Sharing a similar geography at the opposite ends of the Eurasian Continent and dependent on maritime trade to supplement the lack of strategic resources, both the UK and Japan relied on the sea for their economic survival and independence as sovereign states. From the first alliance in 1902, through the World Wars, to the more recent operations in the Indian Ocean and Iraq, sea power has played a central role in the strategic calculus of both countries. This thought-provoking book, comprising contributions from a group of international scholars, explores the strategic meaning of being an island nation. It investigates how, across more than a century, sea power empowered - and continues to empower - both the UK and Japan with a defensive shield, an instrument of deterrence, and an enabling tool in expeditionary missions to implement courses of action to preserve national economic and security interests worldwide.

Positioned within the comparative literature on Japan and the UK, the volume will have wide-ranging appeal including studies in Anglo-Japanese Relations, Naval Military History, and Studies in East Asian Defence and Sucurity, including Anglo-American and US-Japan strategic interests.