 Good evening and welcome. My name is Fabio Igigi. I'm the chair of the Japan Research Center here at SOAS. And it's a great honor to chair this lecture in memoriam of Professor Ian Nish today. Professor Ian Nish was a giant in the field of Japanese history. He learned the language in the context of war, first in India and then in Malaya and arrived in Kure Hiroshima prefecture immediately after the war to work as a translator. He returned to Edinburgh in 1948 to complete an MA in history and then moved to SOAS to work on his doctorate on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, formalized in 1902. And despite his long and illustrious career at the LSE, that other place down the road, he was also a research associate at the Japan Research Center from its very inception in 1978, indeed to his death last year. He was also one of the main instigators of the British Association of Japanese Studies, BADGES. And I do remember that he gave a lecture here at the JSC only a few years ago and amazed everyone with his exceptional grasp of historical detail. I'm glad to say that his daughters, Alison and Fiona are joining us today online, so welcome. Our speaker tonight, Dr. Ayako Hotalista was a PhD student of Professor Nish in the 90s at the LSE. She specializes in Anglo-Japanese relations with a special focus on the 1910 British exhibition for the century of which she has published an edited volume. She has also published a monograph called the Japan British Exhibition of 1910, Gateway to the Island Empire of the East in 2016, and has authored numerous papers for the Sanctuary and Toyota International Centers for Economy and Related Disciplines at the LSE. She is also, and I hope you don't mind me saying this, an accomplished musician on the koto and a number of her albums of koto music are actually available on Amazon. So we will follow a traditional academic format with the lecture first, and then ample opportunity to comment and ask questions. For the people online, you can start feeding your questions into the question and answer box. So her talk tonight bears the title Going Down to Oxford, remembering Ian Nish 1926 to 2022. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Ayaka Hota-Lister to the JSE. Thank you very much for coming tonight, and also those who are watching this online. It's quite a few people, even I know can't make it, but initially when this came up, oh, can't make it, hope the online would be, and it does, so I must be a little bit, have to be careful. I feel very honored to be asked to give this lecture and about my mentor, Professor Nish. And I will talk about later on about my experience with Professor Nish, so that you will know what Professor Nish really was like. And also at the, but the start of first about Professor Nish's accomplishments and all achievements, contributions. And actually Fabio had already given a certain briefly what he did and like that. So something that mentioned, probably I may not repeat, but it causes so much in here. So probably I might repeat something that Fabio had said. And then as an order is about the first, about Professor Nish's achievements and contributions. And then there are about 17 videos here to show, and so I will refer to what the video is about. And then after that, after the end of the slide, it will change it into mainly my sort of experience that it had with Professor Nish. During which time we decided this video you will see from the beginning to the end, just slowly moving on. And so whichever somebody suggested, oh, might be if videos are on, probably people would be probably watching this and then they might not seeing me. So might be easier, but I don't know. But I hope my, what I say is quite relevant. And that's my experience, which are the laws of them, but I only mentioned quite a few. And then towards the end, I would like you and also some from watching online, if some questions and also their experience of sort of encounter or whatever it is show, might show what Professor sort of characters and the personalities and sort of to share with us. So I will wish it, I'm definitely sure that many of you have encountered these kinds of things. So I would like you to say, to share with us. The family already introduced Professor Nish when he was born, the third of June 1926 and passed away last year, 31st of July. And I was fortunate to be able to see Professor Nish four days before he's passing away. And I was expecting three days later, but unfortunately it had gone sadly. So that's the end. One very interesting things that, because I correspond with daughters, close to the daughters. And they were very supportive of me and they're giving me some photographs and those, as well as that, one Alison, the one with the daughter sent me sort of and with photographs of that Professor Nish, the grandson, apparently 22, I say March 22, grandson had to give a presentation entitled like my very important person, the title, which his presentation, the grandson chose Professor Nish, he said papa and with a large P. But that was well-structured and very surprised, actually. And I have to script, not like me, script and have to memorize, but of course apparently quite short. But I thought, I bet your son, I mean, the presentation grandson, would be a future great historian. And it's very much like that. And the one thing I thought I want to borrow was that Professor Nish told his grandson, Cameron, as a schoolboy, Professor Nish was a schoolboy during the First World War II. And he remembered being on the fire duty from the roof of the school. And he remembered being on the fire duty from the roof of the school and looking out for German bombers over Edinburgh, because he was born and grew up in Edinburgh. And unfortunately that, so this grandson actually showed to his schoolmates at school the photograph of these German airs and bombing. But it wouldn't come out in the, in this image, unfortunately. But if you think about it, when you were something like six or seven or eight and doing something that Professor Nish did on the