| The transformation of Japan from a closed, essentially medieval society to a world power happened in just fifty years, from Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853-54 to Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05. Much of this was due to the rapid adoption of Western practices, from medicine to law to engineering and architecture. This ten-day tour will examine the best of the architecture remaining from the Meiji (1867-1912) and Taishō (1912-26) eras, including work by Josiah Conder, Tatsuno Kingo and Frank Lloyd Wright. The guides for this tour are:
Neil Jackson is a Trustee of the Victorian Society, an architect and architectural historian and professor emeritus at Liverpool University. He is the author of Japan and the West: An Architectural Dialogue (2019) and the holder of an Ishibashi Foundation/Japan Foundation Fellowship (2023). Robert Morton is a professor at Chuō University, Tokyo. He is the author of A.B. Mitford and the Birth of Japan as a Modern State (2017) and Sir Rutherford Alcock: First British Minister to Japan (2024). He is the winner of the Kokkiken Japan Study Award (2018). Together, they are joint authors of Josiah Conder: The Father of Modern Japanese Architecture (forthcoming 2027). Members are asked to make their own travel arrangements to and from Japan, arriving at Haneda or Narita Airport (Tokyo) on Thursday 21 January 2027 and departing from Kansai (Osaka) airport on Sunday 31 January. Members may extend their stay at either end if they wish. The tour shall start in Tokyo and will take us to Yokohama, Hakone, Nagoya (for Meiji Mura), Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. We will be staying at just two hotels, the Hotel Edmont in Iidabashi, Tokyo (nights of 21 to 26 January inclusive), and the Hotel Granvia in Kyoto (nights of 27 to 30 January inclusive).
Most of the travelling will be by local trains, the high speed Shinkansen and by coach. There will also be quite a lot of walking.
This ticket does not include hotels and flights but does include shinkansen and coach travel, entry fees and a group dinner at the Inshōtei restaurant in Ueno, Tokyo. You will need to purchase a travel card for local travel.
All attendees need to buy travel insurance in case we have to cancel the visit.
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