Japan on the Silk Road provides the historical background indispensable for understanding today's Japan perspectives and policies in the vast area of Eurasia. For the first time it brings a detailed account of the history of Japanese activities along the Eurasian landmass across the Middle East and Central Asia in modern history.

Selçuk Esenbel is (emerita) Professor of Japanese and Asian History at the History Department of Bogazici University as well as the founding Director and current Academic Coordinator of the Asian Studies Center. She is also a Professor of History at 29 May University in Istanbul. She has received the Special Award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Georg Forster award for research. Esenbel is an honorary member of the Turkish Academy of Science (tüba), Trustee
of the Toynbee Prize Foundation, and Fulbright Senior Scholar. Esenbel has published in the American Historical Review, Bulletin of SOAS,
Japan Review. Her most recent publication in English is Japan, Turkey, and the World of Islam, (Brill Global Oriental, 2011).