambara andChristopher Howe,
Edward Elgar publishing, 2007, 160
pages, ISBN-13: 9781845429669
Review by J. Sean Curtin
China's sky-rocketing energy demands are a significant factor
helping push global energy prices steadily upwards. The
seemingly unquenchable Chinese thirst for oil and gas isalready putting tremendous strain on Tokyo's energy security
strategy as resource poor Japan struggles to compete with its
power-hungry neighbour. This superbly research and timely
book offers in-depth analysis of China's energy industry
covering everything from its domestic oil and gas sectors torefining capacity and energy prospects as well as its futureneeds and the likely international impact. Understanding the
global and regional dimensions of the rapidly shifting East
Asian energy equation is becoming imperative as Beijing's

4

current and future energy needs are reshaping the dynamics
of the world economy and rewriting geo-political relations.
The steep rise in Chinese energy demand is a concrete sign ofBeijing's emerging superpower status. In 1976 China was asignificant energy exporter, but by 2006 it was consuming
approximately 8% of the world's oil output while only
producing 4%. The massive deficit is a factor partiallyexplaining why world energy prices have risen so rapidly inrecent years, but the complete picture is, of course, far more
complex. Increasing uncertainty over the security of supplies
and the rise of India are also equally important factors in theequation.
The book comprehensively traces the dramatic history of theChinese gas and oil industry from its early days to the present
and provides projections for future developments. Despite
various difficulties and setbacks in the early decades, "Deng
Xiaoping's policy of reform and the 'open door' changed theprospects for the industry by enabling it to tap into foreign
resources of many kinds, by bringing China into international
oil and energy markets, and by revolutionizing theorganization and management practices of the pre-reform
industry" (page 26).
The book gives a fairly comprehensive account of all ofChina's on-shore and off-shore oil and gas fields plus
infrastructure initiatives like the massive West to East gas
pipeline project. China's current on-line natural resources
span a huge area stretching from the Central Asia oil fields ofthe far-flung Xinjiang province to the controversial Pinghu gas
field in the cold depths of the East China Sea.
The analysis is accompanied by useful maps and charts aswell as facts about areas of potential reserves such as theManjar West oil and gas zone in Xinjiang's remote Tarim Basin
which "Japanese and other foreign companies have been
allocated blocks for survey and exploration work on the basisof production-sharing agreements" (page 88). The Tarim Basinin particular holds great potential but also enormous
challenges. The authors comment, "the prospect of large
revenues from development of the Tarim fields and thepipeline raises major political issues for Beijing" (page 95)."
Determining exactly how much potential oil and gas reserves
China has is extremely difficult, the authors feel that mostassessments underestimate the situation, and "there areprobably substantial opportunities for further petroleum
exploration in China" (page 43).
The book provides a superb analysis of China's refining anddistribution capacity, pointing out imbalances and anomalies
in the current system. One of the few criticisms one can makeof this work is that some of the information is rather too
technical for the non-expert, but this is generally compensatedfor by the introductions and summaries in each chapter which
lay out the main facts in a clear and understandable fashion.
The final chapter presents the key points in a digestible format
with some interesting analysis. Projections about future
development and outlooks for the various energy sectors arealso provided, enhancing the overall work. Some important
reminders are given about the difficulties of producing
accurate projections and how some factors such as innovation
can rapidly alter the status quo. The authors observe, "becauseof rapid modernization and structural change in the economy,
Chinese energy-using patterns are shifting in quite radical
ways - mostly in the direction of becoming more energy
intensive" (page 111). The dynamics are changing atjapansociety Japan-UK Review: August 2007

breakneck speed as the phenomenal growth in car ownershipdemonstrates while the extensive development of the roadinfrastructure network seems certain to generate an evenbigger demand for gasoline which is certain to have a global
impact (page 103). This trend has the potential to harm Japan
which competes for resources with the same suppliers.
The authors conclude that based on the present evidence,
China's oil demands are manageable and will not necessarily
lead to any destabilization in global energy markets. There isa need to further develop the domestic market and continue
economic and structural reforms. Future supplies from the
newly emerged Central Asia nations are also likely to alter
Beijing's relationship with these nascent states and change thegeo-political dynamics of the region. There is great potential
for future partnerships and cooperation with foreign nations,especially Japan, which is a leader in energy-saving
technology, something Beijing desperately needs. The Middle
Kingdom's energy requirements are enormous and how itmeets them will have a massive regional and global impact.
Despite the book's rather alarming title the overall analysis is
not a particularly negative one and it finishes on a fairly
positive note rather than predicting a crisis. The authors
contend that the global impact of China is not necessarily
harmful for the world economy, while strong Chinese demandis likely to cause some serious headaches for Tokyo andchange the geopolitical status of Beijing's energy rich Central
Asian neighbours. This well-researched study represents asignificant contribution on a topic of immense regional andglobal importance.

