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Impressions of Meiji Japan by five Victorian women

University of British Columbia

This thesis examines five travelogues written by Victorian ladies who visited Japan between 1889 and 1906. These works are useful as historical documents because they give a first-hand account of life in Meiji Japan that is different from other sources. The authors portrayed the everyday lifestyle and customs of the Japanese people, including many things considered so commonplace most writers did not consider them worth recording. By comparing the authors' observations with modern sociological and historical studies, these travelogues have been shown to be remarkably accurate. The women's observations have been organized into the following catagories: etiquette, aesthetics, religion, family life and the women's ideas on Japan's modernization.

Text

2010-07-18

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26617

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University of British Columbia

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