The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain

Early Travel Encounters in the Far West

Bibliographic Data

ID7947859
AuthorsAndrew Cobbing (corresponding author), Bill Sewell (University of British Columbia, corresponding author)
Year2013
Publication date2013-11-05
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueJapanese Discovery of Victorian Britain (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781315073491
OpenAlexW4231361227
Open LibraryOL34617588M
ISBN9781315073491
LanguageEN
Citations received12

The investigations undertaken in the pursuit of knowledge by the first overseas Japanese travellers during the 1860s and 70s have left a unique record of life in the then unknown west. Leaving behind a homeland culturally isolated for more than 200 years, these samurai travellers were especially fascinated by the extent of British political and commercial influence they observed during their travels, and therefore paid particularly close attention to the Victorian world and recorded all they saw in minute detail. Their diaries and 'travelogues' comprise the single largest body of material on Victorian society to be recorded in any non-European language. This book examines the nature of these travellers' experiences and their perceptions of Victorian Britain. A deeper understanding of this rich source material is important because, although entirely unknown to British readers, the documents reveal one of the most spectacular culture shocks ever recorded in World History. They are also important because the images of Victorian and other western societies that they portrayed to the Japanese reading public in the late nineteenth century still underpin Japanese understanding of the outside world more than a hundred years later

Geography · History · Japanese History and Culture · Travel Writing and Literature · 1837-1901 · 19th century · Beeldvorming · civilization · Culturele betrekkingen · description and travel · Descriptions et voyages · English influences · General · Great britain · International Relations · Japan · Japanese · Japanese Foreign public opinion · Japanese Public opinion · Japonais · Reise · Relations · Travel · Travelers · Victoria · Victoria, 1837-1901 · Voyages · Voyageurs

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