Ireland-Japan Connections and Crossings celebrates sixty-five years of Irish-Japanese diplomatic relations and its publication is one part of a number of commemorative events designed to cherish past and future relations between the two countries.The book is a celebration of each country and their influences on one another. It is impossible to document these in their entirety; and this is not the purpose of the book. The articles, stories and poems in this book are a selection from a very wide and deep source. Covering a broad spectrum, the contributions fall into a number of defined categories: diplomatic, economic, history and culture, education, memoir and poetry. We hope that the book will encourage and inspire readers to continue to read, enquire and travel into these unique, well-connected islands.