On the merits of reading history forward -- Konoe Atsumaro and the case for Chinese-Japanese collaboration -- Hattori Unokichi : lessons from Beijing -- Meiji Japan's "new woman" on mission in China : Kawahara Misako in Shanghai and Karachin -- Kawashima Naniwa : Japan/myself as number one -- Ariga Nagao and Japan's internationalism -- Making sense of it all