Published on November 12, 2019. A re-publication of Masayuki Takayama’s Shukan Shincho column “Gratitude for the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.” The essay looks back on Britain’s historical role in supporting Japan, from the Tsushima Incident at the end of the Edo period, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the Russo-Japanese War, to postwar Japan’s automobile industry and the introduction of nuclear power, and argues why Japan should repay its debt of gratitude to Britain.

November 12, 2019.
In Meiji 8, in the same way, a Russian warship came to Karafuto and made the same sort of threat.
Japan could not resist by its own strength, and Russia obtained Karafuto.
I am republishing the chapter I posted on December 29, 2018, under the title: Kenzaburō Ōe, as if flaunting his friendship with Shūichi Katō, proudly said in a dialogue with the foolish Hisashi Inoue that Katō had said there were only two geniuses in Japanese history, Kūkai and Sugawara no Michizane.
Masayuki Takayama’s column published in the New Year special issue of Shukan Shincho also proves that he is the one and only journalist in the postwar world.
Subscribers must have read it while feeling pleasant laughter and admiration.
But all people of clear insight cannot forget the weight of this essay.
They must be grateful that such a man has existed in Japan.
Gratitude for the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
The first encounter between Japan and Britain was the incident in the early nineteenth century when the Phaeton forced its way into Nagasaki Harbor.
The Japanese were greatly shocked that there existed such a violent country.
So, in order to think of ways to deal with it, they first made an English-Japanese dictionary, Angeiria Gorin Taisei.
Later, when Americans who spoke the same language and were even more violent came, it proved very useful.
This is somewhat in the nature of learning from a negative example, but Britain did actually do good things for Japan.
At the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Russian warship Posadnik came to Tsushima, ravaged the villages, and demanded the lease of a port and the provision of prostitutes.
If the shogunate had responded poorly, the occupation of Tsushima could have happened.
In fact, in Meiji 8, in the same way, a Russian warship came to Karafuto and made the same sort of threat.
Japan could not resist by its own strength, and Russia obtained Karafuto.
When Tsushima, too, was on the brink, the British minister Alcock dispatched two warships and drove away the Russian vessel.
It was a truly good ending for which Japan cannot be grateful enough.
When Japan again confronted that Russia across Korea, Britain concluded a military alliance with Japan.
Japan had only to fight Russia.
If Germany and France, which disliked Japan, helped Russia, Britain had promised immediately to enter the war and defeat Germany and France.
No one wanted to fight the strongest Britain in the world.
Before entering the Sea of Japan, the Baltic Fleet was supposed to be able to rest in Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina, but the French government, fearing the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, did not permit the fleet to enter the port.
The officers and men, unable to recover from the fatigue of the long voyage halfway around the world, collided with the Combined Fleet off Tsushima.
About twenty percent of the great victory that annihilated the Russian fleet was thanks to Britain.
That Anglo-Japanese Alliance disappeared because of American cunning and the foolishness of Kijūrō Shidehara.
Partly because of that, the last war occurred, and Japan lost.
Postwar Japan was tossed around by America’s monopoly, but even at such times, Britain treated Japan in a perfectly ordinary manner.
America thoroughly crushed Japan’s aircraft industry so that Japan could never again stand up to white nations.
It prohibited the operation and manufacture of aircraft and even lectures in aerodynamics.
The automobile industry was the same.
It prohibited manufacturing and research, and also stopped the local production by Ford and GM that had been carried out until before the war.
Heavy industry, too, was supposed to be completely dismantled, but North and South Korea began a war at a truly good time.
Japan was able to keep its industrial power alive as a rear base for the U.S. military.
At such a time, Britain became the savior of Japan’s automobile industry.
Austin concluded a knockdown contract with Nissan, and Hillman with Isuzu, and the postwar blank was filled.
The last war began when America cut off oil.
Japan’s postwar energy situation had not improved in any way.
The government considered introducing nuclear power, but America firmly rejected it.
That was because they thought that, if Japan possessed nuclear power, one day Japan would avenge Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
At such a time, Britain again extended a helping hand.
Japan obtained and operated a British-made graphite-moderated reactor.
Cheap natural uranium was enough as fuel.
The one surprised by this was America.
A graphite reactor, when operated, can produce plutonium that becomes a nuclear bomb.
Japan could possess nuclear weapons at once.
America hurriedly changed its policy.
In exchange for making Japan abandon the graphite reactor, it decided to provide light-water reactors.
That was because this type of reactor cannot produce plutonium that becomes nuclear weapons.
As a result, Japan was able to realize an energy self-sufficiency system to a certain extent.
Japan also acquired know-how regarding nuclear power plants, and now Hitachi has reached the point of exporting light-water reactors to Britain as a repayment of gratitude.
Britain, suffering from leaving the EU, would surely be greatly helped.
However, Hitachi says that the funds needed for export are insufficient and that it has no choice but to abandon the project.
Perhaps because it fears harassment from the Asahi Shimbun, which waves the anti-nuclear flag, the government hesitates to provide support.
In the past, Japan wasted twenty percent of its national budget for thirty-six years on a place like Korea.
Why not turn even one thirty-sixth of that amount toward Britain?
Japan could repay at least a fraction of the debt of gratitude engraved in history.
Unlike Korea, it would surely become something meaningful.
＊As I reread this magnificent essay by Masayuki Takayama, I could not hold back tears several times.
A man like him is what one calls a true patriot.
People represented by Kenzaburō Ōe and Haruki Murakami are traitors to the nation, or national enemies.
They are among the rare worst Japanese people in Japanese history.
Kenzaburō Ōe, as if flaunting his friendship with Shūichi Katō, proudly spread around in a dialogue with the foolish Hisashi Inoue that Katō had said there were only two geniuses in Japanese history, Kūkai and Sugawara no Michizane.
But the decisive time arrived five years ago in August for the Japanese people to realize that there are no people who would be more despised by Kūkai and Sugawara no Michizane than Ōe and Murakami.＊
Note 1.
Angeiria Gorin Taisei was Japan’s first English-Japanese dictionary, compiled mainly by Motoki Shōzaemon（Masayoshi）.
It was completed in Bunka 11（1814）.
Shocked by the Phaeton Incident of Bunka 5（1808）, the shogunate keenly felt the need for the study of Britain, ordered Dutch interpreters to learn English, and had them compile it.
Under the guidance of the Dutchman Jan Cock Blomhoff, who had experience residing in Britain, about 6,000 words were included, and the pronunciations were written in katakana.
The achievement of compiling the first English-Japanese dictionary was significant, but there were also insufficient points, such as the strong Dutch accent in the pronunciations.
In addition to Motoki, the interpreters Baba Sadayoshi, Suenaga Yoshimori, Narabayashi Takami, Yoshio Nagayasu, and others took part in the compilation.