larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (wanderweg)
[personal profile] larryhammer
Recent interesting read: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan by that indefatigable Victorian traveler Isabella Bird. This records, in letters to her sister, a 1878 journey through Tohoku and Hokkaido. Largely because I've never seen much by way of the conditions in the countryside mid-Meiji period.

Bird is not a completely reliable or unbiased observer (and I wonder just how much she's failing to see that I don't know enough to recognize), and when she reaches Hokkaido, among the Ainu, she becomes an Amateur Victorian Anthropologist, Wince-Worthy Variety. However, comma, she's a curious and generally sympathetic observer, is far less orientalizing than many Western writers of the period (AVAWWV aside), and has a lively and entertaining style.

Also, it's amusing to see her casually press "Dr. Hepburn" into use as an interpreter in Yokohama.

---L.

Date: 7 February 2012 07:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] swan-tower.livejournal.com
I'll keep that in mind when I read it; such things are often less bothersome if you're prepared for them.

August 2025

S M T W T F S
     12
3 456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 5 August 2025 04:59 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios