First British Travelers and Residents in Japan

After the opening of the Japanese ports in the 50s of the 19th century, many foreigners started to visit the country. Due to their interest in the Far East, Britons were among the most numerous, and accordingly, they left many accounts of their experiences in Japan. Thanks to the popularity of travelogues in the 19th century and the effort to record observations on new cultures and societies, visitors to Japan left a considerable amount of written inheritance, and it is now possible to follow their individual opinions and attitudes. Although these sources are highly subjective and must be used with a certain amount of caution, their comparative analysis can bring interesting results for our understanding of Western (British) perception of Japan in the time of its crucial change The critical fact to note is that modern historians have primary sources of various proveniences and backgrounds at their disposal. Their authors had different reasons for coming to Japan, diverse levels of education, social standing, and different gender identities, which contributed to the fact that their perception of Japan was not the same. This phenomenon constitutes a broad possibility for further study into the topic of travels to Japan and the British view of Japanese culture and society. Although the topic of British-Japanese relations and the cultural exchange between both countries in the Bakumatsu and Early Meiji Periods has been popular among modern historians in recent decades, there are still opportunities to study some specific topics to better understand the experience of the British in Japan. One of these is to follow individual accounts, and use them for comparative research to better understand the interaction of Western and Far Eastern cultures in the 19th century.