A Wayfarer in Unfamiliar Japan

1925

Truby King DS 810 WH48

London: Methuen & Co.

While in Yokohama in 1904, the Kings may have met Walter Weston (1860-1940), a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Although published after their visit, Weston’s A Wayfarer in Unfamiliar Japan would have rekindled memories of their trip, which on reflection were no doubt amusing. Bella records a bathing experience at an inn in Hamamatsu, where she was confronted by a large tank of hot water, a tiny soiled towel, and a number of interested on-lookers who pointed to a sentence in a note-book that read: ‘Will you bath take?’ Bella’s plaintive ‘Whakaninasen’ (boiling hot) and a ‘Goodnight’ ended the experience.