Specialist Tour | Gifts to Glasgow from the Land of the Rising Sun

Join Curator Dr Yupin Chung for a special tour looking at items from Glasgow Museum’s exquisite Japanese collections. It will be a rare opportunity to explore the fascinating history of our collectors and donors in the context of Anglo-Scottish-Japanese relations. It was in 1878 when the Japanese government gave to the City of Glasgow a remarkable collection of over 1,000 items including architectural pieces, furniture, wood and lacquerware, musical instruments, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and paper samples. The Japanese were interested at the time in what Glasgow had to offer as one of the great industrial powerhouses with thriving manufacturers and chemical works, as well as shipbuilding and engineering industries. In return Glasgow collected industrial samples from a wide range of business concerns in the city and sent them to Tokyo. People in Victorian-era Glasgow were enchanted by Japanese pavilions, gardens and tea-houses while the Japanese participated in the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901.