The Cross and the Rising Sun, Vol. 2: The British Protestant Missionary Movement in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, 1865-1945

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

In 1990, it was my task to review the first volume of this set. Covering
the Canadian Protestant missionary movement in the Japanese Empire
between 1872 and 1931, that book was based on the author’s Ph.D.
thesis; at the time, I noted that while informative, it was dully
written.

Ion’s new book is better than his first, probably because it reads
like an independent effort that did not grow out of a thesis. Certainly,
the same level of scholarship is evident here: exhaustive research in
both English and Japanese.

Out of this research comes a portrait of a British mission that began
promisingly but ended in failure as the Japanese Empire tried to
eliminate foreign influence over the course of its preparations for war.
The reasons for the failure of the missionary experience are
compellingly presented in this volume. We can only hope Ion will next
take on the Protestant Americans in Japan and then turn his attention to
the role of the Roman Catholics.