The Japan Society Review 50
Book, Stage, Movie, Arts and Events Review

In this issue we are in a self-reflective mood with our main theme
actually being our regular reviewers and the Japan Society
Review itself. We have now reached the milestone of 50 issues
since first appearing in January 2006. To mark the occasion, we
have an article by each of our current key contributors withpieces mainly focusing on contemporary issues.
For those who wonder how we reached this landmark, here’s avery brief history of our first 50 issues. It all started back in 2005
when we decided to start posting out collected book reviews
with the Japan Society mail-shots. This idea was strongly
supported by Mike Barrett and Sir Hugh Cortazzi. These
newsletter type reviews were extremely popular, so at the
beginning of 2006, we launched Japan Society Book Review asa regular bimonthly publication. This would not have happened
without the fantastic energy of Clare Barclay, our first managing
editor from issues 1 to 12, and the superb support of Sharon
Kelly and Robert Guy of the Japan Society team. Our most loyal
and dedicated reviewer from the very beginning has been Sir
Hugh Cortazzi whose amazing enthusiasm for the project has
been limitless. In the early years we also greatly benefited from
regular contributions from Professor Ian Nish, Fumiko Halloran,
Susan Meehan, Ben-Ami Shillony and Takahiro Miyao. Theirranks were later added to by regular reviewers Mike Sullivan,
Lucy Searles, Chris Corker and Ali Muskett. When Heidi Potter
and John Toppon joined the Japan Society team, they injected

Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)

new energy and direction into the publication. Heidi and John
gave us a great makeover and we shortened our name to
Japan Society Review. John was our dynamic managing editor
from issue 13 to 33 during which time JSR really developed.
After John left the team, Jennifer Anderson briefly held thereins before handing over to our current dedicated managing
editor Jack Cooke, who joined us with issue 35. Jack has worked
tirelessly to improve the publication, making us a more visuallyappealing and slick production.
Fifty issues and nine years makes it impossible to personally
thank everyone involved, but I must mention a number of otherindividuals. We benefited greatly from the support of Sir JohnWhitehead, Christopher Purvis, Paul Diamond and Sir David
Warren and the contributions of Mikihiro Maeda, Tomohiko
Taniguchi, William Farr, Simon Cotterill and Anna Davis. I would
also like to thank our excellent layout & production support
staff, especially Arthur Comets and Abbie Martin. Finally, thanks
to all reviewers who contributed one or two articles, especially
Sir Graham Fry, Jason James and Mike Barrett and every otherreviewer who has kindly contributed a review and who I havenot been able to name in person. Here’s to the next 50 issues!
Sean Curtin, Editor, Issues 1 - 50
April 2014

Schoolgirls, Money andRebellion in Japan
By Sharon Kinsella
Routledge, 2013
238 pages, £26.99
ISBN-13: 978-0415704113
Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi
This sociological study is based on
painstaking research and contains
much interesting material about
aspects of the life of young women in modern Japan.
The reader needs to bear in mind that, despite constitutional
provisions about equality between the sexes, Japan remains
a male chauvinist society and Japanese women continue tosuffer significant discrimination. Kinsella notes (p.104) that‘the female ratio of the total wages earned in Japan in 2006,
women received approximately one third (0.366) of total
male wages.’ The Japanese birth rate ‘reached its lowest
point on record in 2005 after a five-year slump (at 1.25 live
births per 1,000) and marriage rates reached the lowest
levels on record of 5.5 per 1,000 in 2010.’ (p.3).
It is also necessary to bear in mind the history of the ‘sex
industry’ in Japan – from the ‘floating word’ of Tokugawa
Japan and the ‘Nightless city’ of the Yoshiwara, throughthe war-time ‘comfort women’ and the ‘pan pan’ girls of
the occupation era to the bars, ‘soap-lands’ and houses ofassignation of modern Japan.
It is not surprising that some young high-school girls
have rebelled and indulged in practices, which aroused
the interest of populist magazines and sensation-seeking
television companies. Some Japanese men, with whatsome might call prurient or pornographic interest, followed
and stimulated the way-out behaviour of such girls. Kinsella
has looked hard at the question of how far the media
were themselves responsible for at least some elements ofdeviant behaviour. Were some of the girls involved simply
seeking, and wallowing in, publicity? Were they being led
on in their responses by the questions posed to them? How
far were their answers true or made up to lure questionerson?
Kinsella (page 32) notes: ‘From 1996, dressing up in sexy‘adult’ clothing, posing for photographs, and competing
to have photographs published in magazines became
dominant themes in schoolgirl street fashion and the basic
formula of a new category of girls’ magazines targeted at
kogyaru’ (high school girls). Kinsella also points out (p.64)
that ‘Rather like the bõsõzoku bike gangs of the 1980s,
who boisterously pressed journalists for appointments inwhich their deviant performances would be observed,
photographed and reported, being a kogyaru was a
pastime that played blatantly with media narrative about
under age prostitution and compensated dating’.
‘Compensated dating [enjo kõsai] as a salaryman
subculture’ is the title of chapter 3. ‘Compensated dating’2

