Book excerpt: First published in 1986. By the middle of the nineteenth century Japan had been a closed country for more than two hundred years. Then a period of constant communication between Japan and the outside world suddenly began. The Fifteen Years' War was in effect the intensification of relations between already warring nations. During the struggle of 1931 to 1945, Japan was engaged in incessant international activity. This book is based on lectures given at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, from 1979 to 1980.