Na Hye-seok, a colonial woman who rode first class
Fumiko Hayashi, an imperial woman riding in third class

This travelogue is the record of two 'women' of different nationalities and classes in a time when travel was only enjoyed by men.
‘Women’ were a class formed during the modern period of Korea and Japan.
Who is the new woman born in this new era called modernity?
She is a woman with her own world and work as a painter and writer.
She is a woman who can travel.

Na Hye-seok (1896-1948) and Hayashi Fumiko (1903-1951) took the same journey, taking a train from Busan to Manchuria via China and then traveling to Paris by Trans-Siberian Railway.
Na Hye-seok and Hayashi Fumiko, women representing the modern era of colonial Korea and colonial Japan, were born in the same era, but traveled to Europe by crossing Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway four years apart.
And each of them left behind “Gumi Travelogue” and “Samdeung Travelogue.”


But their journeys are similar yet different.
At that time, Na Hye-seok, a colonial woman, traveled in first class, while Fumiko, an imperial woman, traveled in the cheapest third class.
Because of this, the people you meet and the scenery you see are all different.
Women, a new class born with modern times.
What were the lives of these two women like, set against the backdrop of colonialism and the colonized? What did it mean for an Asian woman to travel the world during the height of imperialism around 1930?

There were four issues that always gave me anxiety.
First, how should people live to live well? Second, how should men and women live peacefully? Third, what is the status of women? Fourth, what is the point of the painting? These are truly difficult questions to understand.
Moreover, I have no way of knowing with my knowledge, my learning, and my experience.
And yet, I suddenly felt a yearning and a desire to know more about it.
So, I admired the art worlds of Italy and France, and I wanted to see the activities of European and American women and get a taste of their lives.
--- p.19

Today, His Majesty the King [Prince Yeongchin] passes through Interlaken.
So, as he got off, he asked us in our language when we had arrived.
At 8 p.m., Governor-General Saito hosted a banquet for His Majesty at the Privaza Restaurant.
In addition, we invited the heads and deputy heads of the disarmament conference, as well as the ambassadors, ministers, and commissioned officers currently staying in the conference.
My husband and I, who were not allowed to attend due to our ranks, also participated.

Among the 70 or so guests, only five or six women accompanied the British representative, Mr. Friedman (currently the Lord Chancellor of the Navy), and his wife, and the American representative, Mr. Davidson and his wife.
When there are few wives, a woman can sit at the head of the table.
So the superior tells the woman to strengthen her body and mind.
This is why there are many cases where diplomats' wives are given important appointments.
Therefore, the more a diplomat's wife is, the more charming and nimble she must be.
The Canadian representative sat on my right, and the British deputy representative sat on my left.
It was a great pity that I could not have provided many useful introductions in this situation if I had been fluent in the language.
When it comes to language, if you are good at it, your shortcomings will be revealed, but if you are not good at it, you can be overlooked.
If it's right, it's fortunate, but if it's not, it makes you laugh and ends up being cute.
It's such a shame to be so ignorant.
--- pp.45~46

I decided to hire a teacher to learn English while I was in London.
She was a young woman, just sixty years old, a teacher at an elementary school, and a very energetic and good old woman who lived a single life.
Mrs. Pankhurst was a member of the Suffragettes League and was a leader during the demonstrations.
Even now, when women's rights are advocated, they are passionate.
He says this:
“Women should dress well, eat delicious food, and save money in the bank.
This becomes the first article in the search for women's rights.”
I never forget these words.
I can't help but admire the foresight of British women.
On August 15th, I returned to Paris.
--- p.76

Anyone who comes to Paris and knows that it is a good place does not want to leave.
So, if you don't have money to eat and don't want to go, all kinds of tragedy and tragedies will happen.
Such people are irresponsible, live by their feelings, and easily deceive and steal from others.
Paris itself is a beautiful place, but it is abandoned by foreigners.
Indeed, the Parisian people are so full of freedom, equality, and fraternity that anyone can live happily, and leaving this place feels like leaving a lover.
I don't know all about Paris.
But I didn't want to leave.
I was planning to continue studying the painting, but due to various circumstances, I decided to stop by the United States and return.
At 9:50 a.m. on September 17th, I left for the United States at the Gare de Saint-Lazare, seeing off some acquaintances.
No matter how much I heard about Paris and how much I longed for Paris, it has become a thing of the past.
--- pp.97~98

I am once again amazed at how true the saying, “Travel is companionship, the world is love.”
Germansky would laugh and point a finger at the German merchant in the visible right-hand room, calling him a bourgeois.
When asked why he was bourgeois, he said it was because he had a typewriter, a phonograph, and a camera.
The Germans were friendly, but the Russians who shared the same room with him were the friendliest people I met during my travels.
I used to have a room to myself as if I had rented it out, and when I woke up in the morning, I would get invitations from neighbors to have tea or play cards. I wonder if they thought I was cute because I made them laugh in broken Russian.
--- p.159

I ordered lunch on the 18th too.
This time, Mr. Minsk and I sat at the table alone.
All we had was soup (with a little bit of carrots like radish), sour flour dishes (like vinegar sprinkled on sujebi), and dishes made with buckwheat and chicken bones.
A meal that leaves you with pleasant fantasies until it comes out, but then you end up feeling disappointed after eating it.
In the evening, I paid six rubles for renting a pillow, a rug, and a blanket.
The blanket is just a worn-out piece of brown cloth.
If you don't mind carrying a lot of luggage, it's better to buy two blankets near Harbin, as they will last longer.
The only people who rent pillows or blankets on the train are foreigners, while my neighbors carry everything from pillows to blankets and kettles.
The sight of all kinds of household items coming out from the luggage carried on one's shoulders is a sight that can only be seen on a third-class train.
--- p.165

The third-class train to Europe is packed with people, just like a Japanese ferry boat.
At dawn, a family of what appeared to be French people and four or five lumpen men got on board.
They soon start chatting amicably, munching on long, cannon-shaped pieces of bread, and muttering about the recession.
Among them are artists with old-fashioned accordions slung over their shoulders, workers in the style of Affache [a term for a Parisian street thug] wearing red scarves, a man without a foot, an old man with a bullet wound on his cheek, a cute child, etc. They are all poor people.
Seeing the man without legs and the old man with bullet holes reminded me of the Battle of Verdun [the worst battle between Germany and France during World War I].
It seems that Germans and French people are on bad terms even on the train. “I can’t stand you coming to work next to me in this recession!” a German worker in the car across from me swears.

--- p.181