roof and those German bombers, what do you think of that sort of future? You know, think about, think about, I thought about, and it's really, it's not just only sad, but I wonder if this kind of experience might have some sort of impact on his thinking and the future. But of course he was only seven or eight years old. But I think it's something that if we have experience or anything like that, I think it's quite an impact, I think. But anyway, that's the first thing I wanted to say. And then 1945, 1945, George Watson Academy in Edinburgh and to join the army. And so, so, 45, he joined the army and selected. Although I think Suzanne, the book showed that when interviewed, he said, I didn't choose, but they told me that what, what Professor Nish apparently said. Because he had, by that time, he had had some languages like German, French and Russian, French. So quite good at sort of learning languages. So he was selected to learn very difficult language, Japanese, Japanese language. Then studied Japanese at the army school of Japanese instruction in similar in India and the Karachi. And then posted, afterwards, posted to S-E-A-T-I-C. That means Southeast Asia translation and interrogation centre in Singapore. So you could see, he had quite a big experience of actually using and translating Japanese as well. And interrogation, but although he said interrogation is not, as you imagine, question and with the lights and that kind doesn't seem to have been. So then he went back, then he was sent to Japan in 1946. That means after the war. And for two years as a translator and then he collected quite a lot of bits and like leaflets and all sort of things. Later on he used to make his book later on. Anyway, so then after that, in 1948, he went back to Edinburgh and then studied history at the University of Edinburgh. After finished, got a degree, he continued Japanese history and studied at source here under Professor Beasley, a very famous specialist. Then got a PhD in 57. I have a video later on, I'll show you. But then immediately after he got the PhD, he got a job in University of Sydney in Australia. So you can see by that time he flew the earliest part of the globe. And then he came back to, he got a job at LSE, as a teacher of Japanese history, the international history, because LSE is normally known as a sort of very special economic, quite well known, but its international history section is very wide and various, because international history, so the Japanese specialist, the Japanese history specialist, that was 62, until retirement, he's in retirement, 91. You can imagine, there's only hundreds of hundreds of students studied under Professor Nish. And then 91 retired. You would think when after retiring, for many years of working, very important jobs, you would think, a lot of people would say, I want to have a rest and then retire, he wants to do leisurely something, but he was not like that. Because in 95, he was appointed one of two general editors of the Japanese government sponsored an English-Japanese history project, because at that time, some of you may know, Murayama, Murayama was the prime minister, and it's quite different from other prime ministers, because he was not, we call it, Giminto, the liberal, it's dominant, almost one party, dominated by Giminto. Giminto is like liberal democracy, sounds quite good, liberal, but it has a different opinion. As far as I know, I don't think so. Never changed, hardly changed, Murayama and a little bit, it's a shakaito, but Murayama, prime minister, was different, even my husband, we didn't know much about Japan's politics, but he thought, Murayama is the best one, but anyway, this Japanese was appointed as an Anglo-Japanese history project, the history of Anglo-Japanese, 1600 to 2000, it's very, very long, and it's not just only politics or diplomatic subjects, but all covering all culture and social studies and in five volumes, I'll show you, it's part of the video, so I'll show you later, and then both languages, in Japanese and English, and the five volume each, and all the different specialists designated to make contributions, and so they were actually published between 2001 and 2002, so you must think that, because the contents are exactly the same, but in Japanese and in English, and I've got almost all of them, but it's a very great work, and he, with me, and also other editors worked over many years, and then I decided, not only that, he was after retirement, that was only one big project, which took many years, but after that, he did a lot of editorial work and research work, international relations, so you can imagine. I'll show you in a video some of the books that he, and I just want to show, the start actually showed the slide one, this is the slide one, I just start one by one. Is anybody, I know a few people might be quite familiar with this Oxford station. I think some of you, I think no, familiar, and I didn't know this, but someone said, that area is Stockbroker's Belt, part of the Stockbroker, but apparently, this person, my friend said, oh, because the train, because from Waterloo, it's only 40 minutes, and then from Waterloo, there is another city connection, so that lots of people on the train, when the profession issue probably is going to LSE every day, most probably, all the days particularly, they might be working on other bunkers and stockbrokers, and they might be wearing a boiler hat, and I believe that was something that you and I have heard, I've seen. Amongst them, is the profession issue, quite unusual, and not particularly sort of well-dressed like the boiler hat people, you know, that's, of course, probably those people wouldn't know what the profession issue was doing, but that's quite interesting. Amongst them, and profession issues there, sometimes, maybe not sort of smart clothes, I don't know. So, I think that, do anybody, does anybody recognize these two figures? Those who are specializing in the Japanese alliance, or are familiar with the alliance, they would know. One, further on, first person on, I cannot say left or right, with these decorations or whatever, he was Hayashi Tadasu, you might have heard. He was the minister in London, because at that time, and then the other one, the nearest one, can anyone guess? You know, Lord Lansden, and these two are the actual, sort of, they conducted signature assigned Angulo Japanese alliance for the first time, 1902. 