A Beato album in the Burnett Collections has Views of Japan printed on its cover. The sequence of photographs reflects the route a diplomat, long-time foreign resident, or tourist would have followed from Yokohama and Edo (also called Yedo and later, Tokyo) south to Nagasaki. The Burnett album provides an example of the typical initial grouping of photographs in Beato’s albums. “Costumes,” or photographs of people, would then follow those of historic sites and travel routes.
Such albums included popular destinations, such as Kamakura, Nikko, Hakone, Harra, and Kobe. Many were reached via the Tokaido Road, the major thoroughfare that stretched 500 miles between Tokyo and Kyoto. These photographs provided collectors with views of frequently visited sites and depictions of means of travel that replicated their own experiences in Japan.