Japanese culture fares considerably better in Victorian magazines than that of China. This section offers several lovely articles written by traveling artists, who captured the Japanese world not only in words but in pictures. It may be, perhaps, that the difficulties involved in traveling from Britain or America to a land as distant (and different) as Japan tended to discourage the casual (and more bigoted) traveler. Hence, more of these pieces are written by travelers with a genuine interest and and respect for the culture they were visiting. But you'll also find here, as elsewhere, that political correctness is still rarely to be found in Victorian writing, so be warned!

Volcanic Rock in Japan (Cassell's Family Paper, 1859)

Our Sisters in Japan (Leisure Hour, 1868)

The Present and Future of Japan (Harper's Monthly, 1873A)

The Feast of Dolls, by W.E. Griffis (St. Nicholas, 1875)

The Feast of Flags, by W.E. Griffis (St. Nicholas, 1875)

The Mikado's Empire, by William Elliott Griffis (Harper's Monthly, 1876B)

School Life in Japan (Little Folks, 1878)

New Year in Japan (Demorest, 1879)

New Year's Day in Japan is actually the 6th of February. On that day you'll find door mats whitened with rice powder to look like snow, and pine or bamboo trees bound with rice-straw garlands and decked with oranges and gilded paper.

Recent Progress in Japan (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1879)

A Peep in Japan (Girl's Own Paper, 1880)

Children of All Nations: China and Japan, by E.C. Phillips (Little Folks, 1883)

A New Year's Day in Japan (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1883)

A Bozu of the Monto Sect, by Leighton Parks (Century Magazine, 1886B)

One of the many sects of Buddhism in Japan.

Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1888)

Great Japan: The Sunrise Kingdom, by Ida C. Hodnett (St. Nicholas, 1889)

Seeing the Real Mikado, by Arthur L. Shumway (St. Nicholas, 1889)

Visiting the official, not the play!

Ten Weeks in Japan, by Mabel Loomis Todd (St. Nicholas, 1889)

Young Japan at Play (Demorest, 1889)

An American Artist in Japan, by Theodore Wores (Century Magazine, 1889B)

An Artist's Letters from Japan, by John La Farge

Nature and People of Japan (Century Magazine, 1890A)

An Artist's Letters from Japan (Century Magazine, 1890B)

Tao - The Way (Century Magazine, 1891B)

An Artist's Letters from Japan (Century Magazine, 1893B)

The Japanese (Pictorial Museum of Sport & Adventure, ca. 1890)

Japanese Girls, by Darley Dale (Girl's Own Paper, 1890)

Japanese Women, by Pierre Loti (Harper's Monthly, 1891A)

An Ascent of Fuji the Peerless, by Mabel Loomis Todd and David P. Todd (Century Magazine, 1892B)

How the Japanese Live, by Douglas Sladen (Windsor Magazine, 1896A)

Life in a Japanese Bungalow, by Mae St. John-Bramhall (Demorest, 1896)

On and Off a Pack-Saddle in Central Japan, by S.J. Rowe (Girl's Own Paper, 1896)

A nicely illustrated series.

[Miyajima, Japan] An Island Without Death, by Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore (Century Magazine, 1896B)

With an Artist in Japan, by Raymond Blathwayt (The Strand, 1897A)

In Aino-Land, by Mabel Loomis Todd (Century Magazine, 1898B)

The vanishing Aino of northern Japan.

Funny Signs of the Times in Japan, by Ludlow Brownell (Strand, 1901A)

Some Japanese efforts to translate their business signs into English.

Tea-Gardens and Tea-Temples in Japan, by Douglas Sladen (Girl's Own Paper, 1902)

• See also Japanese Art & Literature