Exporting the undesirables: A consular game |
Yokohama, the entrance into Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries / Robert Neff Collection
In the 19th century, the treaty ports in China, Japan and, to a lesser degree, Korea, were often plagued by beachcombers — usually destitute sailors who spent most of their time drunk, begging or committing petty theft to support their alcoholism. They were a scourge, barely tolerated until their predations upon the general public became too disruptive. At that point they were either jailed or driven out of town, often with the assistance (and funds) of foreign consuls.
In the summer of 1895, the editor of an English-language newspaper in Nagasaki condemned the “evil” of the beachcombers in that port, calling it a serious issue that needed immediate attention. He described them as the “flotsam and jetsam on the stream of life” — likely stowaways and deserters from ships — whose “specious tales…calculated to wring tears from a millstone,” were their primary means of livelihood.
In many cases, the beachcombers were not content to simply loiter on the streets and beg passersby for loose change. Instead, they entered shops and businesses, imploring the proprietors for larger sums of money. The shopkeepers, either preoccupied with other customers or repulsed by the foul stench of the unwanted intruder, would hastily offer a yen or two as an inducement for a quick departure. For this act of charity, the beachcomber would loudly praise the giver’s generosity before heading straight to the nearest “groggery,” where they would drink the foul swill until either unconsciousness overwhelmed them or their funds were exhausted.
The crowded pier at Yokohama circa 1890-1910 / Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection
One of these beachcombers reportedly boasted to his companions that he had managed to “cadge” $17 in just two days. While the veracity of this claim remains uncertain, it infuriated the editor, who declared that “to give one of the great unwashed a dollar to ‘get out’ is hardly the best way” to address the social nuisance troubling Nagasaki’s foreign community. He urged the residents to harden their hearts, tighten their purse strings and press their consuls to........