which involved girls in trying to get money from apparently
sex-starved young males attracted much attention in theJapanese media in the 1990s. It was as Kinsella notes (p.39) ‘arisqué subculture for company and government employees
led by male intellectual and fashionable cultural figures.
For these people it was a distinctively male subculturethat delighted in playacting at the boundaries of teenage
prostitution.’ Kinsella devotes two pages to what she terms‘Vicarious dating’ suggesting that sexual stimulation was forsome men a substitute for the act itself.
In a subsequent chapter entitled ‘Kõgyaru chic: dressing asa delinquent girl’ she comments (page 84): ‘The intensityof their [the girls] interaction with reporters and cameracrews and the organizational centring of kogyaru activities
within the editorial offices of high-school girl magazines
hint at the extent to which the sub-culture, while fullyfledged and ‘real’ was also a highly professionally produced
phenomenon.’ Schoolgirls in the 1990s had much more
pocket money than the pre-war mogyaru (modern girl)and the magazines that catered for them needed to keep
up their circulations to attract advertisers.
This book inevitably leaves a number of questions
unanswered. How, for instance, do the Japanese girls
studied here compare with British or American girls of asimilar age? Do Japanese girls have more or less sex intheir teens than their western opposite numbers? Teenage
pregnancy would seem to be rarer in Japan than here in
the UK. Is this because they take more effective precautions
or because they have less sex? Homosexuality is a taboo
topic in Japan despite its prevalence. Do young Japanese
girls have Lesbian relationships? How does the continuanceof what might be termed the ‘kawaii’ syndrome, which
attracts hordes of Japanese visitors to Beatrix Potter’s former
home in the Lake District fit in with the deviant behaviour ofthe girls who are the subject of this book? I do not criticise
Kinsella for not offering answers to these topics but they
do show that there is room for further studies in this area ofsociological research.
When many years ago I was a member of the Economic andSocial Research Council, I used to plead with sociologists totry to avoid sociological jargon. Please, I said, try to writein clear simple English and short sentences. Like so many
books by sociologists this book is often very dense.

Like Someone in Love
Directed by Abbas
Kiarostami
2012, 109 minutes
Review by Mike Sullivan
Contains some plot spoilers
Abbas Kiarostami is from Iranand has been making movies
since the 1970s; his style isquite different to Hollywood
Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)

directors who prefer big blockbuster action movies
and is more in keeping with Japanese movies that
tend to concentrate on character development. It is
partly because he tries to involve the audience with thestory that his movies can be controversial, for example
some people feel that some of his movies lack key
narrative explanations, while others feel that the pointof this is to make the audience think rather than havethe story spoon fed to them. Like Someone in Love isno exception to this and this should be kept in mind
before watching the movie. Over the years, he has won
a number of awards from different countries including
Japan’s Medal of Honour in 2013. This movie was a
co-venture between France’s mk2 Group and Japan’s
Eurospace, it stars Japanese actors and is entirely inJapanese, and was filmed in Japan.
The story revolves around three main characters playedby Rin Takanashi [高梨 臨], Ryo Kase [加瀬 亮] andTadashi Okuno [奥野匡]. Rin Takanashi (25) is a relative
newcomer to the world of Japanese cinema and TV
having had parts in a few movies since 2008 including
the Samurai Sentai Shinkenger series of movies and a
few dramas such as Detective School Q and Rookies.
Ryo Kase (39) is perhaps the most recognizable personin this film, he has starred in a number of movies since2000 such as The Taste of Tea, About Love, I Just Didn’t
Do It and Outrage. Tadashi Okuno is an actor who after
seeing Like Someone In Love, seems like a face wemust have seen somewhere before. This is because heis quite simply amazing in this movie. However, he has
only done some TV work in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s
as well as some small parts in recent decades.

