Japan–United Kingdom relations (日英関係, Nichieikankei) is a bilateral and diplomatic relation between Japan and the United Kingdom.
The history of the relationship between Japan and Britain began in 1600 with the arrival of William Adams (Adams the Pilot, Miura Anjin) on the shores of Kyushu at Usuki in Ōita Prefecture. During the Sakoku period (1641–1853), there were no relations between the two countries, but the treaty of 1854 saw the resumption of ties which, despite a hiatus during the Second World War, remain very strong up until the present day. On 3 May 2011, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Japan is "one of our closest partners in Asia".
British people had often held the view that Japan was like "the Britain of the East", due to certain cultural similarities such as the constitutional monarchy, being an island nation, driving on the left, sense of humour and a perceived emphasis on being polite whilst coming across to others as reserved.
1587. Two young Japanese men named Christopher and Cosmas sailed on a Spanish galleon to California, where their ship was seized by Thomas Cavendish. Cavendish brought the two Japanese men with him to England where they spent approximately three years before going again with him on his last expedition to the South Atlantic. They are the first known Japanese men to have set foot in the British Isles.
1600. William Adams, a seaman from Gillingham, Kent, was the first English adventurer to arrive in Japan. Acting as an advisor to the Tokugawa Shogun, he was renamed Miura Anjin, granted a house and land, and spent the rest of his life in his adopted country.
1605. John Davis, the famous English explorer, was killed by Japanese pirates off the coast of Thailand, thus becoming the first known Englishman to be killed by a Japanese.
1613. Following an invitation from William Adams in Japan, the English captain John Saris arrived at Hirado in the ship Clove with the intent of establishing a trading factory. Adams and Saris travelled to Shizuoka where they met with Tokugawa Ieyasu at his principal residence in September before moving on to Edo where they met Ieyasu's son Hidetada. During that meeting, Hidetada gave Saris two varnished suits of armour for King James I, today housed in the Tower of London. On their way back, they visited Tokugawa once more, who conferred trading privileges on the English through a Red Seal permit giving them "free licence to abide, buy, sell and barter" in Japan. The English party headed back to Hirado on 9 October 1613. However, during the ten year activity of the company between 1613 and 1623, apart from the first ship (Clove in 1613), only three other English ships brought cargoes directly from London to Japan.
1623. The Amboyna massacre occurred. After the incident England closed its commercial base at Hirado, now in Nagasaki Prefecture, without notifying Japan. After this, the relationship ended for more than two centuries.
1639. Tokugawa Iemitsu announced his Sakoku policy. Only the Netherlands was permitted to retain limited trade rights.
1673. An English ship named "Returner" visited Nagasaki harbour, and asked for a renewal of trading relations. But the Edo Shogunate refused. The government blamed it on the withdrawal 50 years earlier, and found it unacceptable that Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, who was from Portugal, and favoured the Roman Catholic Church.
1808. The Nagasaki Harbour Incident: HMS Phaeton enters Nagasaki to attack Dutch shipping.
1832. Otokichi, Kyukichi and Iwakichi, castaways from Aichi Prefecture, crossed the Pacific and were shipwrecked on the west coast of North America. The three Japanese men became famous in the Pacific Northwest and probably inspired Ranald MacDonald to go to Japan. They joined a trading ship to the UK, and later Macau. One of them, Otokichi, took British citizenship and adopted the name John Matthew Ottoson. He later made two visits to Japan as an interpreter for the Royal Navy.
1854. 14 October. The first limited Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty was signed by Admiral Sir James Stirling and representatives of the Tokugawa shogunate (Bakufu).
1855. In an effort to find the Russian fleet in the Pacific Ocean during the Crimean war, a French-British naval force reached the port of Hakodate, which was open to British ships as a result of the Friendship Treaty of 1854, and sailed further North, seizing the Russian-American Company's possessions on the island of Urup in the Kuril archipelago. The Treaty of Paris (1856) restitutes the island to Russia.
1858. 26 August. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed by the Scot Lord Elgin and representatives of the Tokugawa shogunate for Japan, after the Harris Treaty was concluded.
1861. 5 July. The British legation in Edo was attacked.
1862. The Shogun sends the First Japanese Embassy to Europe, led by Takenouchi Yasunori.
1862. 14 September. The Namamugi Incident occurred within a week of the arrival of Ernest Satow in Japan.
1862-75. British Military Garrison established at Yamate, Yokohama.
