At its height, friendship between Britain and Japan paved the way for the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, of which the centenary was celebrated in 2002. No bilateral forum exists for the non-recriminatory discussion of war-related issues and wartime history, especially as relates to the Burma War. BCS seeks to fill that gap. The name recognizes the fact that it is a successor organization to the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group, (whose members were Burma Campaign veterans who were reconciled with their former Japanese enemies more than 40 years after the end of the war), and also because 95% of Britain and Japan's wartime encounter took place in Burma.