1902. And they are standing at the ox shots, because ox shot, not many people know, may not know ox shot, but those who knew a proficient and then became friends or then ox shot, just almost represent, of course, their house was, but those couple and proficient and his wife, Rona, often entertained, and a lot of things happened in ox shot, their house in ox shot. So, those who were not coming, went by car, they would always have to either go to ox shot station and then either walking about, they could take about half an hour walk, at least. And I don't think there is no bus, I think. So either taxi or so the people know what ox shot is, those who know a proficient. And so that's what did I say? I can't point out. I can't I can't I think maybe so, might be useful, I think. So that's that's that's really useful. I thought there was stickers and then and Mary knows he was arranging the concert at the house in London and they had a concert because he worked on this alliance one, two, three, two, two, at least two signatures twice, something like that. And then so, so your family are familiar with the ox shot station. You can limit and the next one now this is a proficient issue when he was 31. So it's only about six years or so. He went to this school and 31. So those who are familiar with the what's happened were 31 or so and 31 probably straight away what's happened 31 and historically the first war on Shanghai so that is why on the right hand side the start of Japan's this black guy I didn't want to talk about the second world war but unfortunately I and then I think then I think slide three this is school I think I showed you the school name Jordan Watson college and I don't know what kind but he was of course really brilliant it's now and now this is the army paper and the second the luentlant niche because I don't know all those hierarchical posts in the army but apparently something indicates second the luentlant niche so they're looking quite sort of apprehensive but they're sort of you can you can detect a little bit sort of quite a determined face serious and and everything I thought he was very handsome isn't he that's the first thing I noticed I don't know now this is the 46 and in Kawana Kure was Japan's Japanese Navy's base there during the war and then he was sent 46 to 48 for two years sort of supporting or helping as well as some some sort of interrogation he did apparently it's called what is called a detailed interrogation center combined service he was working later at the age of 20 so you can see each one quite easily then combined services detailed interrogation center occupied Japan and then translating local newspapers here he is with Australian and Indian colleagues in Kure near Hiroshima obviously he has seen what it was like in Hiroshima after the bombing this was 46 I think so that means only one year after and I can't imagine what how he felt but he was writing in a book the later on I'm going to show you the book it's very very interesting but and that's Oh here so after two years in Japan he went back to Edinburgh and started university and chose history and after after three years and moved to source here under easily and this photograph is after he got the PhD and again so I thought I don't know I thought it was very very handsome don't you think so? I don't know what the men think but I think I think as a woman the first thing but it looks very very quite serious but those are the days and when it got the PhD it's really sort of propaganda and things like that and as you know Professor Beazley is a very well known scholar on Japan and the next one is quite different because like a normal person he got married with Rona and can you see he looks very very happy apparently it took many many years for courting and I remember his daughter saying he was teaching at the LAC in London but Rona was teaching at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales so about seven or eight hours drove by car and then went to see and finally he succeeded in that's what his daughter said looked very happy and it's very interesting because for their honeymoon I think Professor Nishi was very interested in this trans-siberian railway all the way to Japan and of course for Rona the wife for the first time and Professor Nishi of course had been there in Japan and when one of my visits some years ago I think Professor Nishi showed me some kind of ticket when he got this trip and it made me feel oh I have to experience trans-siberian railway but of course not now so I don't know the castle which castle it is could it be could it be in Shikoku's castle because he was quite familiar with the kure he knew quite a lot around the area the next one this is the first book about the alliance this is a based on a doctorate he's a doctorate and it's really if you read it as in I'm sure there are quite a few copies in Natsuo's library maybe recently I've read this and actually Professor Nishi gave me the copy to me with the name and everything I read it a number of times but recently when I'm writing the next book for after many years so I thought I should go back go back to the basic and start reading again and then reread many times but the way that the presentation writes it's almost like telling a barbarity to you or I think but very quite detailed and then I know somebody who started still who was a friend of mine who was studying for A-Level and found this book and apparently start reading and he wasn't particularly interested in Japan to begin with but start reading this book and then he said definitely this historian how I can't describe not just only I can't describe words those who haven't read you could I know somebody here has read