Welcome to the British Squadron to Japan
Following the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 British Military contingents arrived in Japan. The Alliance was to run for five years before being renewed, was primarily directed against the potential shared menace posed, it was believed, by France and (most probably) Russia in the Far East. The alliance obligated either power to remain neutral if one or other found itself at war. However, should either power be obliged to fight a war against two or more powers, the other signatory was obliged to provide military aid. This postcard (produced by Mitsukoshi, Ltd. an international department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan) featuring a Japanese woman in a garden setting, is a celebration of the arrival of the British Squadron in July, 1906
