Series Information:
Nissan Institute/RoutledgeCurzon Japanese Studies

Japanese architecture is one of the most inspired manifestations of Japanese civilization. This study argues that architectural forms are more than just symbols of the institutions that created them. William H. Coaldrake explores the symbiotic relationship between architecture and authority throughout Japanese history, exploring key structures and how they have been used as active conveyors of power, relating buildings to the political ambitions and religious beliefs of the major historical eras in Japan.

The Japan-British exhibition in London, 1910 was the most concerted and systematic attempt by Meiji Japan to explain its traditional society and arts, modern industry and empire, to its most important international ally, Great Britain. This is a facsimile edition of the original book compiled and edited for the exhibition by Count Hirokichi Mutsu (1869-1942) and published in London and Tokyo in four parts in 1910 and 1911 by the Imperial Japanese Commission. This compendium of newspaper and journal articles, starting in March 1909 and ending in December of 1910, covers the preparation, activities and immediate aftermath of the Exhibition. Making widely available a veritable treasure trove of information and insight, it will be of interest to students and scholars of Japan and Britain alike, providing authoritative insights into contemporary attitudes in each country towards the other.

This book makes available for the first time a treasure trove of hitherto unpublished documents on Japan in the war years and immediate postwar occupation and recovery. The documents consist of newsletters, newspaper articles, texts of radio broadcasts and letters written by Frank William Coaldrake, a pacifist and priest and the first Australian civilian to enter Japan after the war, with his wife Maida. Frank and Maida formed a team of participant observers in the challenge of a nation confronting its past and trying to find hope in a future while occupied by foreign powers. This is a rare and comprehensive collection of first hand accounts of Japan by two astute observers. The daily struggle against starvation is interspersed with issues such as war atrocities, the atomic bombings, the status of the Imperial Family, the British monarch and labour unions. The text is illustrated with photographs taken by Frank Coaldrake. With an introduction by William H. Coaldrake, son of the authors.