Australian artist Mortimer Menpes visited Japan in the late 1880s, and his daughter Dorothy published a memoir of time spent there in a volume attributed to Menpes pere and published in 1901.
I would not at this point posit any direct connection between the internal reserves of early 20th century Britain, the US or Australia to a Japanese influence (certainly, while the size and location of a Japanese garden as an urban oasis matches, the intended use and aesthetic approaches are entirely different) however I can't help finding Dorothy Menpes' words familiar in the context of later Internal Reserve rhetoric, such as when she describes a vision for a new garden: 'What a garden it would be! There were full-grown trees, stepping-stones, miniature bridges, ponds of goldfish - all... occupying an area the size of a small room. And not only was the garden itself planned out and designed, but it was also arranged to form a pattern in relation to the trees and the houses and the surrounding hills.' Menpes, Japan: A record in colour Adam and Charles Black, London 1901 pp.108-9; image is of an 'Iris garden' facing p. 112
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