A DIPLOMAT IN JAPAN, by Ernest Satow. New York/Tokyo: ICG Muse, Inc., 2000, 424 pp., 1,300 yen.

This is a welcome reissue of the long-out-of-print 1921 edition of Ernest Satow's memoirs. Its contents are indicated in his original subtitle: "The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarch restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period."

Satow was only 19 years old when he was sent by the British diplomatic service to Yokohama in 1862. There he became a translator; five years later he was secretary to the British Embassy. Later he left Japan and distinguished himself in a number of important diplomatic posts.

Satow is best remembered for his work in Japan -- first, because the times were so stirring and, second, because his reaction to them was so exemplary. The Tokugawa shogunate was losing its authority and the domains of Choshu (now Yamaguchi) and Satsuma (now Kagoshima) wanted to restore the Emperor to power and thus share some of that power.