and asks the driver to go around again where she once
again sees her grandmother and cries before the taxi
continues on its journey into the night.
The next third of the movie brings in the character ofthe client, Takashi (Tadashi Okuno) and involves his
interactions with Akiko and then Takashi with Akiko’s
boyfriend Noriaki (Ryo Kase), increasingly the movie
focuses on Takashi with the final part of the movie
pretty much carried by him to the end. It is absolutely
fascinating how such a seemingly little known actor
takes on such a major role so perfectly. He is considerably
older than his co-stars (86) and, in keeping with Abbas
Kiarostami’s preference for mistaken identities, isconfused by Noriaki to be Akiko’s grandfather. At thesame time, he takes on the role of being a surrogate
father or grandfather, a role which Akiko herself projects
on him.
The plot is considerably more complex than thedescription above, however this is one movie which
is best to view without knowing too much about thestory. Unfortunately, despite the brilliant performanceby Tadashi Okuno, this is a movie which you will
either like or dislike. The audience is expected to piece
together some parts of the different characters’ backstories themselves, as well as read between the linesof the movie’s plot. On my first viewing of this movie,
I came away a little dissatisfied from what I had seen,
however I feel an increasing need to watch it again inorder to think about what Abbas Kiarostami is trying toconvey.

The movie begins with a bar, Akiko (Rin Takanashi) is
arguing on the phone with her boyfriend while close
by a female friend listens in while at the same timetalking to a man who we never see. It quickly becomesapparent that her boyfriend is suspicious about where
she is and is paranoid, even needing to speak to Akiko’s
friend to confirm that she isn’t with a man and making
Akiko go to the toilet and count tiles so that he can go
to the same place later, and check that she is actually
where she says she is by counting them himself. After
this phone call, her boss sits at her table and it is evident
that her boyfriend’s suspicions are justified as her boss
tries to convince her to visit a client for an overnightstay. This movie is roughly divided into thirds with thefirst third focused on Akiko, she has to take a long taxi
ride to the client’s house and as she sits in the taxi shelistens to a number of voice messages which have beenleft by her grandmother who has come to Tokyo to visit
her.

Triangle

It is from these messages that we get a bit of backgroundinformation about Akiko, as well as feel sorry for her as it
appears she is too ashamed to meet her grandmother,and also feel sorry for her grandmother who waits
patiently all day in Tokyo station in order to try and meether beloved granddaughter. Akiko asks the taxi driver topass near the station where she spots her grandmother,

One thing that may be apparent to anyone familiar with thework of John Fowles is the striking similarity of Triangle toFowles’ 1965 work The Magus. Certain events and conceptsof timelessness, entrapment, helplessness and misdirected
desire are mirrored throughout. And while the endings
diverge and the setting is quite obviously different, thesimilarities are hard to ignore. The protagonists’ fatal flaws,

Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)

By Hisaki Matsuura
Dalkey Archive Press (1 April 2014)
350 pages, £10.26
ISBN-10: 162897026X
Review by Chris Corker
Hisaki Matsura, a professorof French literature at the
University of Tokyo, initiallymade his literary trade as a poet
before moving onto novels.
There are certainly elements ofpoetic symbolism and surrealism in sections of Triangle thatreflect his earlier work. His 2000 novel A spoiling Rain won
the Akutagawa prize in that same year, while his 2004 novel
Peninsula, a follow-up to Triangle, won the Yomiuri Prize.

