Alan Courtney Tytheridge - Part 2 Life in Japan 1916 – 1939

By Ann Titheradge and Jenny Stroud

Front Page of Alan Tytheridge's book
for Japanese travellers
Published by kind permission of Jenny Stroud

 Move to Japan

As stated in the newspaper article in the previous blog, it was Alan’s love of music and ability as a pianist that gave him the opportunity to go to Japan. He arrived in Japan in late 1916 or early 1917 and fell in love with Japan. It became his home for the next 47 years. No record has been found of this concert tour of Japan with the noted cellist but for some reason the tour was cut short or did not occur.

Alan had settled in Yokohama and his address in 1918 was Higashi Kaigan, Chigaski-machi, Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama. Alan established himself as a journalist in Tokyo and by May 1918 was on the editorial staff of "The New East", an English publication run by Mr J. W. Robertson Scott. The paper ceased production in 1918.

On 17 September 1918 Alan’s father died in New Zealand leaving all his money “in Trust” to Alan. In July 1920 Alan invested £2000 in a business venture, becoming the joint owner of a newly formed company in New Zealand called “Oriental Arts Ltd”. The co-owner was Harold Lightband. The company was selling works of art, antique furniture, leather goods etc. from eastern craftsmen to the New Zealand public. The publicity for the company says “We have our own resident representative in the east, (presumably Alan), a man of profound artistic judgment, who lives and moves with the people of the Orient, thus enabling him to secure rare specimens of damascene, enamel, lacquer work, ivory and other products”. The business was managed by Eric Bell, Alan’s old friend from his days in Christchurch. The business did not run for long and closed in 1922 with all the stock being sold by auction in July 1922. In 1922 Eric Bell left New Zealand and joined Alan in Japan. Eric found work as an English Language teacher.

Alan decided to go into teaching and in June 1921 New Zealand newspapers reported that Alan had recently been appointed as professor of English at the Tokyo College of Commerce, which was a Japanese University. This later became part of Hitosubashi one of the most prestigious universities in Japan.

At some point both Alan and Eric taught at Seijo School, Tokyo, but the dates of this employment are unclear.

Reports in an American Newspaper “Madera Tribune” published in September 1921 show that Alan was invited to Germany to a conference held in Berlin called “International Sex Congress”. This was to discuss a variety of topics around the subject including divorce, birth control and homosexuality.  Among the speakers was Dr Magnus Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld had opened the Institute of Sexual Science in Berlin in 1919, the library and archives of which were later destroyed by Nazi demonstrators in 1933. Alan visited the Institute and later when Hirschfield visited Japan he stayed with Alan in a Japanese fishing village. In 1922 Alan published an article, or maybe a book, in German “Beobachtungen uber Homosexualitat in Japan 1922”. (translation is Observations on Homosexuality in Japan 1922).

Alan and Eric were in Japan when an earthquake struck. On 1 September 1923 at noon the Great Kanto Earthquake struck the Kanto Plain on the Japanese main island of Honshuat. It had a magnitude of 7.9 and at the time was considered to be the worst natural disaster ever to strike Japan. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. The initial quake was followed a few minutes later by a 40-foot-high tsunami which swept away thousands of people. This was followed by fires, roaring through the wooden houses of Yokohama and Tokyo. The death toll was about 140,000. This earthquake devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, and the surrounding areas. This must have been a terrifying experience for Alan and Eric and they were lucky to survive.

Alan the Author 1924 – 1928

Cover from Sagara and Tytheridge's book
Published by kind permission of Jenny Stroud

Alan established himself as a Professor of English and became an author of books and articles. In 1924 Alan wrote an article “An Uncrowned Lord of Language” about a British born author of West Indian descent, called M.P Shiel. Shiel is remembered mostly for supernatural horror stories and scientific romances. In the essay Alan discusses Shiel's early novels, heroes, and views of God. He also admired Shiel's mastery of the English language and how Shiel played with sound in his writing. Alan loved Sheil's writing although it would appear their interests were very different, perhaps the common ground was that Sheil did write about Japanese culture.


Alan’s linguistic ability meant he learnt to speak Japanese. In 1928 Alan co-authored a book with T. Sagara, “Colloquial English Conversations in Practical and Applied Forms”. The book is an English language guide for Japanese tourists / students who would be travelling to the USA or Britain in the 1920s. It is extraordinary in its detail, it's humour and invention. Alan's job was to translate the Japanese to English and add his knowledge of the English-speaking world at that time. I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to see this book and it is quite remarkable in its detail of every situation the traveller might encounter. The preface of the copy has been added by Alan in his own handwriting. It is transcribed below.

Pre-face to “Colloquial English Conversations in Practical and Applied Forms”

Alan's Hand Written Preface
to Sagara and Tytheridge's book
Published by kind permission of Jenny Stroud

This new book by Mr Saghara should prove a god-send to all students of English who seek acquaintance, not only with the literary language taught in schools, but also with (the often very different!) colloquial idiom in common use today throughout the English-speaking world.

How many thousands of Japanese there are who can read literature with ease and yet who find themselves utterly “at sea” when on their travels abroad they find themselves confronted with the thousand and one perplexities of an unfamiliar social life! How few students of Japanese universities, after years of study have any notion of how to give and acknowledge greetings, perform introductions, accept or declined invitations, or do any of the other of the countless little things which formed the ABC of social intercourse in Western lands. Their vocabulary of long literary words and stilted archaic phrases may be immense, but “English as she is spoke” is for the most part a terra incognita to them. My own experience of students has convinced me that in general they do not care to trouble themselves about Practical English, regarding it as an unnecessary, or very minor part of their equipment.

All those, however, whose business is to be with Real Life and not merely with Books, who intend to travel or otherwise come into close contact with English or American people, need to become thoroughly conversant with the actual living language in daily usage in England or America and for them Mr Saghara’s book will be an invaluable vade mecum.

Alan Tytheridge
Tokyo March 1928

Visits to America 1934 – 1939

In 1934, 45-year-old Alan took a holiday to America. He left Yokohama, Japan on 25 July 1934 and returned to Honolulu, Hawaii. He travelled on the “Taiyo Maru” arriving nine days later. The Honolulu Advertiser dated the 5 August, reported the arrival of the ship and passengers including "A C Tytheridge Professor of University of Commerce Tokyo on route and on vacation". He returned to Japan on 22nd August sailing from Honolulu on the same vessel.

Two years later Alan returned to America for another holiday sailing from Yokohama to Los Angeles aboard the ship “Asama Maru”. He left Yokohama on 10 July 1936 and arrived in Los Angeles 16 days later. He planned to visit San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. He stayed in America for a month, departing on 28th August.

His third visit to America came in 1939 departing Yokohama on 6 July 1939 on “Tatu ta Maru” arriving after 14 days. This time he planned to visit San Francisco, Seattle and New York. His visa lasted 60 days so he left some time before September. The ship’s manifest shows he was going to visit N R Hunter of 7 Patchin Place, New York. This should read M R Hunter who was a New Zealand poet, playwright and fiction writer but best known as a journalist in America. Rex had worked on the The Press in New Zealand and had also worked in Fiji and San Francisco, but it is not clear how Rex and Alan knew each other. Rex was part of the Greenwich Village literary circle and was a lead writer for one of the New York papers..

There was conflict developing in Europe and on 3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany and World War 2 began. This would have been about the time Alan arrived back in Japan and returned to his teaching post. He could not envisage the effect this declaration would have on his life.

To be continued in next blog ……