Pictures From The Water Trade: An Englishman In Japan

by John David Morley

For several years John David Morley steeped himself in Japanese life, from learning shodo, the art of writing, to exploring the cosy bars, cabarets and brothels of the "water trade" - the nightime world where improper behaviour is quite appropriate. This book describes his experiences.

Genres: Japan, Travel, Nonfiction, Asia, Memoir

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Left Coast Justin]

I learned today that John David Morley died a few months ago at age 70. To understand the richness of his writing, it's helpful to have a look at the Wikipedia entry describing his life:

The third and youngest child of the artist and sculptor Patricia Morley (née Booth) and John Arthur Elwell Morley, a District Officer in the British Colonial Service, John David Victor Morley was born "in something of a hurry on a bench in a third-class Chinese ward at the Kandang Kerbau Maternity Hospital" in Singapore. He grew up speaking Malay amid an extended household of Malays, Javanese, Chinese and Indians, later commemorated by his parents in their memoirs.

At three, Morley experienced a formative culture shock upon the family's relocation from tropical Malaya to England, before spending two years on Africa's Gold Coast where his father was helping to administrate the transition from British colonial rule in soon-to-be independent Ghana. Parts of the story of his early life are told in his father's book Colonial Postscript (1992). Educated at St George's School, Windsor, and Clifton College, Morley graduated from Merton College, Oxford, with a degree in English Language and Literature in 1969. Later the same year he left England for Munich, Germany.

This guy's been around.

Pictures is a lightly-fictionalized account of his introduction to Japanese life, and although he went there on an academic assignment, he's the type that does his serious research in bars and nightclubs rather than in libraries and labs. There were times, reading this, when I was mentally screaming at the guy to sober up and take a long hot shower before interacting with any more Japanese people. But, for the most part, his take on Japan was very interesting and acutely described.

Worth noting: I believe the most erotic thing I've ever read was in this book, in a chapter called 'Slaying Dragons'. The event described was a calligraphy lesson. That's all. The author and a severe and talented Japanese woman sitting in a cold bare room with an open window, practicing calligraphy, and gradually becoming aware of each other as sexual animals. Powerful stuff.

I need to read more of his work, but it's difficult to find.

[Bob Newman]

Outsider Inside Japan

As an attempt to provide a description of Japanese behavior, customs, and values, PICTURES.... is successful. Though many authors of various types have tried before with varying degrees of success to do the same, Morley hit upon a new gambit. This is an anthropological book in which the `anthropologist' refuses to take credit for his observations, putting them in the mind and eyes of a fictional character. He creates a protagonist named Boon (no other name) who goes to Japan as a student of the language, lives there, begins to teach English, meets various Japanese, has a couple love affairs, frequents many bars and dives---getting drunk with regularity---and creates a circle of friends and family. He takes as a given that Japan would not be understood in a more mundane world of offices and classrooms, but that a Westerner should plunge into the realm of the mizu-shobai (the `water trade' of the title which refers to the demi-monde of bars, brothels, strip joints, geisha houses, Turkish baths, and other places of entertainment). Since Boon doesn't have much money, he has to occupy himself with the lower end of this world. "The water trade was a valve. This was where the strain of Japanese society was borne, more or less everything found a reflection or an echo here." (p.188) He also takes up the study of calligraphy. We learn about Japanese culture as his knowledge widens, as his experience grows. Boon is largely sympathetic, trying to see everything from a Japanese point of view, but sometimes failing to do so in his own eyes. How much "Boon" resembles Morley himself is conjectural. It doesn't really matter. Boon or Morley came to know Japan quite well. I found that some of the cultural explanations were overdrawn, overly intricate and philosophized, while others were, as they say in Australia, "spot on". He writes of cultural concepts like on, giri, ninjo, uchi, the difference between public and private, of ethics and other matters first broached in Western literature by Ruth Benedict in 1946. But as Benedict's work was done solely from literature (due to the war) and because Japan had changed a great deal in 40 years, Morley's view is both more contemporary and more personal.

Due to its unusual style and focus, PICTURES FROM THE WATER TRADE is an exceptional work which can either introduce a reader to Japanese culture, or take one further along the path to understanding it. Perhaps it is not the last word, but there can be no such `last word'. It is slightly out-of-date because it was published in 1985, but much of any culture has a timeless quality. Though some call it a 'novel', I would rather say that it is a book of anthropology written in an original style. As such (but not as a novel) it will hold your interest.