3however, are almost polar opposites. While Nicholas in The
Magus is betrayed by his own arrogant assumptions andoften brazenly wanders into traps laid for him obliviously,
Otsuki, a former drug addict, is driven more out of a selfhatred and paranoiac fear at his own circumstances,falling in line with a self-destructive enthusiasm. ‘What was
important was feeling comfortable with an idle lifestyle
while maintaining a hatred for being a deadbeat.’
While this characteristic may be necessary for the reader tounderstand Otsuki’s persistence, when those of soundermind may have stayed well away, it also makes it harder
to sympathise with his character, as he wallows in his selfmade squalor.
Despite the flaws with Otsuki’s character, the story is an
intriguing one. While wondering through the maze-like
Tokyo backstreets after an unfulfilling romantic affair
with a married woman, Hiroko (who, as in The Magus, istransformed into tantalising bait), Otsuki is surprised tobump into one of his old colleagues, Sugimoto. Otsuki’s
distaste and fear of this character is clear from the offset,
and Sugimoto represents a seedy and nefarious past that
Otsuki is ashamed of, trying unsuccessfully to forget andmove beyond. Sugimoto implores Otsuki to meet his new
boss, Koyama, who he refers to deferentially as ‘Sensei’. Aftermuch persuasion, Otsuki agrees. At Koyama’s house he isshown a pornographic film shortly after his arrival, in which
images of hardcore sex are inter-spliced with grotesque
images of feasting maggots and cannibalistic insects. Shortly
after this aversion therapy-like film, which Koyama refers
to uncompromisingly as ‘art’, Otsuki is asked to contributehis own directed scene, featuring Tomoe, a young girl hewill come to desire and detest in equal measure. Here ishighlighted the conflict in man of his baser instincts against
his civilisation, his constant struggle to stand above otherliving things with an assumed transcendental nobility.
‘. . . Things of beauty, things of filth, they’re all the same when
you burrow down to the core. If you descend to the depths,
you reach a place where everything becomes one, a place
where total opposites melt into each other completely.
Beauty and pollution, life and death, lowliness and nobility,
penis and vagina.’
From this point on events take a surreal and pernicious turnas Otsuki is sucked into a savage and convoluted maze,
where each turn only offers more questions, or nothing at
all. In-between each bizarre occurrence, Otsuki wanders
through never-ending backstreets in the Tokyo summer
heat, trying to find answers, or trying to find himself. Thereis a strong feeling throughout that everyone is implicit in
the deception, further highlighting the isolated position of
Otsuki and adding to the drama.
As the story is set in central Tokyo, anyone familiar withthe city may recognise the names mentioned, such as
Yotsuya, Asakusa and Shinjuku. In tone with Otsuki’s
own desperate feelings are the economic times, thenovel taking place slightly after the economic bubble
has burst, leaving manual labourers out of work and4destitute, the national mood sombre.

tell us about this venture?

As mentioned before, there is a metaphysical element
to the narrative, with philosophies on time similar to thatwhich Vonnegut set out in Slaughterhouse 5 and a buried
layer of existentialism. There is also a meditation on the artof Japanese Kanji, as Koyama tries to match the achievable
perfection of the inanimate with the imperfect animate, but
this will have little resonance with many western readers, anddoesn’t always feel convincing. These elements, combinedwith the ongoing mystery and suspense of Otsuki’s journey
encourage the reader to press on, searching for that answer
that literary fiction often makes temptingly elusive. Thisnarrative drive, however, does ebb away towards the final
third of the novel, as it assumes a more conventional action
narrative, the intrigue and introspection taking a back seat
to a sequence of scenes that feel ill-fitted when compared to
the rest of the novel, better suiting a Hollywood blockbuster.

Micha: The most obvious answer is that my university studies
and time spent in Japan have instilled a long-term love forJapan and broader East Asia (I have also lived and worked in
Beijing) and so I want to do my bit to share and showcase
a culture that I have found inspiring over the years. Thereis also another more nuanced reason that I started Kagami
Theatre. I am by no means an expert in Japanese theatre
or in its representation in the UK (yet!) but from a personal,
anecdotal perspective I sometimes get the impression thatJapanese culture is exoticised in the UK and I feel this canbe a little reductive. While admittedly, there are times when
it is very useful and interesting to explore our differences
and what makes a culture unique, I do however feel that
there is also a need toemphasise the universality,
the humanity that exists
across all cultures. Differenceis always appealing for
novelty’s sake, but I believe
theatre has a powerfulrole to play in building
empathy and helping us
make sense of the humancondition collectively. So I
hope with Kagami Theatre
to provide some alternative
perspectives on Japaneseculture through its ideas
and stories rather than its
aesthetic.

Overall, Triangle is a brave and sometimes brutal novelthat isn’t afraid to bend conventions and use the surreal
to disorientate the reader. While its promise marginallyoutweighs its delivery, it is still a commendable, and for themost part, intriguing and addictive work.

