A Journal from Japan: A Daily Record of Life as Seen by a Scientist

A Journal from Japan: A Daily Record of Life as Seen by a Scientist

A purely scientific interest in coal mines and the fossils they often contain led me to desire to go to Japan, for purely scientific purposes. My naturally roving instincts warmly supported the scheme, and my love of the East gave the prospect the warmth and colour which only personal delight can lend to any place. The generous interest and help of the Royal Society in my scientific projects made this long and expensive journey possible. The influence of this learned body with our Government and with that of Japan secured me every help and courtesy during my stay in the country, without which no result would have been obtainable. The scientific results, which most fortunately seem to be justifying the expedition, are being published in suitable places; there is no technical science in this journal. It is a record of some of the human experiences through which a scientist goes in search of facts lying beyond everyday human experience. After the first month in the country, during which it was impossible to travel, as I did, in the wilds without an interpreter, I made it my business to learn enough of the spoken language to go about alone. I also tried to come as close as possible to the Japanese people, although when I look back on my attempts I see how often my impatience with[xii] what seemed needless delay, with an unknown code of honour, and with trifling inconveniences in non-essentials, must have acted as a hindrance to free communication with a people so profoundly patient. Yet in many ways I had wonderful opportunities of touching the living reality in the Japanese; opportunities so exceptional that it is to my lasting shame that my stock of patience and sympathy was not always equal to them. It is hard when one is young, and chances to be hungry and tired, to realise that it is not of ones momentary comforts one has to think, but of the vastly greater and deeper purpose that accidentally brought weariness in its train. It is true that from an ordinary standpoint there are many things in Japan which are exasperating to a Westerner, but that was no excuse for me. Let me quote in illustration a small incident that I have ever since regretted. On page 43 you will find the account of my involuntary visit to the courteous principal of a College when I was really bound for a coal mine. This gentleman asked me to give a lecture to his young men, and I refused. It is true that I was really anxious to go directly to that mine, that it would upset my plans if I were to be at all delayed, and that at the moment the disturbance of those plans seemed a serious matter. But, nevertheless, I was the first European woman that many of the people there had seen, and the first scientific woman that any of them had seen or heard of. Their curiosity and interest about me was as natural as my curiosity and interest about their coal mine, but I gratified my own curiosity and not theirs. They may well be led to conclude from the only example in their experience that European scientists are in a hurry, and are selfish and lacking in personal[xiii] sympathy. It would be practically impossible for them to realise how many other claims had been made on that hasty young scientist who visited them, they would only feel that in place of the human interest and understanding which might have been shown, there was a blank wall of refusal. I tried to explain that Science is a hard taskmaster, but what good are explanations? In my deep desire to understand, and come in close touch with the Japanese, I was handicapped, as every European must be, by our national traditions. In England we read that clever book Bushido, and feel that the old codes of honour among the Japanese are not so far from our own but that they can be bridged by a little sympathy. Before living in Japan one cannot realise that that book, like other volumes written by Japanese with a knowledge of our traditions, is a translation of their traditions in the terms of ours. The most faithful translation can never catch quite the spirit of the original. Hence in Japan I had to unlearn what I thought I knew before, as well as to try to learn the truth. To help me in this I had the real friendship of several noble Japanese. My work, too, gave me many opportunities, for it brought me into touch with a large number of people of many different types, from the peasants in the wilds to the higher officials in Tokio. Added to these was the fact that I was a woman. Therefore I saw the Japanese at their best, and with the men of science there was possible an unadulterated, delightful friendship for which no European man coming to Japan could get quite the counterpart; for there are no Japanese women scientists. And although many literary and other people hold scientists up to scorn in their relation to daily life, it is in truth only from[xiv] them that one can get an all-satisfying comradeship and comprehension. There is further a quality in a pure and intellectual friendship which comes to it only when the friends are man and woman, a quality not necessarily better than, but different from other friendships, and one which reveals much of the individual character and the national character of those who form the tie. The man and woman who are true friends give each other of their very best. As the first woman scientist from the West to work in the University with the Japanese men of science, I should have been wanting indeed if there did not come to me much that in the end seemed to reveal some of the very life-secrets of the nation. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 44475
Author: Stopes, Marie Carmichael
Release Date: Dec 20, 2013
Format: eBook
Language: English