1863. Bombardment of Kagoshima by the Royal Navy. (Anglo-Satsuma War).
The Chōshū Five go secretly to England.
1864. Bombardment of Shimonoseki by Britain, France, the Netherlands and the USA.
1867. The Icarus affair, an incident involving the murder of two British sailors in Nagasaki, leading to increased diplomatic tensions between Britain and the Tokugawa shogunate.
1869. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh becomes the first European prince to visit Japan arriving on HMS Galatea on 4 September 1869. Audience with the Emperor Meiji in Tokyo.
1872. The Iwakura mission visited Britain as part of a diplomatic and investigative tour of the United States and Europe.
1873. The Imperial College of Engineering opened with Henry Dyer as principal.
1885–87. Japanese exhibition at Knightsbridge, London.
1891. The Japan Society of London is founded by Arthur Diosy.
1894. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation was signed in London on 16 July. The treaty was abolished extraterritoriality in Japan for British subjects with effect from 17 July 1899
1899 Extraterritorial rights for British subjects in Japan came to an end.
1900 (January) Last sitting of the British Court for Japan.
1902. The Japanese - British alliance was signed in London on 30 January.
1905. The Japanese - British alliance was renewed and expanded. Official diplomatic relations were upgraded, with ambassadors being exchanged for the first time.
May, 1907 Prince Fushimi Sadanaru travels to the UK to give Emperor Meiji's thanks to King Edward VII for bestowing The Most Noble Order of the Garter upon him.
1908. The Japan-British Society was founded in order to foster cultural and social understanding.
1909 Fushimi Sadanaru returns to the UK to convey the thanks of the Japanese government for British advice and assistance during the Russo-Japanese War.
1910 Sadanaru represents Japan at the state funeral of Edward VII, and meets the new king George V at Buckingham Palace. The Japan–British Exhibition is held at Shepherd's Bush in London.
1911. The Japanese - British alliance was renewed.
1913. The IJN Kongō, the last of the British-built warships for Japan's navy, enters service.
1914-1915. Japan joined World War I as the United Kingdom's ally under the terms of the alliance and captured German-occupied Tsingtao (Qingdao) in China Mainland. They also help Australia and New Zealand capture archipelagos like the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands.
1915. The Twenty-One Demands would have given Japan varying degrees of control over all of China, and would have prohibited European powers from extending their Chinese operations any further.
1917. The Imperial Japanese Navy helps the Royal Navy and allied navies patrol the Mediterranean against Central Powers ships.
1919. Japan proposes a racial equality clause in negotiations to form the League of Nations, calling for "...making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality." Britain, which supports the White Australia policy, cannot assent, and the proposal is rejected.
1921. Crown Prince Hirohito visited the UK and other European countries, via Singapore. It was the first time that a Japanese crown prince had traveled overseas.
1921. Arrival in September of the Sempill Mission in Japan, a British technical mission for the development of Japanese Aero-naval forces.
1922 - Washington Naval Conference concluding in the Four-Power Treaty, Five-Power Treaty, and Nine-Power Treaty; major naval disarmament for 10 years with sharp reduction of Royal Navy & Imperial Navy. The Treaties specify that the relative naval strengths of the major powers are to be UK = 5, US = 5, Japan = 3, France = 1.75, Italy = 1.75. The powers will abide by the treaty for ten years, then begin a naval arms race.
1922. Edward, Prince of Wales travelling on HMS Renown, arrives in Yokohama on the 12th of April for a four-week official visit to Japan.
1923. The Japanese -British alliance was officially discontinued on 17 August after U.S. pressure and other factors brought it to a close.
1934. The Royal Navy sends ships to Tokyo to take part in a naval parade in honour of the late Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō, one of Japan's greatest naval heroes, the "Nelson of the East".
1937. The Kamikaze, a prototype of the Mitsubishi Ki-15, travels from Tokyo to London, the first Japanese-built aircraft to land in Europe, for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
1939. The Tientsin Incident almost causes an Anglo-Japanese war when the Japanese blockade the British concession in Tientsin, China.
1941, December 7/8. Pacific War begins as the Empire of Japan attacks the United States military base in Pearl Harbor and simultaneously attacks British possessions in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
1941–1945. As World War II progresses, Japan fights the British Empire and captures British colonies Malaya, Burma, Hong Kong and Singapore. Many British POWs die in Japanese captivity.
