Many westerners described the beauty of Japanese landscape in their travelogues. Until the closing of the country in 1635, westerners had traveled widely but they mostly reported the possibilities of setting up missionary activities and trades. After the closing of the country, the Japanese government restricted the travel of outsiders to the main route from Edo to Nagasaki. On the reopening of the country in 1854, some diplomats, stayed in Hakodate and Yokohama, traveled around the neighboring areas and appreciated the beauty of the Japanese landscape from the viewpoint of topography and flora. The new Meiji government also invited many western technocrats and globetrotters who traveled to remote regions. Many found the landscape of the vegetation very beautiful and exotic. A series from Scotland showed the typical progress of this trtnd. Their descriptions provide fascinating insights into the Japanese landscape as it was before the 20th century. This paper reviews a selection of these descriptions.
