Kenneth G. Henshall is Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and has taught at the University of California, Berkeley.

• Notes on Contributors - Foreword; F.McGuinness - Introduction; M.Thornton Burnett - SHAKESPEARE AND EARLY MODERN IRELAND - Neighbourhood in Henry V; Lisa Hopkins - Shakespeare, Holinshed and Ireland: Resources and Con-texts; Willy Maley - 'Hitherto she ne're could fancy him': Shakespeare's 'British' Plays and the Exclusion of Ireland; A.Hadfield - Where is Ireland in The Tempest?; D.J.Baker - NATIONAL SHAKESPEARES, POSTCOLONIAL CULTURES - 'Shakespeare Explained': James Joyce's Shakespeare from Victorian Burlesque to Postmodern Bard; R.Brown - W.B. Yeats and Shakespearean Character; J.Allison - Shakespeare and the Definition of the Irish Nation; R.English - Bridegrooms to the Goddess: Hughes, Heaney and the Elizabethans; N.Rhodes - PERFORMANCE, PEDAGOGY, LANGUAGE - No 'Brave Irishman' Need Apply: Thomas Sheridan, Shakespeare and the Smock-Alley Theatre; B.E.Schneller - Rug-headed Kerns Speaking Tongues: Shakespeare, Translation and the Irish Language; M.Cronin - 'Tish Ill Done': Henry the Fifth and the Politics of Editing; Andrew Murphy - Shakespeare and the Sectarian Divide: Politics and Pedagogy in (post) Post-Ceasefire Belfast; R.Wray

"Henshall . . . has written a lively and literate introduction to the vast sweep of Japanese history. . . ." - Library Journal"This informative and easily digestible work is ideal for general readers who wish to learn more about this important and fascinating nation." - Booklist