Woman in the Dunes, by Kobo Abe,
Adapted as a play and directed by Micha Colombo
Theatre503, London, 14 -18 January 2014
An interview with Micha Colombo by Susan Meehan

Kagami Theatre hopes to tour Woman in the Dunes more
widely around the UK in 2014 and is currently preparing for asecond round of fundraising in order to make the proposed
tour possible. The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
supported the London theatre premiere which received
extremely good reviews. It was certainly packed on the lastnight, when I went to see it and I know that it sold out on
its first evening as well. I had the pleasure of congratulating
and also interviewing Micha Colombo on 24 January, soonafter her run at the Theatre503 had come to an end.
Susan: You studied Japanese at Cambridge – what brought
you to directing and acting?
Micha: I have always loved drama from an early age – frombeing a regular participant in my local village panto as achild, through school plays and lots of student drama whileat Cambridge. After university, I initially went into a more
corporate role in marketing, but eventually realised myheart was still in theatre, so I made the choice to pursue it
professionally. I took the plunge, left my job and got a place
at one of the big London drama schools, the Academy ofLive & Recorded Arts (ALRA), to train professionally as anactor. While there, and since graduating, I started to realisethat my love of theatre might extend beyond performance
to include directing and writing too. I’m still pretty early on
in my career in theatre, so time will tell where it takes me.
Susan: You founded the Kagami Theatre – can you
Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)

Susan: Why do you think
Woman in the Dunes
resonated with the audienceat Theatre503?

been a real inspiration to me and I’m sure I will create morework related to him in future.
Susan: What was most difficult about this particular project?
What was the easiest aspect?
Micha: There were lots of challenges about this project,mainly practical. We had to create this production on avery small budget generously funded by the Daiwa AngloJapanese Foundation. Without that support, this project
may not have been possible. Budget restrictions meant we
had to be creative with our production design and seek
to keep costs absolutely minimal across all aspects of the
production without sacrificing quality. Also, there weresome staging challenges that were pretty daunting – themain one being how torepresent a 20 metre deep pitof sand and the movementof props and people in andout of said pit when staging
the show in a 5m by 5msquare studio space! The
easiest aspect, or perhaps
one of the most enjoyable
was gathering the team
together – actors, designers,
stage manager. I was solucky to find a fantastic teamof really creative people
who also loved the story
and wanted to help bring it
to life. I thought it might betricky finding others who
were as excited as me about
the piece, but in fact, I had
a wealth of great talent tochoose from.

Micha: As I mentioned in the previous answer, we reallytried with Woman in the Dunes to focus on themes that
resonate with contemporary audiences in the UK. We live
in a global economy that has inequality at its heart. Whennational economies ‘develop’ and ‘progress’ this doesn’tnecessarily translate to every individual in equal measure.
For me, one of the powerful points of the story was the
exploration of how people survive when they effectively
get left behind by society. Each of the characters in the story
is trying to make sense of the harsh conditions in which theyfind themselves and trying to carve out a normality withinthat. The story really challenges our notions of purpose andachievement and we received a lot of audience feedback
that this exploration of why we work struck a real chordwith people.

Susan: How different was the first performance on Tuesday,
11 January from the last on 18 January?

Susan: Is Abe Kobo your favourite author?

Micha: Lots! I have always enjoyed reading Mishima andTanizaki Jun’ichiro, I went to a great rehearsed reading of
Getting Lost by Maeda Shiro at the Japan Foundation a
few years back which sparked a few thoughts. I loved Sei
Shonagon when I read her at university. I also think there isa rich tradition of folk tales in Japan that are a real treasure
trove of exciting stories.

Micha: I am terrible at choosing favourites I’m afraid, I
think it’s impossible as different writers give you different
things! But I think Abe Kobo was a truly visionary person. I
absolutely loved reading more of his work and researchinghis processes and ideas in preparation for the show. He has
Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)

Micha: We only had a short first run this time but even thenthe show shifted and evolved over just 5 nights of public
performance. I felt it gained pace and the actors really
started to ground their characters and make the dialogue
come to life. It takes a live audience to make you realise
what moments really zing and which need further work.
There is always room for improvement, especially since I am
relatively new to the game, so I will be editing the script andmaking some structural changes if we manage to secure
funding for another phase of touring the show.
Susan: What other Japanese authors / playwrights haveinfluenced you?