[Patrick McCoy]

I first encoutered John David Morely's novel Pictures From The Water Trade (1985) in a quotation from it that appeared in Allan Booth's very personalized Japan guidebook, Japan: Land of Myths and Legends. At first I thought it was a memoir, but when the copy arrived the book jacket had praise for the novel from the likes of Anne Tyler, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ian Buruma. I suspect that the two authors may have been acquaintances-what are the odds of two Englishman writers living in Tokyo in the 80s not knowing each other? No matter, I did enjoy Morely's novel and it is one the better novels I have read set in Japan. Recently this issue came up on a social media site and I conceded with the original poster that a "great" novel written in English had not yet been written. He was in the midst of reading a novel that he felt might earn those honors-Artuo Silva's Tokyo Whip-which I plan to read soon and offer up my own judgement. Yet several good novels have been written and I suggested another Englishman-David Peace's two novels Tokyo Year Zero and Occupied City as my favorites. This book joins those books. That being said, its biggest deficits were the canned speeches put in characters mouths to explain certain aspects of Japanese culture. However, there is much to like about the novel including the stylistic language used by the author that is often funny and accurate.

[Tim]

This was one of the two books that I read that got me very, very interested in Japanese life and culture. The other was Brad Leithauser's "Equal Distance." They inspired me to study Japanese (I did not get very far) and to read more Japanese authors and books about that country. Eventually I made it over there for a 10 day visit, which was very interesting, and I treasure the memories. In this possibly fictionalized memoir, a young Englishman travels to Japan and gets very involved in the life there, parties, hangs out, makes some friends, and has some romantic involvements. It was very well written imo, and it presents a detailed view of Japanese life through the eyes of someone I could picture as a friend.

I spent a little time today looking through information about Morley, who died in 2018, and his writings, most of which are out of print. It is a shame that he is not more widely known.

[Redfox5]

At first I was finding this a struggle. As much as I love reading about Japan, there is nothing that you could say about the art of writing of paper that could make it interesting to me. It wasn't until Boon meets Mariko that the book became a page turner for me. I loved Boon's interactions with the Japanese people and the differences between cultures. Anyone who is looking for a seedy version of The Water Trade will be disappointed as Boon only touches upon that briefly.

[Velvetink]

This is the Abacus 1996 edition I have. Enjoyed this very much. Interesting insights into Japanese culture and language.

[Paco Nathan]

Highly entertaining prose... if I had to recommend a book to someone purely for the joy of the read, this would be on the top five list.

A grad student in Britain decides on a whim to move to Japan, gets a grant to do so, does so without any preparation, lives with Japanese families and spends years highly inebriated in order to become immersed in Japanese culture. With most of the parties involved being less than sober, most of the time.

[Piers]

Many interesting insights into late 20th-century Japanese culture & mindset. A couple of engaging stories recounting drunken nights out in Tokyo, with a memorable cast of characters. Too much basic researched information presented as stilted direct speech coming from the mouths of Japanese people the author meets. This detracts from the authenticity & immediacy of much of the rest of the book.

[Ali Şahin]

A cis white straight man's narrative of "Japanese culture", which is eroticized and exoticized to his heart's content... Gee, we've never seen that before, have we? Did not - could not - finish.

[Adam Weinert]

A fascination glimpse into the life of a young Englishman living and studying in Japan in the late 1970s. The author provides unique view of his own time in Japan through a character called Boon, which is assumed to be a true accounting of his own experiences in Japan. Boon frequently haunts the "Water Trade" or mizushobai in all its different iterations. Boon's reflections on different aspects of Japanese culture were illuminating of the inner lives of Japan's people. The most interesting chapters described Japan's uchi (house) mentality of the insider-vs-outsider, as was his description of Japanese ethics. Boon had a lot to experience in Japan, but I was a bit surprised that he was quick to draw a line when he felt that he begun to lose himself, becoming more Japanese than English. He would enjoy being immersed in the culture, and people of Japan, but becoming Japanese is out of the question. The book can be hard to follow at parts, shifting quickly to a different scene or topic.

[Alison Smith]

In 1972 the author lived in Japan for over 18 months, perfecting his Japanese. His books explores the complex (and very alien) nature of Japan and its peoples. Japan is a modern society deeply rooted in the past, stretching three of four centuries back. Even in the 21st Century, it remains a hierarchical society; and women come off as the losers - suppressed and repressed. Despite being a 30 year old book, it was a fascinating read. Recommended.

[Ronny De Schepper]

Om de titel goed te verstaan moet men weten that “the water trade” or mizu-shobai is the vulgar term for any percarious form of trade yielding an income entirely dependent on the patronage of its customers; for exemple, entertainment provided by geisha, bars, cabarets and so on. Eigenlijk ging mijn eindwerk in het college dus over “the water trade”! Niet te verwonderen dat het niet in goede aarde is gevallen!