the book he started showing interest again so that's one of the first books and meanwhile of course the family group and to be honest with you because being presentation of many many times this kind of family side of course we wouldn't talk about he is not the kind this is my daughter not like that so that only recently I saw this photograph Fiona and Allison and he was as their father because this is quite a sensation and apparently he was a very very good father and also of course husband as well because he did Rona the wife he said and the daughters are saying the same thing at the memorial service Urology he said did washing up and also looked after these small daughters they are always coming back from work at eight o'clock or so at night but straight away went to their bedroom and then looked after and that kind of thing quite a revolution to me because we wouldn't talk we didn't talk about daughters and things like that normally when we met so it's a really a revolution so the next oh this was the follow up of the first book that I showed you because it's a decline and the alliance in decline is the various ways very difficult time for Japan and Britain as well because that covers the first world war period as well and I did a lot of research about the first world war how it was and after after the first world war it's much more a very difficult part and um it covers everything that you want to know and the next ah it's a family because it's really not just only history and the diplomatic history but he did a lot of reconciliation between Britain and Japan after the war post-war period as well and he was recognized so this is a commander the CBE the commander of the British Empire after the celebration reception and these daughters grown up of course by this time and this happened in 1990 and I just wanted to show um this is funny I thought this is another I wanted to oh I don't know what's happening the one in here maybe the next one oh yeah this one this one is of course Japan Japan's this order of the ah from the emperor and this 1991 the one 1991 I don't know if you remember there was a sort of a Japan festival ah because the reason in 1991 is that 100th anniversary of Japan sitting up and society so there are a lot of festivals in various ways and um it's not because of that but because of a professional issue contribution and to the reconciliation so you recognize former emperor um when they are visiting here and the presentation the owner they were chatting I thought that this owner's wife I I don't know what to indicate but can I see it's very intriguing look anyway so presentation had these decorations from the queen and then the emperor in Japan and ah this is the the book that I read said mentioned about earlier um the government supported founded this anglo-Japanese relations book for you remember I said the five volumes of all sectors culture and art and all this specialist called wrote made contributions to and the five volumes in Japanese five volumes and in English five volumes identical ones just to so it took a long time so you can see the the the books cover and I think oh yes I just wanted to show I want to show you these two volumes of book covers political diplomatic covers other volumes covers other sectors and this is a book that I touched on earlier on um published in 2011 about the Japanese in war and peace and Professor Nishi gave me this copy when it was just published it's a very interesting book because I said to you Professor Nishi sent to Japan one year after the end of the Second World War and they went to Kurei which is quite near Hiroshima and while he was there he collected leaflets and newspapers cuttings and all sort of information and if you open the book about I think about two thirds all these facsimile copies in here and I think those who don't know anything about the war what it was like during the war in Japan I think it's an eye-opener and we didn't know um so strongly recommend to read this he said translator's in-tree because that means at that time in 1946 to 8 he was in Japan he was sent to Japan during that time he had collected all these papers and collected and waited until the good times to have this published and you seldom see the book look like this full of information and what was on during the war we didn't know and and then because he didn't stop doing research or having a book because this history of Manchuria was the last book the profession issue had been published in two volumes of course I went to the book launch and it is remarkable again he collected all the materials in past decades and so I think probably must have been waiting the right time and time-wise of course and in two volumes that he had published he was 29 years old the last book and oh next one is Rada with me because I myself and my husband Malcolm visited them quite regularly constantly and I had hundreds of photographs but of course you would be bored only this one this was quite significant because Rona passed away the following year the summer following year so this would be the last one and we visited various times but including Christmas time before them but this was with Rona the last one unfortunately and on the last photograph is that Fabio just touched a little bit about my interest well because this is not really good photographs at all because this was a concert in her 2008 because I'll never forget this concert because I always organize a concert for for RRIB Rural National Institute who had blind people and the school there and music education purpose and so I've been doing it for 23 years or so but having a proper concert and this happened to be I had organized already and then one day one of these visits and I asked whether he's a very professional piano player and so I said just to sound it actually sound it out whether she would be joining me to play with me in my koto and at a concert this concert and she was delighted and after that there was another one three years later the same for the same purpose and she collaborated with me so we played modern