FOREIGN OFFICE FILES FOR JAPAN AND THE FAR EAST
Series One: Embassy & Consular Archives - Japan (1905-1940)
(Public Record Office Class FO 262)

Part 3: Detailed Correspondence for 1924-1926 (PRO Class FO 262/1602-1672)

Part 3 makes available the strong sequences of subject files for the years 1924 to 1926, packed with daily observations and detailed correspondence on a wide range of issues.

• There is a strong emphasis on economic and electoral reform.
• Many documents cover the Chinese Boycott at the end of the Taisho Period. 
• There is much material on Japanese politics, the Court, social conditions, the earthquake, and relations between Japan and Great Britain, China, Russia and the United States.
• There are also good notes on Finance and Economics, Trade and Commerce, Reconstruction, the Army and the Navy.
• Particularly valuable are the reports from the Japanese dependencies of Korea and Formosa.
• The Proceedings of the London Reparations Conference, July-August 1924, are reported in full.
• With regard to the League of Nations, Japan’s opposition to any increase in the number of permanent members of the Council is made clear.
• There is an abundance of material on the United States and Japan which usefully complements the offerings of US State Department files for this period.

The files covered here reflect the intercourse between Britain and Japan, on a day by day basis, discussing, reporting and understanding the vast array of issues fundamental to the course of events throughout the Far East. These British archives fully document Japan’s changing relations with Britain and the Commonwealth.