Unbeaten Tracks in Japan eBook Isabella L Isabella Lucy Bird
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Unbeaten Tracks in Japan eBook Isabella L Isabella Lucy Bird
A fascinating and apparently largely unflinching look at Japan--especially what were then the little traveled parts north of Tokyo, including Hokkaido, by an intrepid and curious Englishwoman of courage and grit, mostly traveling in the primitive back road travel conditions of the late 1870s, soon after Japan was opened to westerners.All that she observed then has either entirely passed away or has been totally transformed, and will not return again. Thus, her up close and personal observations are extraordinarily valuable for those wishing to know just how a Japan--on the cusp of "fundamental transformation," and just starting to be changed/contaminated by western ideas and technology--appeared to the eyes of a westerner.
I see a reviewer here downgraded this travelogue because of what he decried as the "racism" that permeated this book, especially as it pertained to the Ainu.
A fundamental mistake in evaluating and trying to understand an old book/travelogue dealing with places, peoples, or past historical events is to criticize and condemn the worldviews, attitudes, and judgments of the author vis-à-vis past peoples and times, based on the standards of today.
Miss Bird was not a person of today, but the product of the English Empire of 140 plus years ago, near the height of its success, power, and reach, and master of a large portion of the Earth, moreover, she was a firm Christian believer, and also obviously of the belief that her religion and culture were superior to all others, and she judged the things she saw, heard, and experienced accordingly. But, even her most withering observations and comments came from what was obviously a very kind heart.
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Unbeaten Tracks in Japan eBook Isabella L Isabella Lucy Bird Reviews
This book is a collection of letters written by a very adventurous British woman who ventured to travel within Japan with only a translator as her constant companion. She describes her travels from her arrival in Yokohama in May 1878 - just after the completion of the first railroad that linked Yokohama with Tokyo - until her departure in December of that same year. She traveled from Tokyo north through and around Hokkaido, spending an enlightening time among the Aino people.
Having lived in Japan for most of my life, I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of the people, their customs and behaviors.
I rate this 4 stars as some of her descriptions of temples and buildings got to be a bit much for me, although those unfamiliar with Japan may find them to be of greater interest.
Isabella Bird was a gifted observer of her surroundings and an intrepid adventurer. Her epic and austere trek from the capital of Meiji-era Japan northward to and thru Hokkaido gives readers a unique look at late 1800's Japan through the eyes of a westerner. By her rich prose, Bird draws a vivid word picture of the harsh life that confronted not only travelers but the average Japanese. As a Nipponphile who lived ten years in Japan, I found Bird's account a page turner. I felt like I was accompanying Bird on her trailblazing odyssey. I could feel the incessant fleas and mosquitoes biting me throughout the night EVERY night at every stop. But I could also sense the legendary courtesy and hospitality that are the hallmarks of the Japanese today. This book will be appreciated most by those readers who have lived in or traveled in Japan.
As a long-term, 40-year, British foreign resident of Japan, I found Isabella Bird's 19th century description of Nihon wonderful, perspicacious and unbelievably funny. Her attitude was so gorgeously superior, as was typical of British people dealing with any foreigners at that time, especially the barbaric "yellow races", but still extremely perceptive in regard to social mores and, particularly the male-female relationship. She also beautifully destroys the modern legends of the Japanese as an historically clean and sophisticated people, but manages to show deep cultural respect while, at the same time, poking fun at the inward-looking, foreigner-excluding Japanese society. I particularly enjoyed noting what differences have occurred in Japan over the past 150 or so years (many), but, even more so, what has remained exactly the same (even more).
Absolutely lovely. I'm really looking forward to reading Izzie's other travel tomes.
Isabella Bird, a Victorian female explorer, went where no woman, and sometimes no man, had gone before. Fascinating look at the back country of Japan, before much Western contact. She traveled with a Japanese guide/translator and horses and mules and 'chair men' (to carry her in a sort of palanquin) with no itinerary, with no language, with only an intense desire to 'discover.' But she is a Victorian writing in the English of her day which sometimes would be a little long-winded and turgid for a 21st Century reader. I like that language, myself. So no problem. Definitely worth it. Her travels in Hokkaido are particularly interesting - the Ainu (Hokkaido native people) are a fresh experience for her and she makes no bones about their stage of social and cultural development. She sometimes refers to them as 'aborigines,' but she sees them clearly, their kindness, their welcome, willingness to share whatever they have with a foreign stranger, their sensitivity at the same time as she sees their difficulties. She is a good observer of people and their culture. We are lucky to have a woman's view account of Japan, and especially Hokkaido, from this era. For the right reader this will be a treasure. Also highly recommend any other of Isabella Bird's travel books.
A fascinating and apparently largely unflinching look at Japan--especially what were then the little traveled parts north of Tokyo, including Hokkaido, by an intrepid and curious Englishwoman of courage and grit, mostly traveling in the primitive back road travel conditions of the late 1870s, soon after Japan was opened to westerners.
All that she observed then has either entirely passed away or has been totally transformed, and will not return again. Thus, her up close and personal observations are extraordinarily valuable for those wishing to know just how a Japan--on the cusp of "fundamental transformation," and just starting to be changed/contaminated by western ideas and technology--appeared to the eyes of a westerner.
I see a reviewer here downgraded this travelogue because of what he decried as the "racism" that permeated this book, especially as it pertained to the Ainu.
A fundamental mistake in evaluating and trying to understand an old book/travelogue dealing with places, peoples, or past historical events is to criticize and condemn the worldviews, attitudes, and judgments of the author vis-à-vis past peoples and times, based on the standards of today.
Miss Bird was not a person of today, but the product of the English Empire of 140 plus years ago, near the height of its success, power, and reach, and master of a large portion of the Earth, moreover, she was a firm Christian believer, and also obviously of the belief that her religion and culture were superior to all others, and she judged the things she saw, heard, and experienced accordingly. But, even her most withering observations and comments came from what was obviously a very kind heart.
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