pieces not the classic pieces but this is the only photographs I could find and they're definitely sure there are lots because at this time I think 2008 is quite a significant year because one is the 1,000 years anniversary of the tale of Genji do you know written by a Japanese woman at the court I think I believe this is the 54 I think 54 volumes that the 1,000 years anniversary and we were just happy to have been in Kyoto and the summer 2008 and so obviously pieces I chose was that music the poem we called Waka Waka was compiled in 905 and we often the classic pieces we sing these very ancient Waka poems so I'll never forget this particular concert and I couldn't find the better photograph but another thing I can so that I have invited through another court teachers in Japan who brought six of her students and so it was quite quite how can I say very how can I say all can you imagine 708 in the Kimono and we are all playing the classic Koto pieces and amongst Corona playing the piano with me I think I will never forget and so I think this is the in fact the last image to show you but from now we planned I planned the should I do that from now I'm going to talk about my experience with the personish and I hope I'm not boring you because quite a lot but only few experiences so that you will know what other than the academic side of the personish as a person with an issue like so just slowly slowly so that you may not watching me what I wanted to say is that yeah I was a professor often asked me to address him by his first name Ian as a friend and I was never able to to do so even though I felt he was a friend but and also sometimes he sometimes addressed me colleague definitely I'm not there so I could never call him but always called him a professor he asked me to he called him Ian but what I thought was because in Japan we fortunately I don't know we adopted Confucianism for thousands of years with very strict social code and hierarchical society and all that and so I would we were not really used to call teachers or superiors first name I think as probably Japanese here would understand so I always called him professor anyway what I said first experience is was known to not only those in the academic world who were taught by him and those who have been pursuing research on the field with his supervision like me but also widely by people in various sectors due to his often deep involvement with them and not only in Britain Japan and also US and Europe and East Asia however his interest was also through Rona his beloved wife actively promoting our relationships with soft power through the long established Otomoda Chikai which is translated Anglo-Japanese Friends group often through music and she had sadly passed away two years before the Japanese summer 2020 and it was very very sad and Professor Nish dedicated most of his life to the field of Japanese history by meticulously research and tried to make us understand the vicissitudes of the relationship between Britain and Japan through his prolific product of number of related works while also teaching giving lectures he also organized many related symposiums and conferences Domestic and International Professor Nish was also one of the founder founders of research institutions such as the Stickard in LAC and Japanese study group such as badges we call it the badges British association of Japanese studies and it's European association and being there often the president for some time but his energy was also spent in making enormous contributions to the work of reconciliation between Britain and Japan during the post-war period his contribution was widely recognized and celebrated by the people of both countries and most notably by the emperor of Japan and her royal majesty the late queen and I mentioned this already and also the paper in the video Professor Nish the academic was well known to many people what most people know about Professor Nish are his academic achievements and his contributions to Japanese studies but now I shall take this opportunity to share with you some of my many encounters with the Nishes Jan and Rona and starting with my initial experience when I first knocked on Professor Nish's door at the LAC in 1987 I was very nervous about speaking to this celebrated academic however he spoke very gently and asked me what I wanted to do and how I proposed to do it and much so that which I was relieved and a few weeks later after this meeting I and my husband Malcolm bumped into Professor Nish and Rona at the Royal Albert Hall during the interval at the prom we greeted each other and introduced our spouses for the first time after that meeting Professor Nish often invited me to see him to discuss my thesis topic and the Japan British exhibition in 1910 and three years later when my research was still at an embryonic stage we were due to move to Hong Kong for my husband's work as a landscape architect this was a dilemma I did not want to put my research on hold as Professor Nish saw it and was going to retire in a few years time and which left me with two choices one to continue my research but with another supervisor and of course I asked if I might continue with him to my great relief he thought it might be possible for me to carry on as his research student if I so wished since I had progressed this far so I was able to continue to work with Professor Nish as my supervisor and once we were settled in Hong Kong he and I kept up busy correspondence largely in those days innocent pray internet days by facts you may remember there was such thing as the period we use the facts were very modern at that time so when we were in Hong Kong because I was teaching at the department of Japanese studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as well as the department of music there as the traditional Japanese music teacher at the request of the head of the department so you can see how busy I was in Hong Kong but one day Professor Nish said he was in Hong Kong he wanted to see my head of department of Japanese studies and so I arranged