ABSTRACT
In the years when university geography in Europe was in its infancy, it was not the British but continental scholars who first embarked on the serious study of Japan. With few exceptions, school texts, travel writing and guidebooks formed the sum total of British geographical writing on Japan until well into the twentieth century. The first substantial and analytical account of the geography of Japan to appear in the English language J. E. Orchards Japan's economic position was by an American, and Americans were to set the pace in Western geographical writing on Japan until well into the 1960s. Strenuous efforts were made during the 1950s and 1960s to build bridges between British geographical establishment and its Japanese counterpart. By the mid-1960s, British geography was placed to embark on the study of Japan. Useful contacts had been made with Japanese geographers, and senior and influential members of the profession were actively striving to promote a greater interest in Japanese geography.
