The aim of East Meets West is to foster international peace through education and friendship between countries of the Far East and the United Kingdom.

A programme of social and cultural exchanges between Tenryu village in Nagano, Japan and Bridge Village in Kent, England, is at the core of the enterprise.

The project was inspired by the war diaries of William Rose, written while in captivity in Japan. The personal records, now held at the Imperial War Museum , have been edited and published under the title ‘You Shook My Hand’.