it so I had no idea what they discussed but apparently the later on the head of the department said he had greatly enjoyed and greatly valued his afternoon with Professor Nish so you can imagine how useful it might have been and also because I have to choose oh yes this is very important for me because it's a really kind of a miracle because another episode I would like to share with you is one that I would never forget as so happens in 2010 when I was organizing two symposiums one in London and the other in Japan for the Centenary of the Japan British Exhibition of 1910 which came at a critical point just before the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance the London event had no problem because they held at the Stick Art the Research Centre LAC on the Professor Nish who was organizing and as well as we got the help of Dr Anthony Best Professor Nish and also Janet Hunter the specialist in Japanese economic history so thanks to them it was very successful but for each Japanese event almost as a identical symposium I had arranged it to be held at the International House in Roppongi some of you might be familiar with few years earlier and with a generous grant we were given by the Daiwa Japan House London and at the higher and the whole it was very happy but for the Tokyo event the person I wished the most to be involved with this project was of course Professor Nish but can you imagine that I would have to have a great fund to invite Professor Nish and Rona because by that time Professor Nish would travel abroad only if with Rona the wife so I would expect it would be a plane and the first class staying in a hotel, first class hotel and so it would be a big fund needed so I thought probably I couldn't and I didn't even mention it at all to Professor Nish but one day on the spring day because this arranged it at the end of October the spring always finished running me and asking me when my symposium in Tokyo would be held so I said at the end of October and he said it might be possible that he could join me so I said because I was almost giving up but apparently at the same time because I always regard myself I've got a guardian angel around me I was this really Professor Nish is one of the selected foreign academics in Japan academy I think almost a model of British academy so you can't even if you like you won't be able to selected and he was one of them so Japan academy asked him to whether he would come to Japan to give a lecture on annexation of Korea which happened in 1910 and they wanted him to give a lecture but the important thing is that timing anytime is convenient to him so Professor Nish is around me and I could join he said he could join and then accordingly he arrived in good time and he spoke he gave a lecture in Japanese to the most Japanese audience and then when it successfully finished this Japan academy lecture he gave and I attended as well and so this was really the things that I wanted to tell you and of course I've got some other prepared and a lot of other very nice story but apparently time is up we had one hour and 50 minutes so I think it would be nice to open the door yes, I would like to ask you any questions or any comments that you would like with any experiences that you had with Professor Nish voluntarily okay he agreed he would do yes, I met Dr. Hossa a few weeks ago and we talked about the memory of Professor Nish and then have experience so I want to share my phone memory of Professor Nish I met him perhaps 20 years ago for Professor Nish in some academy lecture and then since then I've been kind of sincere attention to me because I'm a professional mathematician at the time but I also am a true historian and I studied also Anglo-Japan relation and I always question I asked Professor Nish about the historical fact of Anglo-Japan relation and he always give me very detailed advice and then whenever I met he met me and he always giving me how your research progress and then at the end of the conversation he did send me keep writing so he encouraged me to write some articles or the thesis or whatever because he knew that I'm very slow writer so whenever I talk to him and then I keep doing kind of the same research but he always pushed me to write something material and also he's very caring person because about 15 years ago I was on ITV for the Sherlock Holmes program and then he always carrying the cutting of the radio times which during my photograph he gave me you and then I ended up being formally student of him Professor Nish but he always regarded me as an official student so yes he's such a caring person and it's really fond of him I think that's a good series Thank you very much Thank you Would you like me to take? Yes please I did attend Ian's Memorial Church life some of what I'm about to say has been heard by some people so apologies for that but first of all I'd like to preface it with a message from Fiona and Alison as some of you might know Ian's daughters Fiona and Alison live in Scotland and both have young children their school half term holiday was last week sadly so the day chosen for this event was a week too late for them to attend in person they have the Scottish half term it was a week earlier than that if possible they're going to attend online though they wish to keep a low profile they thank IOTL for organising their own tribute to their parents but still intend to organise a family memorial service at some point as well they send their warmest regards and thanks to all of you for making the effort to attend IOTL's tribute and see they know their parents would be very touched my own tribute I've slightly updated it since the memorial service last almost exactly a year ago but I studied Japanese my course of Japanese studies in the 1970s at Cambridge only covered the history of Japan until the Meiji Restoration so I was delighted to come across a copy of a book by a certain Ian Nish on the post Meiji Japanese foreign policy in a local bookshop in 1976 I understood that Ian belonged to the unique generation of Japanologists to