The Impact of the Russo-Japanese War
Edited by Rotem Kowner
Routledge, 2007, 348 pages including bibliography and index
ISBN 987-0-415-36842-7.

From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: The
Imperial Japanese Navy and the UnitedStatesBy Sadao Asasa
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2006, 388 pages includingjapansociety Japan-UK Review: August 2007

bibliography and index, ISBN 1-55750-042-8.
Review by Ian Nish
Arma virumque cano. These two books deal with armaments
and the men who used them. There has been a flood of books
dealing with the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 publishedsince the centenary. The distinctive feature of the book editedby Professor Kowner is that it deals with the impact the war
had on Japan and Pussia and on practically all countries
worldwide. The chapters are written by country experts andconfirm the widely-accepted belief that there was hardly acountry which was not affected by that war, especially thosein Asia. These eighteen authors broadly agree that, although
the war with Russia was not a global conflict, its impact was
greater than the earlier Sino-Japanese war of 1894-5 and thatits consequences were gradual, largely for financial reasons. It
is not possible to make individual comments on the many
insights in the book except for one general observation. Thisis the paradox that, whereas relations between the oldenemies, Russia and Japan, changed from enmity tofriendship by 1907, in the case of the United States, which had
been host to the peace conference between the belligerents at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, relations with Japan
deteriorated markedly and very quickly. As the editor writes,“the initial goodwill on both sides of the Pacific before andduring the clash in Manchuria turned into a slow diplomatic
deterioration” [Kowner, 15]. So much so that in 1907 theAmericans updated their War Plan Orange to protect thewaters of the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese menace,
while Japan in her Imperial Defence Plan of that year declared
the United States to be the “hypothetical enemy” of her navy.
1907 is in fact the starting-point of professor Asada's
magisterial study which tells the story of American-Japanesenaval relations from that year through to the outbreak of the
Asia-Pacific war in 1941. In its 1907 Defence Plan Japan had set
out the need for a 70 percent fleet ratio vis-à-vis the US Navyand the case for a buildup to an 8-8 fleet. Although the US had
thus been recognized as an enemy of the future, Asada feelsthat the US and Japan had managed to reach a détente aroundthe time of the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-2. But
their failure to get acceptance of their claim for 70 per centfleet ratio alienated large section of opinion in the Japanesenavy. Thus, the Naval General Staff began to fight with the
Navy Ministry after the death in 1923 of the strong-mindednavy minister, Admiral Kato Tomosaburo, who was in
Asada's view the navy's last effective leader. Generally
speaking, the General Staff looked for a large fleet, while theministry bureaucrats favoured meeting obligations under
their existing naval limitation treaties like those of
Washington and London. This conflict of ideas increased
during the 1930s and the General Staff tended to exercise more
influence over decision-making. After Japan distanced herself
from the naval treaties in 1935-6, the new Imperial Defence
Plan set out the navy's demands for expansion south, foracquisition of oil resources and for an increase in the size ofthe navy.
Professor Asada has published many articles on thesesubjects over the years as his research has progressed and now
gives a clear and well-ordered distillation of his ideas.
His monograph is especially impressive on the Washington
Conference and on the factions and personalities in theinterwar navy. His book is the sequel to his authoritative bookin Japanese on the same theme: Ryotaisenkan no Nichi-Bei

5

kankei : Kaigun to seisaku kettei katei [Todai Shuppankai,
1993]. Specialists will find many new and original ideas inboth books, while general readers will find them readable andcoherent.
Wars and navies are still with us; and these volumes
covering the first half of the twentieth century still have much
relevance.

