Recently while browsing for a book I fell on the Amazon site and a selection of books popped up, one of them was Sir Ernest Satow,
A diplomat in Japan, first written in 1885 from his diaries. Satow in diplomatic circles is seen as sort of an icon, he wrote the famous
Guide to Diplomatic Practice in 1917, many times updated and still used today, I have a copy I often used as reference.
Satow became Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to Japan and China and Head of the British Foreign Service. He also served in Siam (thailand), Uruguay and Morocco.
Sir Ernest Satow, P.C., G.C.M.G. 1843-1929
As a young man in 1865 he joined the British Foreign Service, he very much wanted to go to Japan not China, why because as he tells us, he was intrigued by those beautiful Japanese Geishas. To his credit Satow makes a point when he is hired that he absolutely wants to go Japan specifically, he wants to learn Japanese and is sent to China first. Why China, because at the time it was known that Japanese Kanji was borrowed from Chinese script so it was assumed by Westerners that Japanese was like Chinese, Satow knew this could not be but being a new hired no one would listen to him. He will only stay in China a few months events in Japan will make it so that his presence is required and there he will study intensively Japanese and become a very resourceful translator for his Head of Mission. In all Satow will spend 21 years of his Foreign Service Career in Japan.
Japan was that big unknown country then having opened its ports to foreign savages i.e. non-Japanese people, in 1854. Try to imagine a country totally closed to the outside world, Japanese society is highly stratified and everyone has a place and rank, all living in an ancient feudal system highly codified by honour and ancestor worship, all ruled by a Shogun or Tycoon who is a Regent, this function is occupied by the Tokugawa clan for 400 years and an Emperor or Mikado, who is kept behind high walls and is rarely seen and if heard by the aristocracy and never the people, speaks Court Japanese which is somewhat like Ancient Chinese. These ancient titles of Tycoon or high Prince and Mikado were the ones used by the British having no other point of reference. What is very funny is that in his diaries Satow explains that none of the Foreign representatives, the UK, Prussia (there is no Germany at that time), the Netherlands, France, Italy and the upstart USA have no idea how Japan is governed, who is in charge and who should they negotiate with to open up the port cities. Europeans do not speaks Japanese and must use the handful. literally of Japanese who speak Dutch, to translate from Japanese to Dutch to English. The French Minister Des Roches has one Japanese translator who does a poor job of translating and Satow is often asked to help out, thus giving the British and advantage.
Why Dutch, because being merchants like the Portuguese they had been trading in Japanese ports for centuries prior to the other Europeans. Osaka appears to be the one area that is always more open to Europeans or Savages than any other Japanese port. Some cities like Kyoto the Imperial Capital are totally off limits, it was unthinkable that such barbarian filth should approach the capital of the Chrysanthemum throne. I visited Kyoto just a few years ago and entered the park where the Imperial Palace stands in splendid isolation, you do understand when you see it that for the Japanese the Emperor is a God, regardless what we Westerners might think of it today.
The Japanese are described as very curious of any foreigners having never seen one, it is a true novelty.
The different Princes and great Lords spend a lot of time fussing on Protocol and on receiving these Foreigners. Satow spends a lot of time as the go between his chief and the Japanese Lords, going to great feasts and drinking mountains of Sake, all the while trying to figure out what the Japanese position is to various questions the Europeans want answers too, who has authority and who can make things happen. You understand that sometimes diplomacy is a bit of a complicated dance where each party has to present its point of view in a carefully measured way. Satow's job is to try to figure out who is who and who does what, per example who is in charge in Japan after the Shogun resigns, the Europeans did not believe the Emperor was the real head of the country or that the Japanese would follow him, it just goes to show how Europeans did not understand the Japanese mind.
In this period of decline for the Shogun and the Meiji Restoration, this book by Satow written from his diaries is fascinating for the details it provides into the lives of the Japanese, dress and customs at the time. It also gives an intimate look into the British Foreign Service of the time, reading about it I can see how little as really changed, some things are exactly the same 150 years later.
A good book to read which gives a glimpse into a world forgotten today but which shaped our relationship with Japan in the XXth century.
