When Beato arrived in the treaty port Yokohama in 1863, foreigners were limited to travel only 10 ri (24.4 miles) from the open treaty ports, which at that time also included Nagasaki and Hakodate. To circumvent this, Beato traveled with the diplomatic entourage of Aimé Humbert (1819–1900), the head of the first Swiss trade mission to Japan, who arrived in Yokohama on April 27, 1863, and stayed for almost a year.
In 1863-64 Beato accompanied Humbert on his travels through Japan. After returning to Europe, Humbert published his observations on Japanese life in his book, titled Le Japon illustré, in 1870. An English translation, Japan and the Japanese, Illustrated, appeared in 1874; it was subsequently translated into a number of other languages, including Japanese. Beato’s photographs served as the basis for some of the book’s illustrations.