Unbeaten Tracks in Japan - Softcover

Bird, Isabella Lucy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1481275704 ISBN 13: 9781481275705

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Synopsis

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. Bird's account is a page turner--one that makes readers feel as if they are accompanying Bird on her trailblazing odyssey. Although the incessant fleas and mosquitoes biting throughout the night can almost be felt, so can the legendary courtesy and hospitality that are the hallmarks of the Japanese culture. This book can be appreciated by all, but especially by those who have traveled or lived in Japan.

About this title

From the Publisher:

* Set in slightly larger type for easier reading.

* With a map showing Isabella fs route.

* Including a new foreword: Reading between the Lines.

From the Author:

PREFACE (BY THE AUTHOR; ABRIDGED)

Having been recommended to leave home, in April 1878, in order to recruit my health by means which had proved serviceable before, I decided to visit Japan, attracted less by the reputed excellence of its climate than by the certainty that it possessed, in an especial degree, those sources of novel and sustained interest which conduce so essentially to the enjoyment and restoration of a solitary health-seeker. The climate disappointed me, but, though I ` found the country a study rather than a rapture, its interest exceeded my largest expectations.

This is not a gBook on Japan, h but a narrative of travels in Japan, and an attempt to contribute something to the sum of knowledge of the present condition of the country, and it was not till I had travelled for some months in the interior of the main island and in Yezo that I decided that my materials were novel enough to render the contribution worth making. From Nikko northwards my route ` was altogether off the beaten track, and had never been traversed in its entirety by any European. I lived among the Japanese, and saw their mode of living, in regions unaffected by European contact. As a lady travelling alone, and the first European lady who had been seen in several districts through which my route lay, my experiences differed more or less widely from those of preceding travellers; and I am able to offer a fuller account of the aborigines of Yezo, obtained by actual acquaintance with them, than has hitherto been given. These are my chief reasons for offering this volume to the public.

....

Isabella L. Bird

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1481275704
• ISBN 13: 9781481275705
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204