...and from the Outside

European Visions

Though there aren’t any natively European perspectives or voices in the map itself, we can also use the images and information included within it to connect to how Europeans saw Japan in the mid-18^th century. We cannot assume that European opinions of the Japanese and, alternatively, Japanese opinions of the Europeans existed completely apart, thus any analysis of evidence that shows signs of cross-cultural interaction deserves to be looked at for what it shows about both perspectives. This kind of evidence might be best epitomized by looking at a small, artificial island within Nagasaki Harbor named "Dejima."