1945, September 2. Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser is among the allied commanders formally accepting the surrender of Japan.
1948. The 1948 Summer Olympics was held in London. Japan did not participate.
1951. Treaty of San Francisco – the peace treaty in which Anglo-Japanese relations were normalized. One condition of the treaty was Japan's acceptance of the judgements of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (Article 11).
1953. Nineteen-year-old Crown Prince Akihito, current Emperor, represents Japan at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
1953. The British Council in Japan established.
1963. The University of Oxford set Japanese as a subject in its Oriental Institute (the Sub-Faculty of East Asian Studies).
1966. The Beatles played at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo to overwhelming adulation. This performance emphasized growing good will between Britain and Japan in their foreign relations policies.
1971. HIM Emperor Hirohito pays a state visit to the United Kingdom after an interval of 50 years.
1975. HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom pays a state visit to Japan.
1978. Beginning of the BET scheme (British Exchange Teaching Programme) first advocated by Nicholas MacLean.
1983. Naruhito (now Japan Crown Prince) studied at Merton College, Oxford until 1985, and researched transport on the River Thames.
1986. Nissan Motors began to operate its car plant in Sunderland, as Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd.
1986. The Prince and Princess of Wales conducted a very successful royal visit.
1987. JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) program starts when the BET scheme and the Fulbright scholarship are merged.
1988. The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation established.
1990. The Alumni Association for British JET Participants JETAA UK is established
1991. The first Sumo tournament to be held outside Japan is hosted at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
1998. HIM Emperor Akihito pays a state visit to the United Kingdom.
2001. The year-long "Japan 2001" cultural-exchange project saw a major series of Japanese cultural, educational and sporting events held around the UK.
2001 JR West gifts a 0 Series Shinkansen (No. 22-141) to the National Railway Museum at York, she is the only one of her type to be preserved outside Japan.
2007. HIM Emperor Akihito pays his second state visit to the United Kingdom.
2008. Japan - UK 2008 celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Japanese -British Treaty of Amity and Commerce.
2011. UK sends over rescue men with rescue dogs and supplies to help the Japanese, after the 11 March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
2012. A UK trade delegation to Japan, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, announces an agreement to jointly develop weapons systems.
May 2012. Before travelling to the UK on a state visit Emperor Akihito releases a statement of his pleasure at being invited to lunch with Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. He also personally thanks the people of the UK for their support to Japan after the 2011 earthquake.
2013. Three Japanese warships, JDS Kashima, JDS Shirayuki and JDS Isoyuki visit Portsmouth on a world tour.
13 October 2013. The Coldstream Guards parade in Yokohama to celebrate 60 years since Akihito attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and 400 years of Japanese - British trade.
February 2015. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge on an official visit tours areas devastated by the 2011 Tsunami including Fukushima, Ishinomaki, and Onagawa.
September 2016. Citing concerns for Japanese owned business operating in the United Kingdom in the wake of the European Union membership referendum, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly issues a 15-page memorandum on its own website requesting that the British Government strike a Brexit agreement safeguarding UK’s current trading rights in the European Single Market.
See also the chronology on the website of British Embassy, Tokyo.
William Adams (Miura Anjin)
Rutherford Alcock, diplomat
William George Aston, consular official and Japanologist
William Edward Ayrton, Professor of physics & telegraphy
Thomas Baty, legal adviser.
Felice Beato – British/Italian/Corfiote photographer
Edward Bickersteth, First Anglican Bishop of South Tokyo
Isabella Bird – Victorian traveller and author
John Reddie Black, publisher of newspapers
Duncan Gordon Boyes – winner of the Victoria Cross at Shimonoseki, 1864
Richard Henry Brunton, Father of Japanese lighthouses
Basil Hall Chamberlain, Professor and Japanologist
Edward Bramwell Clarke, Professor who helped introduce rugby to Japan
Samuel Cocking – Yokohama merchant
Josiah Conder, architect
Hugh Cortazzi, scholar and former ambassador
James Main Dixon (1856–1933). Former FRSE. After teaching at the Imperial University of Tokyo, he moved to the University of South California.