Vandaar dat het me wél verwondert dat dit boek een bestseller is geworden in Japan. Op welke basis eigenlijk? Het eerste hoofdstuk gaat inderdààd over “the water trade” en het lijkt je meteen op weg te zetten voor een boel avonturen. Maar daarna schakelt Morley voor een hele tijd over op een ander aspect van zijn leven: from 1979-2000 Morley worked as a researcher and interpreter for the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and as a freelance journalist. We krijgen dus hoofdstukken over de eigenaardigheden van de Japanse taal en de verbondenheid ervan met allerlei tradities en gebruiken. Interessant? Voor wie het interesseert, zeker, om het op zijn Japans te zeggen, maar “the water trade” blijft lange tijd ver uit de buurt. Een hoofdstuk is wel gewijd aan zijn ingewikkelde verhouding met een meisje dat er beroepshalve mee te maken heeft, maar het hoofdstuk is even ingewikkeld als de verhouding zelf (heeft zij nu een – eventueel gedwongen – verhouding met haar werkgever of niet?). Slechts tegen het einde van het boek keert Morley terug naar zijn eigenlijke onderwerp, tot eenieders genoegen, neem ik aan. Dan volgt ook nog een relaas over een ander meisje, waarmee de cirkel rond is (*). Dat eerste hoofdstuk eindigde immers met een meisje dat naakt op de bar danste en ook dit meisje doet (weliswaar privé) iets dergelijks: “Haruko took courses in traditional Japanese dance. Boon (de naam die Morley zichzelf geeft, RDS) saw her perform in full costume once, but he was much more accustomed to watch her dance gracefully naked at the end of a bed in love hotels.” (p.247)

Voorwaar, zeker een erotisch beeld, maar in mijn ogen wordt het overtroffen door een passage uit het hoofdstuk waarin hij ingewijd wordt in de kunst van de kalligrafie: “Moistening one end of the resin stick she began to rub it against the inkstone with steady, unhurried movements, lubricating the stone with a sprinkle of water whenever the stick jarred.” (p.82)

(*) Persoonlijk zou ik het boek hier beëindigd hebben. Als een soort post-scriptum volgt er nog de rituele begrafenis van een oude man die de schrijver heeft gekend, wat – toegegeven – ook een mooi einde is, maar het doorbreekt wel de symmetrie.

[Julia]

I went to Japan for a month in 2011, and have been trying to make sense of it ever since. It's a place where, at least to me, the customs and ways of thinking seem wholly different, and yet it is a fully functional technologically advanced civilization. My attempts to puzzle this out were met with irritation from Japanese people (concealed, of course) because to focus on difference is divisive and bad, and with condescension from other Americans because they revealed me to be too old and inflexible to appreciate how lovely Japanese culture is. Finally, I've found a book where the author explains things to me.

Morley writes, I think, autobiography & anthropology thinly hidden in by the novel form. His character navigates through Japanese culture, and in particular the demimonde, while spending pages on explication. Maybe it's clumsy, but I appreciated it thoroughly. He's got a sense of humor, a sense of what might interest me, and all in all it was hard to put down.

I found myself dog-earing various pages for the revealing or funny passages: P 52: "People in Japan adhered to a standard of Appropiateness, vague in theory but rigorously observed in practice." P 72: "In part (he) attributed the notorious inability of the Japanese to speak foreign languages to a deeply-engrained perception of language as a means of retention and exclusion rather than as release and expression. Language can have two functions, to say and not to say." P 76: "The too rational approach was frequently disparaged as "rikutsuppoi", or 'smacking too much of a logic that ignores reality'." or P78: "Despite their reckelss invasion of the natural environment in the twentieth century the Japanese still cherished this view of man-in-nature with feelings akin to reverence. .... man at work in the rice fields seemed "less like an animal than a plant endowed with reason"."

Yes. I saw that. Now I know I wasn't imagining it.

[1.1]

Most of my fears were banished rather quickly when I read this, as it turns out to be both insightful and interesting without the caveats one might expect with a ‘Westerner goes to Japan’ narrative. It’s a light fiction and cultural survey that’s very much concerned with Japanese culture at that time (the late 70s? early 80s?) and therefore most of it is the author surrogate protagonist travelling around and learning things. He makes a couple of friends, and even lovers. Some of the learnings are put in the mouth of characters and told to the reader in a kinda stilted way, but this wasn’t too awful going for me and was generally interesting.

The water trade is the ephemeral world of night clubs, bars, and lower-end hospitality on which the author’s examination focuses. A little seedy, but hearty. Some of what is contained herein is a little meh—but most of it is far better than I expected when I first looked upon the cover.

[Alison]

An interesting glimpse of Japan, but feels gloomy and forced at times.

[Peg]

Take a trip to Japan of the 1970s. Funny, witty, insightful, fascinating, and well written.

[Micki]

Slightly dated account from the late 20th century of an Englishman's three years in Japan. But some insights are timeless. Even after 20 years in Japan, I got a new perspective on favors in Japan. Some fooling around, but generally tasteful and not the romp through Japan's underworld that you might expect from the blurb on the back of the 1985 edition. I recommend it.

[Tuck]

a classic of travel writing (or should be) getting under the skin of japan, through language, booze, sex, work, travel, food, art, and history. author is Australian, but might as well be punting on the Cam.

[C]

read in college, need to reread as I've forgotten for the most part

[Lysergius]

Interesting initially but ultimately repetitive and lacking in genuine insight into Japanese contemporary culture.

[Derek Henderson]

Stylish, insightful, absorbing and touching. Have already read it twice.