Japan is Canada's most important overseas trading partner, yetthe backgound of this relationship is comparatively unknown to mostCanadians. In order to bridge this gap, the author surveys Canadianforeign policy aims towards Japan since WWII with emphasis on thedevelopment of economic ties. He illustrates the role of majordepartments, ministries, diplomats, businessmen, and other leadingparticipants and the processess by which these aims succeeded orfailed. This objective analysis will prove a valuable reference source forstudents, officials, bureaucrats, historians, businessmen and women,journalists, and all those interested not only in economic relationsbetween Canada and Japan but also in the way foreign policy isformulated in Canada.

Patricia E. Roy is the winner of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, Canadian Historical Association. Canada's early participation in the Asia-Pacific region was hindered by "contradictory impulses" shaping its approach. For over half a century, racist restrictions curtailed immigration from Japan, even as Canadians manoeuvred for access to the fabled wealth of the Orient. Canada's relations with Japan have changed profoundly since then. In Contradictory Impulses, leading scholars draw upon the most recent archival research to examine an important bilateral relationship that has matured in fits and starts over the past century. As they makes clear, the two countries' political, economic, and diplomatic interests are now more closely aligned than ever before and wrapped up in a web of reinforcing cultural and social ties. Contradictory Impulses is a comprehensive study of the social, political, and economic interactions between Canada and Japan from the late nineteenth century until today.

These proceedings include papers on Japan's World Role in the 1990s, the economic dimensions of Japan and North America, and Japan and North America as Partners in the Pacific Community. It also provides the concluding remarks.

The papers in this volume were developed for an informal symposium held in Vancouver in April 1988. The papers range from descriptions of possible realigned world political orders to questions of international trade and domestic economic priorities; and from the "greying" of the population of the industrial world and associated social policy issues such as health care and pensions to the imperative of implementing sustainable economic development worldwide.

Today's headlines often feature stories about new trade agreements with Asian countries, but tapping eastern markets has long been a goal of Canadian commerce. When the Canadian Pacific Railway reached its terminus in British Columbia, which was seen as the launching point for trade in the Far East, particularly with China and Japan. The history of members of those cultures immigrating to Canada is well documented, but there has been little written on Canadians venturing across the Pacific from west to east. When adventurers first crossed the Pacific from BC in the 19th century, they encountered the closely guarded shores of Japan, a society emerging from 200 years of self-imposed isolation and transforming from a largely feudal country into a modern world power. Curious outsiders had for centuries been unable to penetrate the land of shoguns. This collection of stories begins with Ranald Macdonald, who tempted fate by intentionally shipwrecking himself off the coast of Japan in 1848, and takes readers through to 1945. As Japan slowly opened up to foreign influences, the new arrivals proved to be an intriguing and diverse cast of adventurers, missionaries, businessmen, social activists, soldiers and misfits.

From the back cover: Richard Wright's study chronicles and analyses the Japanese business presence in Canada. It reveals several distinguishing characteristics of Japanese investment, which should help allay some traditional Canadian concerns about foreign investment. Japanese investment is small in proportion to the total volume of Canada-Japan trade. Moreover, unlike other traditional foreign investors, who generally seek to gain direct control of affiliated companies in Canada, Japanese investors aim primarily to secure reliable flows of raw materials. Because the Japanese emphasis is on trade rather than on investment flows, a high proportion of Japanese investment is in the form of loans rather than equity, and the Japanese often take minority holdings or enter into joint ventures. The role of Japanese investment is thus a very different one from that which has been a source of concern about foreign ownership in Canada.

A collection of essays, written by scholars and policymakers from the countries involved, explores the evolving alliance among Canada, Japan, and the United States. The book examines the three market-oriented democracies in their changing roles toward each other and show how they have moved beyond their separate, special, bilateral relationships into a dynamic three-way engagement.