1st Edition

Japan and Britain in the Contemporary World Responses to Common Issues

By Hugo Dobson, Glenn D. Hook Copyright 2003

    Britian and Japan in the Contemporary World provides up-to-date analyses of these two countries in terms of economics, politics, security and identity on the global, regional, subnational and civic levels.
    The book moves beyond an analysis of state-to-state relations between Britain and Japan by examining the role of civil society in the relationship and analyzing the way the two countries deal with common issues, such as the 'special relationship' both maintain with the US; the relationship with the continents that both of these island nations border; the question of the degree of decentralization to allow within their contested borders. Both countries also face the pressures of globalization, as seen by the responses of the global cities of London and Tokyo.
    The editors have brought a selection of top scholars in a collection of chapters aimed at examining the similarities and differences in the way Britian and Japan respond to issues of common concern on these different levels.

    List of figures. List of tables. List of contributors. Preface. List of abbreviations. Glossary. Chapter 1. Introduction: Britain and Japan: similarities, differences and the future, Hugo Dobson and Glenn D. Hook Chapter 2. Japan and Britain in a historical-future perspective, Yoshikazu Sakamoto Chapter 3. The future of Anglo-America: the changing relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, Andrew Gamble Chapter 4. United States-Japan relations in the postwar years: the dilemma and problems of postwar Japanese diplomacy and their implications for the East Asian order, Hideki Kan Chapter 5. Britain and Germany: defining the European order in the contemporary era, Christoph Bluth Chapter 6. Japan and China: new regionalism and the emerging East Asian order, Akio Takahara Chapter 7. The UK and the Euro: exchange rate stability but at what price? Brian Ardy Chapter 8. The East Asian economies after the financial crisis: a role for the Japanese yen? Wataru Takahashi Chapter 9. A Braveheart rensaissance? Scottish identity and politics at the beginning of the twenty first century, Eberhard Bort Chapter 10. Beyond hondo: devolution and Okinawa, Masahide Ota Chapter 11. London as a global financial centre: problems and prospects in the new era, Randall D. Germain Chapter 12. Narrating a 'global city' for 'new Tokyoites': economic crisis and the urban 'boosterism' in Tokyo, Takashi Machimura Chapter 13. Conclusion: Britain and Japan: a common agenda for the twenty first century? Hugo Dobson and Glenn D. Hook.

    Biography

    Hugo Dobson is Lecturer in the international Relations of Japan in the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield. Glenn D. Hook is Professor of Japanese Studies and Director of the Graduate School of East Asian Strudies at the University of Sheffield.

    'This book will surely appeal to scholars of Japan's political, social and economic change. The Anglo-Japanese comparisons provide a useful edge to any analysis of Japan at the global, regional, subnational and civic level.' - Pacific Affairs