Japan remains important for Britain and has been a relevant and significant partner for much of the last one and a half centuries. This should not need restating but with the development of China as a superpower, Japan and our relations with it are not always given the attention they deserve. Japanese GDP has been overtaken by China but Japan's economy remains the third largest in the world. Japan unlike China has developed democratic institutions with firm roots and has a vibrant culture. We need, however, to see our relations with Japan in the context of our relations with the rest of Asia. If only for geographical and cultural reasons Britain has always had to give priority to its relations with its neighbours in Europe and North America.

British interests in Japan, which shape our policy, are basically the same as our interests in other major industrialized countries. We want a friendly, peaceful and prosperous Japan with which we can have increasing trade in goods and services. These objectives have not basically changed over the period covered in this book, but the balance between political and economic interests has varied greatly.

The policies adopted by the British government in order to promote British interests, on which the essays here focus, are only one facet of the relationship which has developed between our two countries. Trade, finance and investment can be facilitated by governments but are carried out by corporations, industrialists and entrepreneurs - advised by lawyers and other experts. This aspect of British-Japan relations is only discussed peripherally in this volume.

From the beginning, Anglo-Japanese relations have been underpinned by Japanese interest in the English language and British education. The contribution of teachers, scholars and missionaries has also been significant and the cultural dimension is fundamental to the relationship.

This volume reviews some 150 years of Anglo-Japanese relations from a British perspective focusing on the role played by British foreign secretaries (and some prime ministers). The foreign secretaries during these years who were involved in a substantive way with Japan are covered in separate biographical portraits. Some foreign secretaries were also at times prime minister, e.g Lord Russell, Lord Derby, Lord Salisbury, Arthur Balfour, Ramsay Macdonald, Sir Anthony Eden and Sir Alec Douglas Home.