Thank you very much. It is really a great pleasure to be able to join this Forum this afternoon here at Waseda University. I would like to first of all express my thanks to Yushodo, particularly Mr. Nitta, for this invitation.

I will be talking mainly about the Asiatic Society of Japan. You may say why, suddenly, does this occur in the middle of a talk about England. I think you will soon realize why. You have just heard from Mr. Hayashi about Ernest Satow, and names like William Aston and Basil Chamberlain. These persons all contributed their important studies to an understanding of Japan in the context of the Asiatic Society of Japan. And they were all outstanding Britishers.

I will come back to that in a moment. But before I get into my primary points this afternoon, I would like to mention something that Mr. Nitta said to me some time ago. He mentioned to me that this is an occasion of celebration, celebration of the contacts between Japan and Great Britain in particular. If we were to add up the numbers, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is celebrating its 100th anniversary, but, of course, England and Japan long before that had signed treaties. I believe the first one was in 1859, at the time still of the Tokugawa Bakufu. We are also celebrating Yushodo's 70th anniversary, which is no small event at all in the life of a publishing company which has contributed much to the cultural understanding between Japan and the West. And I should also add, that this year is the 130th anniversary of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Much better than I could do, Mr. Nitta quickly added up these numbers and said, "These are 300 years of celebration!" I do appreciate being able to join in theemembrance of this long period of time.

What does make TIME important, however, is not the length so much ... although that is very important... but the people that participated in these many years. It is the people that we remember, as we know today by Mr. Churchill speaking of his grandfather. It was a particular person at a particular time that was able to affect significantly the events around him. And it must be said that this is also true of a person like Ernest Satow.