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Paul Norbury – Celebrating 50 years publishing on Japan

Paul Norbury – Celebrating 50 years publishing on Japan
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01 Jul 2021

By Ian Nish

Emeritus Professor of International History, London School of Economics

Paul Norbury has this year completed 50 years of publishing Japan-related monographs as well as general-interest Japan-related publications in the English language.  He deserves our thanks and our congratulations on maintaining a consistently high standard over these decades.

Paul Norbury – Celebrating 50 years publishing on Japan

By Ian Nish

Emeritus Professor of International History, London School of Economics

Paul Norbury has this year completed 50 years of publishing Japan-related monographs and other general-interest Japan-related publications in the English language.  He deserves our thanks and our congratulations on maintaining a consistently high standard over these decades.

There have always been individual European travellers in the Far East and many of them had published their memoirs.  But they had tended to be (apart from missionary writers) accounts of far-away exotic countries. It was the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5) which demonstrated to the world that there was a new country in the East which commanded attention.

It was not until much later that Paul became associated with Japan. In the early 1970s, through Paul Norbury Publications, he assumed responsibility for the multi-lingual periodical Tsuru , for Japan Airlines in which he published scholarly articles written for the general public. Subsequently, when Tsuru ceased, he established the Japan Library imprint.

As Japan emerged slowly from the trauma of World War II, Paul was one of the first publishers to recognize that Japan was on course for making a swift economic recovery and that it was pointless for Britain to stay aloof from her and remaining relatively ignorant of her progress. By promoting the research and writings of junior academic staff at British university faculties, he was providing the groundwork for research on Japan and indirectly the growth of new Japanese Studies Centres in Britain.

Apart from academic monograph writings, in the early 1990s Paul associated himself with the Japan Society and, through the good offices of Sir Hugh Cortazzi, took on the publication of Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits in 10 volumes, which was completed in 2016. It provides  compressed accounts of the relationship between Britain, the major global power and economy during the nineteenth century, and Japan – still at the bottom of the table of powers in the 1850s but with strong  ambitions to stimulate her industry to become a formidable competitor. The volumes  comprise essays by many diplomats as well as academics (both British and Japanese)  and offer valuable perspectives on what was coming to be a key factor in East Asia, the phenomenal  Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902-23).

This was a phenomenon of inter-racial partnership which lasted for two decades through some of the most turbulent times in the recent history of both Britain and Japan. By his long list of publications Paul has greatly contributed to our understanding of these two dissimilar cultures at every level. His publications are excellently produced and carefully illustrated.

For his contributions to this field, in 2011 was Paul was honoured by the Japanese Government with the Order of the Rising Sun (Gold and Silver Rays); he also received the Japan Festival Prize (1998) and the Japan Society Award (2003).

In recent years, through his imprint Renaissance Books, Paul has turned, like Japan herself, to concentrate on major works and monographs for the scholarly market in the broader field of East Asian Studies. After half a century of publishing on Japan, Paul has undoubtedly acquired a fascination for the Japanese people who will surely feature in his overdue autobiography.