ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters, we have examined the question of the level of Japanese ‘integration’ with the host society through examining the economic activities and marriage patterns of the Japanese in Britain. This chapter explores other dimensions of the Japanese community – the arts, sport and religion – with two purposes in mind. The first is to describe the plethora of activities that the Japanese were involved in, apart from their economic activities, in order to paint a fuller picture of the nature of the Japanese community in Britain. The second is to see how these activities related to the fundamental question of Japanese integration with the host society. General as it may seem to group the arts, sport and religion into one chapter, there is a common thread in all three. That is, the Japanese who were engaged in these activities appear to have had a distinct sense of purpose to serve as a ‘bridge’ between the two cultures. They pursued their artistic, sporting and religious activities, either with the aim of learning from Britain to spread the interest in Japan, or to introduce and to popularise within Britain Japanese forms of art, sport and religion. At the same time, each discipline served different purposes, and those engaged in them related to the Japanese community and the larger society in different ways. As in previous chapters, I will examine the involvement in the arts, sport and religion of a number of individuals as case studies, and try to reach general conclusions from the particular examples.
