1865

The Japan Punch

British (active Japan), 1832 - 1891

Charles Wirgman was born in London, traveled to China in 1860 as an illustrator for the Illustrated London News, and moved to Japan as a correspondent for the paper in 1861. There he married a Japanese woman and spent the rest of his life in Yokohama. He worked as a painter, illustrator, and occasional teacher of Western painting techniques. However, he is best known for his publication The Japan Punch, which he modeled on the famous English humor magazine Punch. Wirgman created his magazine to alleviate the tedium, loneliness, and isolation of the foreign community in Yokohama. The Japan Punch was the first European-language periodical published in Japan and it ran for twenty-five years, from 1862 to 1887. In addition to humorous articles, Wirgman included cartoons poking fun at friends and acquaintances and caricaturing some over-eager Japanese, who in their anxiousness to adopt Western ways don a peculiar array of foreign clothing and engage in modern vices.