The First Armenian Printed Book about Japan

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Japanese expert Anna Vardanyan presents a new book: the first Armenian printed book about Japan.

“Japan or the Country of the Rising Sun”, G. I. Shreider, Tbilisi, 1904. Yes, it’s a new book and again a small discovery in the world of books. I was informed of this book by the expert Meruzhan Karapetyan. I hurried to read it. The first thought that occurred to me while reading the first page of the book, was that this book is very old, if not the oldest, the first one. It turned out that it was right. At this moment, there isn’t another, older printed book in Armenian about Japan. The next thought was whether again in the book there would be a new material about the Armenian-Japanese historical-cultural relations, as the previous time․․․(see: http://japanarmenia.com/hy/the-fan-of-japan-anna-vardanyan-has-made-a-note-on-her-facebook-page/?fbclid=IwAR2-UkhEUK9Iu8RP9YYPvfdLPemx_HMSxxs5gFR-_YSAnnFYqSpMrqwzs8I).

During the reading, it became clear that the book was translated from Russian aiming at introducing to the Armenian speaking population and giving information about the faraway Japan. Let me mention, that today as well, the book hasn’t lost its once interesting format. As an economist, I was curious to know the scientific-technical, private sector and labor market problems of Japan in the beginning of the previous century before the era of the “Japanese economic miracle”. Wasn’t that also that interesting period, that has become a basis for the economic miracle? In the book, detailed information is transferred to the reader about nearly all the spheres of Japan in the beginning of the century. I told about this book the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Japan in the Republic of Armenia Jun Yamada, who was very excited and encouraged me to continue my research. With this small article, I want to inform the Japanese-lovers about the existence of this book. It can be downloaded from the following link: http://greenstone.flib.sci.am/gsdl/collect/hajgirqn/book/tshaponia_1904.pdf

Wish you pleasant reading.

Author: Anna Vardanyan

translated from Armenian into English by M.Vardanyan