A Study On The Modern Japan Reports Of The British Newspaper Headed By The Times(1868-1936)

British newspaper are the supporters of British social public opinion,and reflect the British public views on the situation at home and abroad.Among those newspapers,The Times enjoys the status and social influence.The Times,founded in1785,is a comprehensive daily newspaper,and focus on a wide range of fields,and has a good reputation in nearly every field.The elite of British political,industrial and commercial finance and the intellectual are very popular with the Times.Japan secured independence by Meiji Restoration,with the systematic reform in economy and politics,and external expansion accompanied by the wars against China and Russia.British newspapers such as the Times directed much attention to the main events in Japanese internal affairs and foreign affairs,and formulated their own opinions and comments,which reflected British society's understanding of modern Japanese reform,development and expansion.The main aim of this paper is to explore the British social public opinion's cognition of modern Japan by the reports in British newspaper on historical events closely related to Japan,to study the truthfulness of the reports,and to analyse factors influencing the reports,in order to fill in the research gaps in domestic academiaThe paper consists of three parts:introductions,main-body and the conclusion.The introductions set forth selected topic,research significance,research reviews,research methods and writing ideas,as well as main innovations and shortcomings.The main-body is divided into five chaptersThe Chapter One introduces reports on modern Japanese politics from the British newspaper,such as the Times.In Meiji Period,Boshin War,changes in political system and the issuing of Meiji Constitution were followed by British newspaper,such as the Times.After the end of Meiji Period,fascination process of Japanese politics resulted in a stream of stories in British newspapers.Compared with other newspapers,the Times preferred to shared Japanese constitutional mode,and gently criticized the Japanese fascism.These reports represented the process of Japanese politics development on the whole.However,some of reports were not completely accurate and comprehensive.The reports were deeply affected by British social values.The Chapter Two introduces reports on modern Japanese economies from the British newspaper,such as the Times.Before the breakout of World War I,British newspapers headed by the Times,published the industrialization process ofJapan,with the participation in trade,rapid development of strongly international competitive industry.What's more,Japan expanded the international market by the chance of World War.After World War I,the reports of British newspapers on Japan showed the negative characteristics.From the points of view of British public opinions,Japanese economy was deep in endless crisis,Compared with other newspapers,the Times paid more attention to the details of Japanese economic development and the entire process of economic crisis: Japanese economy was sinking into a rigid circulation of crisis,depression and slow recovery.The related reports of newspapers basically showed the trend of modern Japanese economic development and the newspapers were deeply affected by British national interests and liberal economic ideas.The Chapter Three argued the reports on the relationship between Japan and Britain and the United States from the British newspaper,such as the Times.The newspaper summarized the Treaty Negotiations,Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the Washington Conference.Newspaper didn't raise in support of proposals for treaty negotiations by Japanese government,and held the opinion that Britain sought keep in touch with Japan.British newspapers gave high praise for and heaped praise on Anglo-Japanese Alliance.But newspapers called on the end of the alliance in order to restrict Japanese power after World War I.As a result,British newspapers were satisfied with the agreements achieved on the Washington Conference.The related reports were accurate on the whole with some inaccuracies on some specific issues.The reports kept in line with the attitude with British government,forming the echo between the public opinions and government.The Chapter Four discusses the reports on the Sino-Japanese relations from the British newspaper,such as the Times.British newspaper,which reported the main Sino-Japanese conflicts,including the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895,the Tsinan Massacre,Mukden Incident and January 28 incident,focused on the cause of Sino-Japanese conflicts,the process of Sino-Japanese conflicts and the attitude of third parties.British newspapers,especially the Times,stood on Japanese position on the reports of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Tsinan Massacre.After Mukden Incident,the newspapers changed and turned to support China.General speaking,the reports on Sino-Japanese conflicts of British newspapers were seriously false in many aspects,which defamed China's image and covered up Japanese war responsibility and guilt.It was found that the reports on Sino-Japanese conflicts weredeeply affected by British national interests and colonialism values.The Chapter Five discusses the reports on the Russo-Japanese Relations from the British newspaper,such as the Times.British newspapers concentrated on Russo-Japanese War and Japanese Siberian Intervention.These reports totally stood on Japan and criticized Russia.Japanese positive image was built and Japan was encouraged to make war with Russia on the reports of the newspapers.As a result,the related reports weren't accurate,which focused on the statements to vilify Russia and overlook the aggressive intention of Japan,due to the contradiction between Britain and Russia during Russo-Japanese War,and the desire for the overthrow of Bolshevik Regime during the time of Siberian Intervention.So the reports were deeply affected by British national interests.Besides,the Times upheld conservatism and opposed violent revolution,which led to the Times' standpoint against Bolshevik Regime and in support of Japanese Intervention.The conclusion holds the viewpoints that British newspapers headed by the Times,developed specific reports on the policies,economy,diplomacy and war of modern Japan,described the track of the development of modern Japan,and shaped the image of modern Japan.As a whole,Japanese image in British newspapers had gone through a process from positive to negative,and the reports were deeply affected by British interests and social values.