Mysterious Japan

Street, Julian, 1879-1947Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1
Word count
491K words
Chapters
50

Tags

English Originals Culture Human GeographyAdventure JourneyMysterious VibeTravel NarrativeCustoms ObservationOriental ImaginationForeign LandsExotic CultureCultural MisreadingCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Mysterious Japan by Julian StreetAuthor: Street, Julian, 1879-1947,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Sep 7, 2018

Editor's review

Julian Street records the social life and everyday scenes of early twentieth-century Japan in the manner of a travelogue, with close observation of shrine festivals, street customs, and the bewilderment of outsiders. The writing bears the marks of its era and the author's personal quirks; it is not scholarship but the on-the-spot notes of a Western traveler. Its value lies in offering a sample of cross-cultural observation: readers can see how foreigners understood Japan a century ago and also perceive the limitations of that perspective. It suits casual dipping in quiet moments; each chapter stands alone, so there is no need to read in order. Read alongside travelogues of Japan from the same period, it makes even clearer how an observer's standpoint shapes the narrative.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the table of contents and pick chapters on festivals and daily life, reading by interest
  2. Jot down differences between the book's observations and your own understanding as material for reflection
  3. Pair it with an introductory history of modern Japan, then return to the original with that background
  4. If English reading is difficult, read the opening and closing of each chapter first to grasp the main idea

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50

FAQ

Is this book scholarship or a travelogue? It is a travelogue-style record of observations: the author describes Japanese customs and sights as a traveler, not as a systematic scholar. Read it as historical material from a personal perspective, not as authoritative judgment.
Is the original English hard to read? The style is that of an early twentieth-century English travelogue—sentences tend to be long, but the prose is generally plain. Anyone with college-level English reading ability can attempt it; unfamiliar place names can be skipped without losing the main thread.
Why do some statements in the book seem inappropriate today? The author looks through the eyes of a Western traveler from a century ago and inevitably carries the prejudices and stereotypes of his time. Read it as a case study in cross-cultural observation, noting which judgments come from firsthand experience and which from preconceptions.

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About the author

Street, Julian, 1879-1947 Author

Julian Street (Street, Julian, 1879-1947) was an American writer and travel author active in the first half of the twentieth century. His biographical details are scanty in public sources: only four of his works are held here, and information on his nationality and education remains unavailable, though his dates of birth and death are confirmed as 1879 and 1947 from his bylines. Judging from the surviving works, he wrote mainly travelogues and essays, dealing mostly with the customs and landscapes of the United States and East Asia. Mysterious Japan records his impressions of Japan, while Abroad at Home: American Ramblings, Observations, and Adventures of Julian and American Adventures: A Second Trip 'Abroad at home' turn to travels within America itself, and Ship-Bored offers a light account of life aboard ship. His style is essayistic, emphasizing observation and personal experience, with a humorous touch. His works survive chiefly as source material for the study of early twentieth-century Western travel writing, and offer some insight into Western notions of the exotic and of home at the time.