INTRODUCTION

In his post-war memoirs, Gaikō Kaisōroku, the Japanese diplomat Shigemitsu Mamoru, who had, among his many other appointments, served as ambassador in London from 1938 to 1941, included a long passage on his impressions of the Chamberlain family. The fact that such a figure should have included detailed observations about Austen and Neville Chamberlain stands as a perhaps unexpected testament to the important place that these men played in British public life, and particularly in the formation of foreign policy. Here is evidence that their influence was not just felt in Europe but in Asia as well.

As Shigemitsu notes in his memoirs, the Chamberlains at one time or another had an important say in the construction of British foreign policy towards East Asia. Austen Chamberlain's moment of prominence came between 1924 and 1929 when, as foreign secretary in the second Baldwin government, he had to deal with the profound ramifications for British interests of the rise of Chinese nationalism, which naturally also had important implications for Britain's relations with Japan. For his part, Neville Chamberlain became a key player in British policy towards the region from 1933 until his death in 1940, and is typically seen as the leading figure within the National Government who sought a rapprochement with Tokyo. Thus in the early-twentieth century transition from alliance to enmity the Chamberlains played a vital role. Studying the Chamberlains and their role in British policy towards Japan does not, however, just reveal the extent of their influence, for it also provides an interesting perspective on their political reputations precisely because Japanese interpretations of their policy often contrast with how they are viewed in Britain.

AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN (1863–1937)

The originality of Japanese thinking about Austen Chamberlain is particularly evident in Shigemitsu's writings. In both the memoirs he published during his lifetime and in other essays he makes the controversial and perhaps surprising claim that in Austen's period as foreign secretary the latter oversaw a very significant shift in British policy away from Japan, thus paving the way for the eventual confrontation in 1941. At first glance such a view seems perplexing, for when historians, such as Brian McKercher, have dealt with this subject, they have usually characterized Austen's policy towards Japan between 1924 and 1929 as cautious and correct.