Books published by Curzon Press Ltd

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Shows Japan's group-orientated society may have had fewer so-called 'leaders', but has excelled as a society of king-makers. On the other hand, the way leadership is expressed derives from different values and perceptions of hierarchy.

Piovesana's famous survey is republished with an additional chapter by Naoshi Yamawaki to cover the intervening years up to 1994.

This volume collects the writings of Richard Storry on contemporary issues and the history of Japan.

This unique volume comprising writings and memoirs covering the half century since the end of the Pacific War, offers the reader a fascinating and remarkable collection of personal experiences of Japan across a wide spectrum.

The success of the first two volumes in this series has prompted this third volume of 25 further protraits of key personalities, including Natsume Soseki, Thomas Blackiston, Ivan Morris, Admiral Saito and Ozaki Yukio.

This first full length critical biography of one of the most significant figures in Japanese Studies in the last hundred years is based on an earlier work published in Japanese but considerably enlarged.

Faced with western contempt and suspicion, the Meiji Government staged this exhibition to advance Japanese agendas in political, economic and educational terms. The first major study principally concerned with the Japanese side of this story.

This book endeavours to unravel the complicated skeins of Japanese theatre in the modern period and offers an appreciation of the richness of choice of presentational and representational theatre forms.

From the commercial and industrial transformation of Osaka in the late 19th century to the role and status of Japanese multinationals in Europe: these two themes represent both the time-span and the breadth of this volume.

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In the spring of 1865, when Japan was in the grip of a major civil war, eighteen samurai and an interpreter risked their lives to embark secretly on a voyage to the unknown lands of the barbarian west. Their destination was Britain - at the hub of a vast empire. These were the Satsuma students, some of them still in their teens, all carrying orders from their domains to travel abroad. It was an extraordinary and daring expedition. Their experience of life in the west not only transformed their perception of the outside world, but through their diverse activities in later life, had a profound impact on commerce, education and culture in Meiji Japan. First published in 1974, Inuzuka Takaaki''s study is still the classic work on the Satsuma students'' revealing tale of discovery. In this translation by Andrew Cobbing, further details that have since emerged are also included to give a fresh portrayal, the first in English, of this singular episode in the opening of Japan.

The investigations undertaken in the pursuit of knowledge by the first overseas Japanese travellers during the 1860s and 70s have left a unique record of life in the then unknown west. Leaving behind a homeland culturally isolated for more than 200 years, these samurai travellers were especially fascinated by the extent of British political and commercial influence they observed during their travels, and therefore paid particularly close attention to the Victorian world and recorded all they saw in minute detail. Their diaries and ''travelogues'' comprise the single largest body of material on Victorian society to be recorded in any non-European language. This book examines the nature of these travellers'' experiences and their perceptions of Victorian Britain. A deeper understanding of this rich source material is important because, although entirely unknown to British readers, the documents reveal one of the most spectacular culture shocks ever recorded in World History. They are also important because the images of Victorian and other western societies that they portrayed to the Japanese reading public in the late nineteenth century still underpin Japanese understanding of the outside world more than a hundred years later.

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Argues that in the final phase of the eight months of US-Japan talks leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor, serious mistranslations in the US decoding system were a significant factor in the misunderstandings which grew between the two sides.

An alternative interpretation of the Meiji Government's controversial Education Minister and thinker, Mori Arinori, who developed a workable philosophy of government and administration in line with the pragmatic needs of Japanese society.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Demonstrates that Western individualism and Japanese groupism are not necessarily incompatible or mutually exclusive.

Rocked by scandals and accusations that crucial decisions are made by non-elected officials, Japan has been called a democracy in name only. Is it?

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In earlier times, for the Chinese, Korea was 'the country of courteous people from the east', and for westerners 'the land of the morning calm' or 'hermit kingdom'. In this fascinating collection of writings on times past in Korea the author helps to lift the veil on this once closed country, providing the reader with a wide selection of first-hand accounts by travellers who 'discovered' Korea - some as snapshots by those passing through, others more detailed evaluations of Korean culture and everyday life by those who spent time there. The collection covers a period of over 400 years - from Hendrik Hamel's journal of the 1600s to early 20th century records, such as Roy C. Andrew's 1918 published account of his expedition, entitled Exploring Unknown Corners of the 'Hermit Kingdom'.

An excellent and very timely update on an area seeing many recent developments.