This publication provides a virtually complete collection of British diplomatic reports on Japan from 1906 to 1970, previously unknown, inaccessible or withheld. The reports detail the phase of imperial expansion and the territorial conflicts with Russia and China are clearly documented and analysed from the British diplomatic viewpoint. The most detailed narrative refers to relations with the British, including the question of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1921, and political and economic questions throughout the pre-war and modern period. The post-war reports make numerous observations on Japanese-American relations, particularly during the period of US occupation. Economic reports are found regularly from 1930 to 1963, and cover budget affairs, industrial production, shipping and trade figures as well as comment and analysis. The pre-war reports examine Japan's capacity to finance the continuous military activity of the 1930s; later reports reflect the dynamic post-war economic recovery, and the formation and organisation of trade unions.
