A Journal from Japan

This daily journal was written primarily because I well knew that time would force the swiftly passing incidents and impressions to blur each other in my memory.



Then want of leisure tempted me to send the journal home to friends in place of letters, and the two or three for whom I originally intended it widened the circle by handing it on to many others, until it has, in a way, become public property.



Several of those who have read it have asked me to publish it in book form, and although I vowed that I would not add to the al-ready excessive number of books written on Japan, I have decided to publish this just because it was not written with a view to publication. It is this which gives it any claim to attention, and guarantees its veracity. To preserve its character I have stayed my hand where it has often been tempted to change or revise statements which may sometimes seem too hard in the softening light of distance.



Days about which there is no entry were filled with work on my fossils at the University. Many evenings were spent with friends at dinners or dances.