emerge from the war which had also included my own teachers at Cambridge, Carmen Blacker Thomas Milberg and Charles Sheldon William Beasley actually came and gave us a lecture as well by a remarkable coincidence I was fortunate enough to get to know Ian personally over 30 years later soon after my wife Mitza and I had moved to Oxford not because we're stockbrokers and Ian and Rona had been living there for over 30 years in fact when I was going through some of Ian's some of Ian's books helping his daughters sort through the library I found their change of address notification which said from the 1st of February 1967 our new address was moved immediately in Charlotte Drive soon after Rona passed away in the summer of 2020 my own visits to Ian was living alone then although with a carer became more frequent and he began to share with me some of the stories in his life and career we would agree upon which webinars of the Japan Society and the Daewa Anglo-Japanese Foundation among others he was keen to sign up for a monthly schedule was drawn up in the support and encouragement of Fiona and Alison discussions with Ian arising from one Japan Society webinar in March 2021 presented by Peter Kornitski based on his new book Eavesdropping on the Emperor gave me fresh insights into Ian's wartime experience of learning Japanese in similar ways in the Himalayas this book has Ian's photograph on its front cover and rarely left aside after its publication in June 2021 references made in it to Richard Mason's 1946 book The Wind Cannot Read a romantic wartime novel centered around military personnel learning Japanese in India speakers of Japanese will be given by the words of encouragement given to the central character only the best brains can learn Japanese the book was made into a film in 1958 with Dirk Bogart in the lead role almost as dashing as Ian its classroom scenes are authentic and I had no difficulty picturing a 19 year old Ian at his desk with the wartime edition of Kent Euston's in Japanese English Dictionary which he'd been given and was allowed to keep from the school at Symbol he ended up obviously as we've heard visiting Japan in 1947 and that was his initial posting Ian always this is getting a little bit more personal now but Ian always set great store by keeping in touch with friends, former colleagues and students around the world so there were numerous zoom and face time calls with Japan and the United States that I had helped him to facilitate he was clearly happy looking back on the achievements in higher academic diplomats in government circles across the globe of his former students and was encouraged that so many of them continued to write to him and visit him in culture one of Ian's longer term projects had been to secure good homes for the many highly specialised books in his library this had largely been achieved by 2020 thanks to willing librarians so has and Edinburgh and East Anglia but also support from Allison and Ian's publisher All Norbury and that enabled me to help Ian get some closure on this project following the sale of the family home earlier this year I came across one book which provides a clue to the path on which the 16 year old Ian was about to embark this is a well-thumbed 1942 edition of A.J. Grant and Harold Templey's Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries 1789 to 1939 which had been awarded to Ian by the headmaster of George Watson's College for boys for both the James Thin Prize in English literature and the Shannon Prize in modern language although Ian was untiring in his support and encouragement of his many students around the world devotion to his family in Scotland was clearly paramount he remained very close to his younger sister Marjorie and always took a keen interest in the activities of his daughters' families and the achievements of his grandchildren Ian was one of the kindest first people I ever met and in every sense the perfect gentleman always looking to help others I consider myself highly fortunate that I've passed across in the way that they did and I was thus able not only to resume informal studies years later of Japanese history on such an engaging teacher but also to learn much much more about a wonderful life well lived Thank you Eitel Yes I have a couple of things to add in I had the great good fortune that Ian Leesh agreed to be interviewed for my book Bridges Anglo-Japanese Cultural Pioneers 1945 to 2015 and he was a wonderful chap to interview but of course in modesty was very well known when we presented him with a couple of copies of the book when it was published he looked at his photograph which was taken by my colleague Jeremy Hall and he said oh my that's a wonderful picture of myself Earth did you manage that Thank you for the interview and he looks a perfect academic a tweed jacket slightly disheveled and he was quite astounded that he looked so well just on that beginning bit which starts his interview they chose me was the fact that as an 18 year old in the army in Shimura and because of his facility with languages they thought that the bright ones might be able to learn Japanese but it always it amused me that he did not choose Japan and he said they chose me and also within that year when he moved on from Shimura he was also by then in charge of the library at Shimura so early stages in Japan and being a librarian and all the history and the research started really early on for him and the book is in the Snowhouse Library he wants to read it he gives a lovely interview we of course recorded it and then of course he rewrote it so thank you thank you thank you anybody else no hi any accounts that I have read of his life and achievements I am a bit disappointed not to find full reference to his work teaching such students in the late 60s when he developed an area studies masters course of which we taught the politics economics and most of the history but the international relations was taught by Ian and by Michael Huda who was a very famous specialist in international relations in relations with China and they were