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Article: Britain and Japan: a modern analysis.(Japan and Britain in the Contemporary World: Responses to Common Issues)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- December 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Japan and Britain in the Contemporary World: Responses to Common Issues. Hugo Dobson and Glenn D. Hook, editors. Routledge Curzon. [pounds sterling]65.00. ISBN 0-415-30414-8.
During April 1600 the 160-ton Dutch merchantman, Liefde, came in sight of the coast of Japan. Aboard was the Kent-born pilot-major, William Adam (1564-1620), who was to be the first European to set foot in the Japan of Emperor Goyozei, a land then in the grip of civil war. For centuries real power had been in the hands of the sei-i-tai shogun--the barbarian-conquering generalissimos--and Adams landed at a time when the Tokugawa family were jostling for the shogunate, which they were to hold ...