author
Baroness Albert d' Anethan
1860–1935
An English-born diarist and memoirist, she is best remembered for a vivid account of diplomatic life in Japan at the turn of the twentieth century. Her writing opens a window onto everyday society, international politics, and court life through the eyes of a diplomat’s wife.
1 Audiobook
It Happened in Japan
by Baroness Albert d' Anethan
About the author
Born Eleanora Mary Haggard in 1860, she was the youngest daughter of a Norfolk landowner and the sister of novelist H. Rider Haggard. After marrying the Belgian diplomat Baron Albert d'Anethan in 1886, she became widely known in print as Baroness Albert d'Anethan.
Her best-known book, Fourteen Years of Diplomatic Life in Japan, grew out of her years in Japan from 1893 to 1906, when her husband served as Belgium's minister there. The memoir mixes personal observation with lively detail about social customs, political events, and the foreign community in Meiji Japan, making it valuable both as travel writing and as a historical firsthand account.
Library and reference records also attribute It Happened in Japan to her. Taken together, her books preserve a rare and readable perspective on Japan seen from inside diplomatic circles during a period of rapid change.