Travels in the land of the gods, 1898-1907 Book

Richard Gordon Smith was a ne'er do well member of the lower reaches of the British gentry. As a member of the gentry, he felt no obligation to take up a career, and, in fact, seems to have been pressured to do just the opposite. He and his wife cordially despised one another, and solved the problem in an era when divorce was socially unthinkable by agreeing that she would stay home while he traveled abroad by himself.

Japan, which had been closed to the outside world until the late 1850s but which rapidly was modernizing, was one of his favorite destinations. Smith spent the majority of his time between 1898 and 1907 there, punctuated by occasional trips back to England. While in Japan, he did not limit himself to seeing the sights in the company of other British expatriates, as most others did. However, he lacked the depth of understanding and curiosity to rise much above the level of ordinary tourists. The latter Victorian and Edwardian eras in England produced a entire genre of great travel books, but Smith was not up to writing one of them.

The picture that emerges from Smith's diaries is of an independent-minded and self-sufficient but somewhat crotchety man. As would be expected of a British gentleman of his era, he was quite concerned with maintaining his honor, but also somewhat prone to recasting events in his mind to make any possible breaches of honor someone else's fault. He collected biological samples for the British Museum, but did show any understanding or or curiosity about the natural world beyond that of an enthusiastic hunter or fisherman, which were pastimes he frequently engaged in. Smith did not even come close to the level of the highly competent amateur naturalists Britain also produced during his era.

The drawings, photographs, and souvenirs Smith collected, many of which are illustrated in the book, seem to me not to be far from the norm of the bric-a-brac accumulated by many tourists. When Smith returned to England, he wrote a memoir of his travels, which was published but appears not to have been overly successful. Eventually, he was obligated to sell off the family lands he had inherited, which no doubt was a traumatic step for a born-and-bred gentleman. When World War I broke out in 1914, Smith sought a commission in the British army. He likely was seeking something that would give meaning to what had been a rather empty life. Smith may have thought his expert marksmanship made him a good candidate for the military, but by this time he was in late middle age and his health was failing, and he was turned down. Smith died on November 6, 1918, just days before Armistice Day.

On the whole, this is an interesting travelogue by and interesting, though by no means outstanding, author.