Australia & Japan Through 100 Years
'Towards a New Vision' is a path-breaking study, being the first comprehensive history of the relationship between Australia and Japan. Many different aspects of the relationship are covered, including early Australian responses to Japanese culture and customs, Japanese diving communities in northern Australia, the impact of "White Australia" and the fear of the "Yellow Peril", the experience of Japanese and Australian POWs during the Pacific War, and the forging of new ties during the last fifty years through trade, immigration, tourism, science and arts.
'Towards a New Vision' is based on an exhibition of the same name that was first held in the New South Wales Parliament House in June 1997 and has subsequently been shown at the Queensland Parliament House, a number of universities and other venues. Photographs drawn from archives, museums, libraries and personal collections in Australia and Japan are used to illustrate the text.
For Australians this study has contemporary relevance since it examines their most intense, long-standing and difficult relationships with an Asian country. The story has much to suggest about Australia's problems and possibilities in constructing a new future in Asia.