an indispensable part of that degree or I don't know 10, 20 years many many years and I think that should not be forgotten the other anecdote that I have my own memory of Ian in particular we shared a great interest in Manchurian that's where we overlapped academically but at one stage in the 80s when Japan was just flowing with money I was a guest of the Ministry of Finance in Japan in their research institute and subsequently the head of the institute used to make annual summer visits to London and Ian and I were invited long to these and it became clear to us that the purpose of these visits was not really to collect our opinions or anything but it gave an opportunity for our friend to visit the finest restaurants in the world in the world he was particularly fond of the Mirabelle which is a famous luxury restaurant in Kyrgyzstan Street and once he also took us to another one which he spotted in the newspaper down the back of Sloane Square but I do particularly remember and he was particularly fond of Bonn Mars which is a legendary Blutlandy wine but they were wonderful and Ian and I used to laugh about it on the way there and all the way around there's one question here online in the chat that I'll just read out by Ian Ruckston how old was he? I know Ian how old was Ian when he watched four German bombers on the roof of George Watson Academy my guess is 14 my father, one year older witnessed a dog fight over the 1st of 4th in 1940 from a rival school at Musselberg maybe they saw the same battle because when they said they didn't say this was only at school so probably I would think primary what is it called? the school name George Watson's college would it be college what kind of age range do you think? if you look at the image at the very beginning this 31 isn't it? he would have been 14 in 1940 maybe around that time maybe it was the same one so the replies to him yes he will be I know Ruckston he is still in Japan I met him and his wife I think how can I he can hear you but hello Ian do you remember me we met after the niches I think your wife's name called Asako it's quite a long time ago we met but according to we calculated the age of this niche at that time could it have been around 14? yes Asako good memory then oh yes how are you sorry I met them after the niches and invited them I can't talk I have unmuted you if you want to if I can do how are you still in Japan yes can you hear me very well thank you with us very well thank you how is Asako very well thank you at that time it's quite a long time ago 20 years ago must be I think 1998 you are the cat that I remember we still have a cat not the same oh so my memory is not so bad yes I think you were at that time Kyushu we're still there Kita Kyushu anyway I don't want to interfere with the person thank you oh this is interesting any other contributions for I think that's those are the questions from online any other questions from very short about the relationship between Ian's support of young academic in my case not so young when I did my PhD I was over 40 I was not I am not a historian I am an anthropologist I came into touch with Ian through his wife Rona through Nietzsche which I have not mentioned because my research was related to that and just that I have Ian's support of the Tomodachi Kai he was a husband who attended he joined and going down to Oxford you all went down to Oxford in the way that you mentioned and Ian's support is anybody and everybody who was shirts and in and when the Japanese ladies went to visit him they were often surprised because Ian would be serving us in his pinny and taking the dishes away and he was a modern person as was his wife and left a great legacy not just to Anglo-Japanese history but as David said a life well lived and somebody that was great somehow in a tiny way about his footsteps in regard to Indonesian really true gentlemen really you seldom meet anybody I don't know many but everybody is saying Mary-san Mary-san I'm sure you got something I knew Ian for a long time and flew from the sky but also my mother was involved in Japanese women's association for a long time when they had 40th anniversary party my mother asked Ian to talk about the founder of the Japanese women's association which is Mrs. Fukiko Nishi wife of the ambassador Japanese women's association was founded in 1956 and her husband Mr. Nishi Mr. Nishi Mr. Nishi ambassador was the second ambassador after the war to England and when they arrived ambassador and the wife arrived they had a very difficult time because the British attitude towards Japan was not exactly friendly at the time so Mrs. Nishi started this Japanese women's association to help Japanese women who came to England with their husbands and she wanted to include the impression of Japan through cultural activities so Ian talked about the history he talked about ambassador and Mrs. Nishi in Japanese at the party so that I remember very well thank you Ian thank you very much for a very inspiring evening very beautiful memories that were shared throughout this we will of course continue the legacy we're still teaching the history of Japan we still teach the area studies although also they have come under attack recently we're now exhorted to be more global and everything should be called global liberal arts but of course so is very much attached to the idea of the region that we can only understand what's happening in the world if we have a regional understanding if we do speak the local languages if we do understand local culture and history and so yes we are committed to these same ideas so thank you very much for coming tonight I thank you to our speaker thank you very much I don't know what to say I don't know there is more material maybe for a second lecture maybe next year so I hope you travel safely back and I hope you come to visit us again here at the JSC we have a lecture next week by Dr. Roussel Meatt from Cardiff University entitled Black Hero for Japanese Youth Revolution in Meiji Japan so also a historical topic thank you very much for coming thank you