Bakumatsu Japan: Travels through a Vanishing World

Aimé Humbert (1819-1900), Swiss politician, traveler, and educator, arrived in Japan in 1863 as envoy plenipotentiary of the Swiss federal government to conclude a treaty of trade and amity with the shogunate.

Though he was to spend less than a year in Japan, Humber's informed impressions are, in hindsight, of great historical value. Unlike his few predecessors (who were required to stick to the same route to visit Edo and pay homage to the shōgun), Humbert was one of the first foreigners to...