5

Susan: What are you aiming to do next?
Micha: If possible, I would love to share Woman in the Dunes
with a broader audience via a tour, but this is all subject tofunding. I am now starting to think about Kagami Theatre’s
next project. I have a feeling it might be something devised
this time, perhaps around some of those great folk tales I
mentioned, but we’ll see.
Susan: Which play has impressed you most over the last few
years and why?
Micha: A production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters by Benedict
Andrews. This was Chekhov like I’d never seen it before
and packed a real punch. The design was startling and
an integral part of the action rather than simply acting asa backdrop, and included a huge mound of earth and astage of raised blocks that were progressively cleared away
throughout the second half. The dialogue felt alive andcontemporary so that I had a strong sense of empathy withthe characters rather than seeing them as museum pieces.
It was emotionally vibrant.

The English-Language Press
Networks of East Asia
By Peter O’Connor
Global Oriental, 2010
405 pages, £61
ISBN: 978-1-905246-67-0
Review by Ian Nish
‘This book,’ the author starts
boldly, ‘argues that the Englishlanguage press of East Asia playeda significant role in the shapingof international perceptions of Japan and East Asia (page1).’ Professor O’Connor justifies this claim with a wealthof detail gleaned from years of research in the field andfrom countless publications on the subject of Japanese
government propaganda.
While newspapers in Japan were published from the
middle of the 19th century onwards, the first major strides
towards an organized industry were taken in 1891, just after
the Meiji constitution had been ratified, with the foundingof the Japan Chronicle in Kobe by Robert Young and theJapan Advertiser in Tokyo by a Scot named Meiklejohn. The
global press in those days was not concentrated as today
in the hands of large corporations but was small, local anddiversified. So the English-language press of the East Asian
treaty ports was not exceptional. It served the foreign
mercantile communities and a fair number of Japanesein days when the Japanese-language press was slowly
developing. But these were hard times for proprietors andidiosyncratic editors trying to survive in an uncertain market;
and there were periodical crises when compromises had to
be made. (The Japanese side of the story being complicated6

enough, we are excluding from this review the complexitiesof the Chinese and Korean press which O’Connor also
covers).
The main part of this study begins at the end of the firstworld war. O’Connor detects the emergence of three broad
networks among English-language newspapers, magazinesand news agencies. Firstly, Japan which was naturally
anxious to present a favourable account of her actions to
the world, had through the Information Bureau which theForeign Ministry set up in 1904 begun to influence thepress at home and through diplomatic channels abroad.
Secondly, the Japan Chronicle group based in Kansai,
capable and well-informed, had links with British media in
Shanghai and Tianjin as also with Fleet Street. O’Connor
describes this as ‘the British network’ since it reflectedviews and prejudices of the British mercantile community,
though not necessarily British government thinking. It was
not uncommon for the British embassy in Tokyo to speak of
the editors as ‘suffering from an exaggerated critical faculty.’
Competing with the British-oriented media was, thirdly,
the Japan Advertiser group which operated under theownership of the American Wilfred Fleisher from 1908 till hesold it in 1940. His associates in China were often strongly
anti-British but the Japan Advertiser under the editorship of
the Scotsman Hugh Byas for three periods from 1914 until
1930 kept a neutral stance. These two groups tended tobe critical (though not in unison) of the editorial line takenby the English-language outlets supported by ‘the Foreign
Ministry network’ which was becoming increasingly
associated with the Japan Times. In the later 1930s the
position of foreign newspapers became even more
precarious because of shortage of revenues, government
censorship and wartime conditions. The result was that theChronicle accepted a subsidy from the Tokyo government
in 1938 and the Advertiser sold out to the Japan Times in
October 1940. The ‘Foreign Ministry network’ proved tobe the most durable of the three groups but was regarded
with suspicion abroad, thus destroying its original objectiveof winning foreign support.
O’Connor’s interesting final chapter entitled ‘Publicity
Warriors’ deals with the way in which the Japan Times, now
in charge of an amalgamated media, sets about reorienting
the press in the conquered areas of Asia between 1941
and 1945. However hateful it was, English had, for practicalreasons, to become the prime language of the armed
occupation of the Asian continent and the Greater East
Asian Co-prosperity Sphere.
This is a subtle story, full of twists, inconsistencies andcontradictions. Generalization and interpretation are
difficult. How significant was the expatriate press in an eraof rising nationalism in Japan (and, of course, China)? It is
probably fair to conclude that it had an effect much greaterthan its resources and circulation would suggest. In the
1930s these newspapers operated in the environment ofa propaganda war and managed to have their say, even if
it hardly affected policy-making in Japan or China. And yetelsewhere in the world where academics covering East Asia
Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)

