From Irkutsk to Tomsk with a Tea Caravan: The Siberian Diary of Tamai Kisaku (1894)

This article explores a little-known historical source - the diary of Japanese traveler and journalist Tamai Kisaku, who made a trip to Berlin via Russia in 1893. Along the way, he kept notes that filled several notebooks. The most interesting is the diary of the journey from Irkutsk to Tomsk with a tea caravan in the winter of 1893. The author describes post stations, coachmen, and conducts conversations with local residents. The author describes Siberian realities and the population of settlements along the route. The diary was first published in Germany in 1898. A Japanese translation was not published until 1963.