Echoes of Friendship: the Squire Family in Meiji Era Japan

In 1902, two young British girls, Dorothy and Marjorie moved to Japan. The girls and their mother, Lydia, were travelling to join their father, George Squire, who had been working for the Senju Paper Company in Japan since 1898. 

For the next two years the family lived, worked and made friends within the Japanese community in Kokura, a town on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands.

After the family left Japan, they settled in Sunderland.  Dorothy and Marjorie never returned to Japan but their experiences of living there had a lifelong impact.  Both sisters treasured objects from their time in Japan and collected Japanese art and crafts in the UK.

This exhibition tells their story using the objects which they donated to the Oriental Museum more than 70 years after they left Japan.  It also tells the story of the Moriyama family, pioneering Japanese photographers.  Photographs taken at the Moriyama Studio offer glimpses into the lives of both families and friendships that endured across continents. 

This exhibition was created as part of the partnership between Durham University and the National Museum of Japanese History.  The exhibition was first displayed at the National Museum of Japanese History, Sakura, Japan in the summer of 2024.