Gustav Kreitner’s Asian Travel Account – The Aino People in Japan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26481/marble.2014.v6.224Abstract
This paper investigates and analyses the book Im fernen Osten. Reisen des Grafen Béla Széchenyí in Indien, Japan, China, Tibet und Birma. In den Jahren 1877-1880 by Gustav Kreitner. Its focus lies on the section on Japan, the travel, expeditions and observations there. In particular it will examine the content of Kreitner’s chapter ‘The Island of Jesso and the Aino’ and analyze his observations. The Aino, an ethnic minority in Japan, were observed and described by Kreitner, and it appears rewarding to analyze these descriptions in terms of “otherness”, that is how he highlights the differences between the Aino, the Japanese and the Europeans. Despite their inevitable cultural bias, Kreitner’s detailed and informative descriptions in Im fernen Osten still stand out as an important document on the Aino. It should therefore, be taking serious as a travel report that influenced and shaped people’s imagination and opinion on the Japanese culture and society representing one of ‘the Other’ to the European reader.
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