The Literature of Travel in the Japanese Rediscovery of China, 1862-1945 (review)

Reviews 127 China and its present and future relations with other countries, in particular with the United States, Russia, Japan, and its other Asian neighbors. This is a good book for general readers who wish to know something about China's domestic development and foreign relations. It is also useful for undergraduate students taking courses in international relations or Chinese foreign policy. George P. Jan University ofToledo George P. Jan is a professor emeritus ofpolitical science specializing in Chinesepolitics , political development, and Asian international relations. Joshua A. Fogel. The Literature ofTravel in the Japanese Rediscovery of China, 1862-1945. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996. xvii, 417 pp. Hardcover $49.50, isbn 0-8047-2567-5. The Literature ofTravel in theJapanese Rediscovery ofChina 1862-1945 by Joshua A. Fogel is a book ofencyclopedic data on the writings ofJapanese travelers to China during the first eighty-three years ofSino-Japanese contacts in modern times. This book studies the travelogues written by about 390 Japanese individuals and groups, among which only a few have been researched thus far by Western scholars. Fogel's research has been carefully conducted with reference to related academic work by nearly 250 scholars in Japan, China, and the West. Through a discussion ofalmost every travelogue mentioned in the book, Fogel reveals the enormous resources on the changes that occurred in China as seen by Japanese travelers. This study will prove extremely important to research on the relationship between these two countries. The author begins with an overall description ofthe history oftravel in East Asia. It mentions Chinese travels in Asia, such as travels to Japan by Xu Fu and Ganjin, Xuanzang'sjourney to India, the journey to China by the Korean Confucian scholar Ch'oe Pu, and travels to China by Japanese Buddhist monks from the Asuka to Muromachi periods. Chapter 1 looks at the long tradition in Japan of keeping travel diaries, while the second chapter focuses on the first expeditions© 1997 by University from japan tQ Cmnain me modern era, including thejourneyofthe ship Senzaioj awai? ressmamin 1862, when the Tokugawa shogunatelifted theban on overseas contacts that had existed for two centuries; the voyage ofthe Kenshumaru in 1864; and the frequent travels made by naval officer Sone Toshitora. These contacts not only 128 China Review International: Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 1997 illustrated the discrepancybetween the picture ofthe perfect antiquity ofChina that had existed in the Japanese imagination and the actual miserable reality of more recent times, but also aroused feelings of outrage and animosity toward the West in the hearts oftravelers like Takasugi Shinsuke. Their experiences were undoubtedly vital to the direction in which modern Japan was taken by future leaders like Inoue Kaoru. Chapter 3 examines the travelogues oiKangaku (Chinese learning) scholars in the Meiji period. Takezoe Shin'ichirö, Oka Senjin, Okakura Tenshin, Yamamoto Baigai, Naitö Konan, Kano Naoki, Uno Tetsuto, and Kuwabara Jitsuzö are discussed in great detail, while briefmention is given to Ando Fujio, Taoka Reiun, Miyauchi Isaburö, and Inoue Nobumasa. Though all of these men had different individual reactions to modern China, and their travelogues record the differences between the old image and the new reality, Fogel interestingly points out that because of their belief that they were the ones who could best understand China, many ofthem were unable, or refused, to see that there was indeed only one China. Chapter 4 considers how Sino-Japanese relations were determined by the Japanese policies ofthe Taishö and early Shöwa periods and how these policies influenced the views ofJapanese travelers. Chapters 5 to 8 focus on travel accounts according to the writers' professions. The discussion follows chronologically the dates of their respective travels to China. Chapter 5 discusses the observations ofmany figures: educators like Yamada Kenkichi, Matsumoto Kamejirö, and Futabashi Saburö, who believed that an understanding of China was important to the future ofthe Japanese empire; scholars like Kobayashi Yoshio, Morohashi Tetsuji, Naba Toshisada, Tanabe Hisao, and Tsurumi Yüsuke; Buddhist priests including Aoki Bunkyö, Kuruma Takudö, and Seid Seisetsu; the literary writer Kinoshita Mokutarö; employees ofthe South Manchurian Railway Company ; and students ofTö-A Döbun Shoin. Though many travelogues are mentioned in this chapter, the main thread tying them together is...