PPIE in Japanese

Daihaku to Soko oyobi sono fukin [The Great Exposition, San Francisco, and the Surrounding Areas]

Nihon Kyosan Kabushiki Kaisha [Japan Sponsorship Co.]

Publication: San Francisco: Nihon Kyosan Kabushiki Kaisha [Japan Sponsorship Co.] (but printed in Japan), 1915. First Edition.

Notes: A tourist guide to San Francisco and the Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), a fair in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal.

The Japanese Pavilion at the expo was a joint venture between the Japanese government and Japanese entrepreneurs in California. The local organizers saw the event as a good opportunity to promote the contributions of Japanese immigrants in the state during a time when California was enacting anti-Japanese laws. The book serves as a guide to the San Francisco Bay Area, the Exposition, and the company behind the Japanese Pavilion, the Japan Sponsorship Co.

The guide identifies Japanese-owned businesses, including restaurants, and Japanese-style amenities. The unnamed author bemoans the lack of a Japanese bath in San Francisco but notes they are available in rural areas (p. 83).

[tissue guard], [title leaf], [4:halftone plates], [small fold-out view of San Francisco], [small fold-out plan of the PPIE grounds], [4-panel, 2-color Japanese map of San Francisco], 8, 191, [blank] pages. 5 by 7-1/2 inches.

OCLC: 1429227718 [Hoover Institution]

Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing, with no later printings noted). Pasted-on correction to colophon. Very good in blue cloth stamped in gilt and white.

Item No: #366143

Price: $400