I’ve been playing The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles recently and, upon encountering a certain character, I paused, staring at his name and thinking to myself “Is this that famous Japanese author I’ve heard about?” A cursory bit of research quickly confirmed my suspicion but I quickly found myself intrigued at his experience and the impact that he’s had on Japanese literature. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at Soseki Natsume, a man who’s often considered to be the most important author of the Meiji era.
Soseki Natsume was born in 1867, with his birth name being Kinnosuke Natsume, in a rapidly changing Japan which had only ended its policy of isolation, Sakoku, and was in the process of Westernisation and making contact with global powers. Soseki ended up learning the English language and began working as a teacher at several schools. At this time, Japan’s relations were rapidly growing, which would eventually lead to the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance in 1902, and, in 1900, Soseki was chosen by the Japanese government to study English literature in Britain, making him the first Japanese to do so.