The Contemporary Tea House: Japan's
Top Architects Redefine a Tradition,
Arata Isozaki, Tadao
Ando and Terunobu
Fujimori,
Kodansha International,
2007, 136 pages, 200+ fullcolour photographs andsketches, ISBN 13:
9784770030467, £22.
Review by Sir HughCortazziThisadditiontoKodansha's architecturalseries is likely to be ofinterest not only to
students of architecture
and the Japanese way oftea but also to a wider
readership. Arata Isozaki
and Tadao Ando are world famous architects. Terunobu
Fujimori who is an architectural historian is a professor at the
University of Tokyo.
Anyone interested in Japanese culture will be conscious of
the role which traditional tea houses and the cult of tea haveplayed in the history of Japanese civilization, but probably few
are aware of the designs and building of tea houses by famous
Japanese contemporary architects.
The book begins with a historical introduction by Professor
Terunobu Fujimori on "The development of the tea room andits meaning in architecture." He explains how the first tea
houses developed from the tea contests (tocha) in whichsamurai participants had to identify correctly the provenanceof a particular tea. He describes the first tea houses which weretermed iori (hermitages) where men escaped from the towns
to the countryside for quiet contemplation. Their huts came to
be about 3 metres square or 4.5 tatami (yojohan) in size. The
first tea houses in the gardens of Japanese mansions weregenerally of this size, although the only surviving tea room
used by the famous tea master Sen no Rikyu in the sixteenth
century, the Tai-an in Kyoto, had only two tatami mats.
Professor Fujimori goes on to outline the development of
the traditional Japanese tea house in the Meiji period as well as
in the pre-war and modern eras. He notes that Kingo Tatsuno,
Japan's first modern architect, who studied with Josiah Conder
and is famous especially for the design of the Marunouchi
Tokyo station building, did not regard the tea room as"legitimate architecture." Even the great modern architect
Kenzo Tange who died in 2005 never designed a tea house.
Indeed he is reported as saying: "I don't do houses!"

6

The next generation of Japanese architects has recognized
the important role of the tea house in Japanese culture. The
war years, according to Fujimori, "filled Isozaki's imagination
with images of destruction and a sense of loss" and "he cameto regard irony and paradox as the essence of reality." This led
him in 1974 to build his first tea-room, the Kobo-an, in 1974.
The tea-room was "the catalyst which enabled him to move out
from Tange's shadow." Ando's debut work was "Row-house
Sumiyoshi, a small urban, stand-alone residence which wascompleted in 1976."
The first chapter, devoted to the tea houses of Arata Isozaki,
describes and illustrates some of his outstanding designs using
contemporary building materials. The Uji-an and the Yoidorebune are particularly impressive. The second chapter by
Tadao Ando is headed "The conflict between abstraction andrepresentation." His aim, he declares, is "to explore abstract
concepts by expressing them through material phenomena."
Ando's tea houses include a "tent tea-house" and "paper teahouse." Chapter 3 is devoted to the tea houses of Terunobu
Fujimori. One of his designs is a tea house on stilts which some
may find way-out. Chapter 4 describes and illustrates tea
houses by Kengo Kuma and Hiroshi Hara.
Not all the modern tea houses will appeal to traditionalists
and some of the examples are not easy to appreciate.
Nevertheless this book should help to increase understandingof the approach of some of Japan’s famous and outstandingarchitects to an important element in Japanese culture.

Japanese Envoys in Britain, 1862-1964: A
Century of Diplomatic Exchange,
compiled and edited by
Ian Nish,Global Oriental/Japan
Society, 2007, 255 pages,
ISBN 978-1-905246-32-8,£55.00
Review by Sir Graham
Fry
Next year the UK andJapan celebrate 150
years of diplomatic
relations, and just oncue comes this book,
Japanese Envoys in
Britain(1862-1964),
which contains biographical portraits of Japanese diplomatic
representatives up to 1964. Its counterpart, British Envoys inJapan, was published by the Japan Society in 2004 and is about
to appear in Japanese translation. Now we have both sides ofthe story.
The Japanese envoys were a distinguished group. After
their time in London, eight became Foreign Minister and two(Kato Takaaki and Yoshida Shigeru) became Prime Minister.
So this book introduces not only the envoys to London but also
many of the most important figures in Japanese foreign policy.
Their experiences mirror the history of the period. To start
with, Japan was learning from the West, and there is muchemphasis on the Japanese students sent to the UK and thejapansociety Japan-UK Review: August 2007

