Australian–Japanese Cultural Connections

Abstract

In the 1950s, most Australians knew little of Japan and its people beyond recent wartime experiences and stock stereotypes, and this was mirrored by the very limited knowledge of most Japanese about the society and environments of modern Australia. As bilateral trade flourished as a result of economic growth in both nations, and the enmity that had existed during World War II quickly receded into the past, the relationship that developed between Australia and Japan over the next 70 years was distinctive and multilayered. Government-to-government relations frame what is now a myriad of institutional, community and personal connections between Australia and Japan-and indeed Australians and Japanese people-that span interests and generations.