Customer Reviews

The Diaries and Letters of Sir Ernest Mason Satow (1843-1929), a Scholar-Diplomat in East Asia

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All history is a necessary telescoping of time into a compact form capable of being gathered up in one sweep, understood in one gaze, and the unfortunate consequence of this is that hindsight often has the final say, seeming to make small events necessary, destined steps towards final outcomes. The best kind of history is thus the kind that lingers on the many contingent moments when the broad sweep of history may have taken a different course. This is what this book does for the Japan of Satow's time. Thanks to the editor's judicious selections of texts, we follow Satow's activities and reflections month by month, week by week or day by day. and find ourselves in the company of a remarkably astute and often prescient observer of events. I finished this book with a somewhat modified conception of Japanese history, and recommend it as a spot of enjoyable homework for all would-be Japan specialists.

Through excerpts of Satow's writings along with his own commentary, Ian Ruxton draws a compelling portrait of a British diplomat mostly remembered for his service in Meiji-era Japan. Reading this book, I was struck by the similarities between Satow and Lafcadio Hearn, best known as a collector of Japanese folk tales. Both men were misfits in their own countries, and discovered incredible personal freedoms and possibilities in an unfamiliar Asian culture. In this culture they would achieve their highest potentials, and yet in the end both became disillusioned as they realized they would never fit in. As one who lived in Japan for over twelve years, I recognize this mentality as still present in many long-time Western residents. I feel that the portrayal of this mentality gives Ruxton's book its widest appeal.

This was my first book on the life and work of the diplomat Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929). It functions as an introduction to Satow's life and letters, or in the words of Professor Ian Nish in his review of the book for the Japan Society of London "a useful compendium or sourcebook or companion to Satow studies". (It was also translated into Japanese and the Japanese version is available on amazon.co.jp, ISBN 484190316X.)

Since then I have authored several books based on Satow's papers, for example The Correspondence of Sir Ernest Satow, British Minister in Japan, 1895-1900 - Volume One, Sir Ernest Satow's Private Letters to W.G. Aston and F.V. Dickins: The Correspondence of a Pioneer Japanologist from 1870 to 1918, and others. (For the full list click on my name under the book title at the top of this page.)