Mori Arinori's Life and Resources in America'Mori notes, 'Where men think that they know everything, and boast of their superior wisdom, the presumption is that they have yet much to learn.' . . . [T]oday's readers, whether in the United States, in Japan, or elsewhere, who may think they already know so much about the subject, will find much of value in Life and Resources in America.' --Akira Iriye, Harvard University, from the foreword Mori Arinori's Life and Resources in America was written by the young, educated ex-samurai the Japanese government selected as its first diplomatic representative in the United States. Originally published in English in Washington, D.C., in 1871, this book sheds much light on the shape of an American society, government, and economy recovering from the Civil War. Like earlier philosopher-tourists such as Alexis de Tocqueville and Harriet Martineau, Mori understands the United States as a stage upon which an important experiment in democracy, pluralism, and liberalism is unfolding. Life and Resources in America is distinct for its view from the Reconstruction period and by a non-European observer. Historian John E. Van Sant has annotated and lightly edited this uniquely illuminating text, making it readily accessible to the contemporary audience it deserves. |
From inside the book
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Page ii
... Foreign Aid Policy , by Akitoshi Miyashita Constructing Opportunity : American Women Educators in Early Meiji Japan , by Elizabeth Eder The Return of the Amami Islands : The Reversion Movement and U.S. - Japan Relations , by Robert D ...
... Foreign Aid Policy , by Akitoshi Miyashita Constructing Opportunity : American Women Educators in Early Meiji Japan , by Elizabeth Eder The Return of the Amami Islands : The Reversion Movement and U.S. - Japan Relations , by Robert D ...
Page iv
... Foreign public opinion , Japanese . I. Title : Life and resources in America . II . Van Sant , John E. , 1958- III . Title . E168.M85 2004 973.5 - dc29 Printed in the United States of America TM 2003019644 The paper used in this ...
... Foreign public opinion , Japanese . I. Title : Life and resources in America . II . Van Sant , John E. , 1958- III . Title . E168.M85 2004 973.5 - dc29 Printed in the United States of America TM 2003019644 The paper used in this ...
Page vii
... name first and family name second when writing in English . Footnotes , endnotes , and the bibliography are in Western bibliographic style . Foreword When we think of foreign observations about the United vii Note on Japanese Names.
... name first and family name second when writing in English . Footnotes , endnotes , and the bibliography are in Western bibliographic style . Foreword When we think of foreign observations about the United vii Note on Japanese Names.
Page ix
... foreign observers of the United States that we are familiar with , however , come from Europe . This is true not just of nineteenth - century but also of twentieth - century accounts . A few visitors from such " extra- European ...
... foreign observers of the United States that we are familiar with , however , come from Europe . This is true not just of nineteenth - century but also of twentieth - century accounts . A few visitors from such " extra- European ...
Page xi
... foreign accounts of the United States after the Civil War . The nation was rapidly transforming itself , in the process redefining its identity . Whether or not he actually visited the South , the Midwest , and other parts of the coun ...
... foreign accounts of the United States after the Civil War . The nation was rapidly transforming itself , in the process redefining its identity . Whether or not he actually visited the South , the Midwest , and other parts of the coun ...
Contents
Official and Political Life | 5 |
Life among the Farmers and Planters | 15 |
Commercial Life and Developments | 31 |
Life among the Mechanics | 43 |
Religious Life and Institutions | 51 |
Life in the Factories | 69 |
Educational Life and Institutions | 81 |
Literary Artistic and Scientific Life | 93 |
Life in the Leading Cities | 119 |
Frontier Life and Developments | 129 |
Judicial Life | 135 |
Final Thoughts on America1 | 139 |
Religious Freedom in Japan | 141 |
The Religious Charter of the Empire of Dai Nippon | 149 |
Selected Bibliography | 151 |
155 | |
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Common terms and phrases
acres agricultural amount annual believe Bible called century chapter chargé d'affaires Charles Lanman chiefly Chinese Christ Christian church Circuit civilization claim College comfort commercial connected cotton coun culture daimyō District employed England established extensive fact factories farm farmers fifty foreign Fukuzawa Yukichi give houses hundred important inhabitants institutions Ivan Parker Iwakura embassy Iwakura Tomomi Japanese Japanese students jurisdiction known labor land large numbers largest late laws leading live manufacture Meiji Meiji era Meiji government Meiji Restoration ment merchants miles millions of dollars minister Mori Arinori Mori's nation Niijima persons political population productions published regard religion religious Resources in America Sakoku samurai Satsuma schools sect ships society Supreme Court Territories Thomas Lake Harris thousand dollars tion Tokugawa Tokugawa bakufu Tokyo total number trade true United University various Washington West Western women writing York