were few in number and foreigners with a knowledge of
East Asian languages fewer still, these observation posts
were heavily relied on. Foreign Ministry archives aroundthe world now show that the views of these journalists
were much read and had the effect of keeping diplomats
on their toes. Moreover journalists from these papers like
Morgan Young, Hugh Byas, Thomas Millard and Edgar
Snow independently published many authoritative books
on contemporary issues which carried great weight in‘shaping international perceptions’ of the area.
Professor O’Connor who has systematically analysed a vast
amount of archival sources and has previously publisheda 40-volume series on related topics, has now distilled his
findings in this compact volume. Students of the East Asian
region will find this encyclopaedic work of reference anessential tool for their understanding. It is, however, a sadcommentary on how a once free press can decline overtime into one purveying government hand-outs!

The Return of Japan’s Long Lost Telescope
Article by Sean Curtin
Four centuries ago King James I gave Japan its very firsttelescope, at the time this was a cutting-edge piece oftechnology. The gift was the perfect symbol to mark the
beginning of what was to become an extremely fruitfuland long-lasting bilateral relationship. Sadly, the originaltelescope has been lost to the mists of time, but as part of
the Japan400 celebrations in 2013, to mark four centuries
since the first official encounter, a new telescope wasconstructed using traditional methods. The idea of restoringa lost symbolic artefact has
deep cultural roots in English
mythology and literature
stretching back to the
Arthurian legends.

the first British vessel to Japan and organizing the dispatchof the telescope, which was the most advanced scientificinstrument on the planet at the time.
This was a daring mission to what was then the very edgeof the known world. After sailing along the Japanese coast,Saris eventually landed at Hirado, located in modern day
Nagasaki Prefecture. Here he was warmly greeted by the
local ruler, Matsura Hoin, the Lord of Hirado. Lord Matsura
helped ensure the telescope’s safe passage to Japan’s
paramount ruler, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Along with the aid of
William Adams, an Englishman who had arrived in Japanin April 1600 on a Dutch ship, Saris was able to gain an
audience with the ruling elite and initiate the first official
contact. On 8 September 1613, Saris had an audience with
the immensely influential retired Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu.
He gave the legendary leader a letter from King James andseveral gifts, including the nation’s first ever telescope, adevice which had just been invented in Europe. Saris also
opened a trading post and factory in Hirado, which hesubsequently handed over to his colleague Richard Cocks
upon departing Japan in December 1613.
The spyglass brought by Saris was the first to leave Europe
for any destination, as well as the first ever sent to Asia. To
the people of the time, the telescope was a fabulous pieceof technology and certainly a truly impressive gift. Sadly, allphysical traces of this magnificent device have completely
vanished and we do not even have a picture of it. The
surviving written Japanese texts describing the telescope
are contradictory, so we have no real idea what it was
actually like.

In many respects this first gift of such an innovative pieceof world-changing technology was the perfect symbol
to inaugurate a highly
successful,
centuries-longrelationship of scientific,
economicandculturalexchange. It is a shamethat this potent emblem of
The original telescope’s
friendship no long exists.
tale begins back in April
Thanks to the vision of the1611, when the East India
Japan400 co-chairs, Professor
Company ship the Clove,
Timon Screech and Nicolas
under the command of theMaclean CMG, along withintrepid Captain John Saris,
the very generous funding
left England and set sail forfor the entire project by
distant Japan. The mission
Robin Maynard MBE, a new
was made up of three ships
telescope was commissionedof which only the Clove wentin 2013. The new instrument
all the way to Japan. Saris’
was painstakingly createdcommission was to first go
The world debut of the new telescope at Hatfield House
over a year-long period byto Yemen and the Spice
Ian
Poyser,one
ofBritain’s
foremost
craftsmen in the field ofIslands, primarily to seek trade, and then to Japan, if possible.
traditionalbrass
telescope
construction.
Because his first two ports of call were not especiallysuccessful, Saris was motivated to go on to Japan. After Having recreated such a historic symbol from the genesis ofa dangerous sea voyage lasting more than two years, the the Japan-British relationship, a fitting location and occasion
Clove arrived in Japanese waters in June 1613. It is believed had to be found for the telescope to make its global debut.
the Earl of Salisbury, a close advisor and Chief Minister to Monday 9 September 2013, almost four hundred years toKing James, helped supervise the complex task of sending
Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)7