Archibald Douglas, leader of a naval mission to Japan in the early 1870s
Henry Dyer, first principal of the Imperial College of Engineering (Kobu Daigakko)
Lord Elgin, signed the 1858 treaty
James Alfred Ewing, Professor
Hugh Fraser, British minister 1889–94
Thomas Blake Glover, Scottish trader
Abel Gower, consul
William Gowland, 1842–1922, Father of Japanese archaeology
Thomas Lomar Gray, engineering professor
Arthur Hasketh Groom, creator of the first golf course in Japan
John Harington Gubbins, diplomat
Joseph Henry Longford, consul and academic
Claude Maxwell MacDonald, diplomat
Ranald MacDonald, the first English teacher in Japan
John Milne, Professor and Father of Seismology
Algernon Bertram Mitford (Lord Redesdale), diplomat
James Murdoch – teacher, journalist, historian
Edward St. John Neale, Lt.-Col, Secretary of Legation then Chargé d'Affaires 1862–1863
Laurence Oliphant – Secretary of Legation in 1861
Henry Spencer Palmer – engineer and Times correspondent
Harry Smith Parkes, diplomat
David Peace, novelist, whose most recent novel are set in post-World War II Japan.
John Perry, colleague of Ayrton at the Imperial College of Engineering, Tokyo
Charles Lennox Richardson – slain in the Namamugi Incident
Ernest Mason Satow, diplomat and Japanologist
Alexander Cameron Sim – founder of Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club, introduced lemonade (ramune) to Japan.
Admiral Sir James Stirling – signed the 1854 treaty
Walter Weston, Rev. who publicised the term "Japanese Alps"
William Willis, Dr.
Charles Wirgman, editor of Japan Punch
The chronological list of Heads of the United Kingdom Mission in Japan.
(see article Japanese in the United Kingdom).
The family name is given in italics. Usually the family name comes first, but in modern times not so for the likes of Kazuo Ishiguro and Katsuhiko Oku, both well known in the United Kingdom.
Aoki Shūzō – diplomat, signed the 1894 treaty in London
Hayashi Tadasu
Inagaki Manjirō, Cambridge University graduate and diplomat
Kazuo Ishiguro
Iwakura Tomomi – see Iwakura mission especially
Kikuchi Dairoku, Cambridge University graduate and politician
Mori Arinori
Natsume Sōseki
Shunsuke Nakamura, played for Scottish football club Celtic
Shinji Kagawa, played for English football club Manchester United
Katsuhiko Oku – Oxford University rugby player, diplomat in Japanese embassy in London who died in Iraq, 2003. Posthumously promoted to ambassador. See also the Oku-Inoue fund for the children of Iraq.
Kishichiro Okura, entrepreneur
Hisashi Owada, Cambridge University graduate, father of Princess Masako
Suematsu Kenchō, Cambridge University graduate and statesman
Ginnosuke Tanaka, Cambridge University graduate, introduced rugby to Japan
Tōgō Heihachirō – Spent time in the UK, one of Japan's greatest naval heroes, the "Nelson of the East"
Yamao Yōzō
Taka Hirose, Bassist of the band Feeder
Naoko Mori, actress – famous for playing Toshiko Sato in Torchwood and Doctor Who
Yūki Amami, actress - studied in England
Genda Minoru - Naval attaché and planner of the Pearl Harbor strike; in 1940 he saw Spitfires and Bf-109s in combat over London during the Battle of Britain
In Japan:
British School in Tokyo
In the UK:
Japanese School in London
Rikkyo School in England
Teikyo School United Kingdom
Gyosei International School UK (closed)
Shi-Tennoji School in UK
Terashima Munenori 1872-1873
Kagenori Ueno 1874-1879
Mori Arinori 1880-1884
Masataka Kawase 1884-1893
Aoki Shūzō 1894
Katō Takaaki 1895-1900
Hayashi Tadasu 1900-1905
Hayashi Tadasu 1905-1906
Komura Jutarō 1906-1908
Katō Takaaki 2nd time, 1908–1912
Katsunosuke Inoue 1913-1916
Chinda Sutemi 1916-1920
Gonsuke Hayashi 1920-1925
Keishiro Matsui 1925-1928
Matsudaira Tsuneo 1929-1935
Shigeru Yoshida 1936-1938
Mamoru Shigemitsu 1938-1941
Shunichi Matsumoto 1952-1955
Haruhiko Nishi 1955-1957
Katsumi Ōno 1958-1964
Morio Yukawa 1968-1972
Haruki Mori 1972-?
Masaki Orita 2001-2004
Yoshiji Nogami 2004-2008
Shin Ebihara 2008–2011
Keiichi Hayashi 2011–present
