Though written at different times, and in response to different occasions, the essays in this book aim to offer a convincing and coherent approach to the interpretation of the topic referred to in the title. The initial impetus for this long course of historical research came in 1976, with a...

Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The early modern Japanese economy -- The failure of the temp? : reforms and the opening of Yokohama -- The first merchant of Yokohama -- Bakumatsu Japan's trade and Yokohama's place in that trade -- Yokohama and its hinterland -- The producers of...

pt. 1. Two models of expansion without borders : the European Mediterraneans -- pt. 2. Early outlines of an Asian Mediterranean : the predominance of tributary trade -- pt. 3. The overlapping of Western and Asian trading networks -- pt. 4. The arena of re-globalisation : the second birth of the...