A Diplomat in Japan

by Ernest Mason Satow

The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period

Ernest Satow arrived in Japan in 1862 as a young student interpreter at the British legation and stayed through the turbulent years that ended the shogunate. A Diplomat in Japan, published in 1921 when he was in his seventies, is his memoir of that time, drawn from the diaries he kept. He describes attacks on foreigners, the bombardment of Kagoshima and Shimonoseki, his travels and friendships with samurai of Satsuma and Chōshū, the political maneuvering at Kyoto and Osaka, and the restoration of imperial rule in 1868. Satow's fluency in Japanese gave him unusual access, and his account combines inside knowledge of events with vivid sketches of people and places. The full text is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, and the first chapter is free.