The first phase of Anglo-Japanese relations, 1587-1673 was, unlike the second 19th century hase, characterized by English desires to reach Japan and East Asia. The English developed the technology and invested the time, money, and lives needed to traverse the globe and supplicate themselves before Japanese rulers. Japan was seen as a potential key ally against Spain and Japanese trade as a source to strengthen the English economy, also with an eye on defending the realm against Spanish aggression.
This phase of relations was characterized not only by encounters in Japan, as is normally discussed in the literature, but also by worldwide encounters, including in England itself. It is these encounters that this paper will, in the main, discuss, with the aim of shedding a more global light upon this earliest phase of Anglo-Japanese intercourse.