British experts sent to Japan. Although Japanese diplomats
struggled to have their country recognised as the equal of theEuropean powers, they eventually succeeded not only inrevising the "unequal" treaties but in entering a formal alliancewith the UK in 1902. This was the apogee of the friendshipbetween the two countries. Sadly, later envoys had to contend
with the slide into a war which none of them could prevent,and after the war with the bitterness which it left behind.
Many of the envoys were strong, independent personalities.
Hayashi Tadasu had his memoirs banned from publication by
the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Aoki clashed so often with his
own Foreign Minister that he eventually suffered the rebukethat a Count (the Minister) did not expect counter-instructions
from a mere Viscount (Aoki). On the other hand, the envoys
could also be tough with the British when necessary. Chinda,
for example, stood his ground when the imperious Lord
Curzon tried to browbeat him and gave an "almost
impassioned" defence of his country.
Of particular interest are the two great pre-war
Ambassadors, Matsudaira and Yoshida. Both won many
British friends and took risks in the cause of peace.
Matsudaira stuck his neck out over Manchuria, and Yoshida
tried on his own initiative and with no cover from Tokyo tonegotiate an Anglo-Japanese agreement in 1936-7.
This book does not only describe the twists and turns ofnegotiation. It also presents something of the daily life of theenvoys and their families, and of the British circles they moved
in. Ayako Ishizaka for example recalls her diplomaticchildhood and her British nanny, who properly taught her that"got" was American and not good English and that "young
ladies never hate, they dislike". Mme Yoshida perfectly mixes
British experience with Japanese sensibility by feeding theswans on the Thames and observing that as she looked up "Isaw a full moon rising over the fir tree".
This book contains many such moments of amusement andinterest. Perhaps the thread running through it is how
individual diplomats have tried down the years to reduce thegulf of incomprehension with which the UK and Japan started
out. Ian Nish, the editor of this book and author of many ofthe portraits, notes that initially even the Anglo-Japanese
Alliance was one of mutual ignorance. Even today, whentravel and the internet have brought us much closer together,and the job of an Ambassador has changed enormously, we
still have a need of people with a deep enough knowledge tointerpret one society and culture to the other.
This review originally appeared in the Japan Times and isreproduced with the permission of the author.

Create Your Own
Japanese Garden:
A Practical Guide,
Motomi Oguchi and Joseph
Cali,
Kodansha International, 2007,
114 pages, 500 colour photos
and 100 other illustrations,ISBN 10:4770028040 andISBN 13:9784770028044, price£16.99.

japansociety Japan-UK Review: August 2007

Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
Oguchi is an experienced Japanese garden designer who
has designed more than 400 gardens. In his introduction theauthor stresses that the history of Japanese gardens is linked toproperty size, architecture and the surroundings. He has been
influenced by his attachments to the arts of tea, ikebana(flower arrangement) and bonsai. From the tea ceremony helearnt about wabi-sabi which he explains as being "to patiently
strive for perfection, to leave pride and envy behind." Fromflower arrangement he learnt "the importance of andfleetingness of living things." Bonsai had taught him "muchabout the life of trees and the action of soil, water, and air uponthem." It has also taught him "about creating naturalness fromthe unnatural."He draws attention to the principles of garden design set
out in the eleventh century Sakuteiki. He paraphrases these as
being:
1.
"According the natural conditions of the site, design
each part of the garden tastefully, recalling how nature would
present itself."
2.
"Study the work of past masters and, considering thedesires of your heart [or the customer's] create a new work,
mindful of what has gone before."
3.
"Recall the beautiful and tasteful scenes of nature, andby putting yourself into the work create a garden full ofharmony and the feeling of such places."
He comments: "These guidelines have a clear direction naturalness, tastefulness, and harmony." He goes on to list
"formal elements and design devices" such as asymmetry andshakkei (borrowing scenery).
The book is divided into five chapters. Chapter one isdevoted to "Approaches, Entrances and Front Gardens,"
chapter two to "Courtyard and Dry Landscape Gardens,"
chapter three to "Tea Gardens and Tree Gardens," chapter fourto "Interior and Veranda Gardens in Commercial Spaces" andchapter five to "Special Touches, Restoration and
Maintenance." The book contains much practical advice, forinstance on how to make plaited bamboo fences, create a stonebridge and assemble and place stone lanterns.
As Oguchi is a Kyoto garden designer inevitably his advice
and his designs are primarily for those living in a Japaneseenvironment. While he does design gardens for western style
houses in Japan this is a relatively minor element in his book.
His gardens are mostly designed to go with Japanese houses
with sight lines from a Japanese tatami room directly into aJapanese garden, although he does illustrate one or twogardens "tailored for viewing from above as well as groundlevel." (page 68)
Perhaps inevitably some of his gardens look contrived andartificial in comparison with historical gardens, but they may
look more natural as they mature.
Anyone living in Britain who wants to build their own
Japanese garden here would find this book of interest but it is
not a full and sufficient guide for our needs. The book for
instance stresses the important role of madake, the thickstemmed bamboo which grows so profusely round Kyoto but
which cannot be grown in normal conditions in Britain. It also
assumes that other types of bamboo can be easily found here
and that the necessary stones and mature trees are readily
available. Japanese gardens can be successfully developed in
Britain as was demonstrated at the exhibition of photographsof Japanese gardens at the Japanese Embassy last year and for
instance by the garden designed for the RHS show at Chelsea
two years ago by the late Maureen Busby. But they are7

