This special volume of Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals contains the Proceedings of the first Anglo-Japanese Seminar on Liquid Crystals held in Nara, Japan, on 26th-28thMay 1999. The seminar was arranged to bring together members of the liquid crystal communities of Japan and the United Kingdom. The research undertaken by these two communities is at the forefront of international activities in many areas of this exciting subject. However, much of this research is of a complementary nature and so closer collaborations between the two communities would help to create a research base which would be considerably more competitive at the international level than simply the sum of the parts. The Seminar was envisaged as an invaluable forum in which to initiate co-operation between centres of liquid crystal research in our two countries as well as helping to enhance existing collaborations. It is to be expected that all such interactions would lead to the development of novel areas of liquid crystal science and technology.