'Unbeaten Tracks in Japan' Summary

The book recounts how Bird made the journey with a Japanese interpreter named Ito, visiting places that few or no westerners had seen before, between June and September 1878. It records in great detail her responses to Japanese houses, clothing and customs, and the natural environment, as they were during the early years of the Meiji Restoration. It also has a long section describing her visits to the Ainu people, and many passages describing what seemed to her the extreme poverty of many Japanese outside the major cities. 

Isabella Bird in Wonderland, a manga based on the book, was published in 2015.