inevitably more difficult to design here than in Japan as theyneed to suit the British environment. They are also moredifficult to build because of problems of finding the necessary
materials and expertise. Anyone new to Japanese gardens
needs to be aware of the importance of avoiding the "twee"
and of thinking that a Japanese garden necessarily depends ona stone lantern and other artificial ornaments.
The simple answer in Britain if you are interested inJapanese gardens and hope one day to make your own is, ofcourse, to join the Japan Garden Society and make contact
with the specialist designers and suppliers who have made thesociety into such a flourishing organization and who produce
the excellent quarterly journal Shakkei devoted to Japanesegardens and all that goes with them.
The hon, secretary of The Japan Garden Society, is Mrs Ann Dobson,
Woodzend, Longdene Road, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 2PQ,
(telephone: 0845-0944584, email; enquiries@jgd.org.uk

Britain andJapan:
BiographicalPortraits,
Volume VI,
Edited by
Cortazzi,

Sir

Hugh

GlobalOrientalinassociation with the Japan
Society, 2007, 368 pages,
ISBN 978-1-905246-33-5
Review by Adrian
Pinnington
This book is the latest(and, sadly, probably the last) of the volumes about AngloJapanese relations that have been sponsored by the Japan
Society of London since 1991. The series, together with twocompanion volumes on British and Japanese diplomats, now
comprises nearly 250 essays. This volume contains aninvaluable index for the series as a whole.
Edited by the indefatigable Sir Hugh Cortazzi, who also
contributes six of the essays, this volume is characterized
above all by variety. The 34 essays cover politicians, royalty,
businessmen, scholars, writers and artists.
At one end, we have scholarly studies, such as Peter
O'Connor's piece on the journalist Hugh Fulton Byass, which
actually manages to cram an account of the fortunes of theentire English language press before World War II in Japan
into 12 pages; at the other extreme, there is Roger Buckley's
elegant meditation of under five pages on the difficulty ofknowing just what experiences the cult British novelist,
Angela Carter, actually had in Japan.
Some pieces are based on research; others are personalmemoirs - including no less than three accounts written byrelatives or descendants of the subjects - containing muchinformation not available elsewhere. Other essays are based
primarily on archival materials, making them essential
reading for historians of the period.
Reading the excerpts from, for example, the account of the
Showa Emperor sent to London before the state visit by the
British ambassador or the "Confidential Aims" of Prime

8

Minister Edward Heath's visit to Japan, we feel that special
thrill that comes from reading something not originallyintended for public consumption. The volume ends with the
British Embassy's report on the Beatles' visit to Japan in 1966.
Collections of essays are always hard to review - a mere listof the topics would use up the available space - but certain
common themes do emerge. One of these is the strong strain ofJapanophilia that has existed in modern Britain, despite
diplomatic estrangement and war.
The most surprising example is Winston Churchill, who isconvincingly shown by Eiji Seki to have had "a friendly,
understanding and compassionate attitude" toward Japanthroughout his life.
A second theme, particularly evident because of the
inclusion of a number of essays about prominent Japanesebusinessmen, is the enormous role played by Britain in Japan's
modernization. This is linked to a third theme, the blindness
shown by the British to Japan's economic potential until verylate.
A fourth theme is the characteristic sense of gratitude thatmany Japanese have felt toward Britain and the positive rolethat this has played in relations. Another theme is theimportance of diplomatic relations between two countries thatare monarchies, something that has been both an advantage
and a source of many subtle difficulties.
There are only two essays in the book about Anglophile
Japanese intellectuals. One is Norimasa Morita's absorbing
account of the impact of England on the novelist and critic
Kenichi Yoshida. The other is Rikki Kersten's piece on theinfluence of Oxford liberalism on the political thinker, Masao
Maruyama. I would like to have seen more studies of this kind,showing us the cultural impact of Britain on Japan.
But if you want to know what the Chachiru-kai (Churchill
Society) does, or why so many British royal family members
had themselves tattooed in Japan, or which Japanese car isnamed after the hero of Little Lord Fauntleroy, or why the
Beatles concert roused the ire of the right wing, then this is thebook for you. In fact, I can recommend it to anyone interested
in the intriguing course of Anglo-Japanese relations in modern
times.
This review originally appeared in the Japan Times and isreproduced with the permission of the author. Adrian Pinnington
teaches comparative literature at Waseda University.

Updated Review
Kita Ikki and the Making of Modern Japan: A
Vision of Empire,by Brij Tankha,
University of Hawaii Press/Global
Oriental, 2006, 272/352 pages.
ISBN 1901903990/ ISBN 1901903-99-0
Review by Ben-Ami Shillony

Read the new review here:
http://www.japansociety.org.uk/reviews/07kita.html

japansociety Japan-UK Review: August 2007