the day from the original presentation, was selected as thedate to reveal the newly-commissioned brass instrument.
Hatfield House, built by the 1st Earl of Salisbury, who helped
organize its dispatch to Japan, was selected as the special
venue. To add a further layer of historic resonance, two
direct descendants of key 1613 dramatis personae were
present at the ceremony. These were the Marquess ofSalisbury, descendant of the 1st Earl of Salisbury, and Mr
Akira Matsura, descendant of the Lord of Hirado, where the
Clove had landed 400 year ago.

A close encounter after 400 years – Mr Akira Matsura, descendantof the ruler of Hirado and the Marquess of Salisbury, descendant of
the 1st Earl of Salisbury

A lunch was held to celebrate the historic Saris-Tokugawa
encounter and the first public appearance of the newly
crafted spyglass. It was announced that the beautiful
instrument was to be a gift to the Japanese people fromJapan400, being given as a renewal of the original gift. It
is hoped it will symbolise the centuries-long exchanges inculture, diplomacy and trade between the two great nations
as well as the long-standing and mutual cooperation inscience and technology. Later that same day, the telescope
made its second public outing, this time at the worldfamous Tower of London, where the Shogun’s gift to KingJames, a magnificent suit of Japanese armour, is on display.
After its day in the sun, the telescope was returned to theworkshop for further internal work to be completed.
The next time the instrument was on display was at the ‘Two
Cultures United by Tea’ event organized by Japan400 andheld at the magnificent Banqueting House in Whitehall on
Sunday 15 September 2013. At this spacious location many
people were able to admire it and the general impressionof the gleaming brass device was extremely favourable. Thiswas perhaps the best chance the British public had to see it
before it returned once again to Mr Poyser’s workshop for a
final series of refinements to its optical array. Like the originaltelescope, it was destined to be dispatched to Japan, but
fortunately there would be one final opportunity to view it
before it left the UK.
On 17 January 2014, Japan400 and the University ofCambridge organized a unique seminar entitled ‘From
King James’s Telescope to the Present and the Future: theJapan-British partnership in science and technology’ atJesus College, Cambridge, which is one of the university’s
most ancient colleges. This conference was kindly
sponsored by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation andToshiba of Europe and functioned as a farewell event for8

the telescope. A highly distinguish academic gathering,
including Lord Rees FRS, Astronomer Royal, was assembled
to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Japan-British scientificrelations and bid adieu to the glistening optical device. The
symposium was chaired by Professor Timon Screech andNicolas Maclean CMG, the co-chairmen of Japan400, andby Professor Roberto Cipolla, Fellow of Jesus College.

A Farewell for the Telescope – From King James’s Telescope to
the Present and the Future, Symposium and Celebration of the
Departure of the Japan400 Telescope for Japan

After the conference, there was a dinner in honour of thedeparting telescope. Japan400 will send the telescope to
No. 1 House at the British Embassy in Tokyo before it tours
a number of Japanese cities with strong British historicalconnections. It will eventually come to rest in Shizuoka
City. The telescope will be a key part of the Ieyasu400
celebrations, which will commemorate the life of the great
Japanese leader Tokugawa Ieyasu, who died in June 1616.
The telescope will eventually be placed on permanent
display in a specially reconstructed tower of Sunpu Castle
in Shizuoka City.
The telescope’s farewell dinner was held in one of theoldest parts of Jesus College, which was built on the site ofa twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery. This ancient venue
gave the proceedings an almost spiritual quality and as I
looked at the telescope, it made me recall the Bible passage,‘Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.’(Luke 15:9, King James Version).

Events in Brief
Japan Society Annual Lecture by Tim Hitchens, British
Ambassador to Japan, Monday 3 March 2014 at Nomura
International plc, One Angel Lane, London EC4R 3AB

Read more at:
http://www.japansociety.org.uk/33769/update-from-tokyo/

Issue 50 Volume 9 Number 2 (April 2014)