After the new Japanese government was officially installed in 1868, only a decade or so after the country had been, more or less, forcibly "opened," the first tourists began appearing.
Some attempts were made, then as now, to herd the travelers to the more obvious sights -- Kamakura, Mount Fuji, Nikko, Kyoto -- but only 10 years later, traveler Isabella Bird was resolutely making her way, despite objections, through Tohoku to Hokkaido. Her example was soon followed by others and Japan was re-opened, as it were, this time by the tourists.
Among them was Charlie Longfellow, the good-looking 27-year-old son of the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He arrived in 1871 and at once set out to do what tourists since have largely done: see the sights, take lots of pictures, and shop.
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