Sapporo Cafe and Bar, Dairen

Lowry mentions several bars and brothels his novel Ultramarine in the fictional port of Tsjang Tsjang, which actually existed in Dairen in 1927. One bar that was real was the Sapporo; "There we go, boys, there's the old Sapporo-" (Pg. 30); "Sapporo Bar's the place to go, down the Yamagata Dori." and "Yes, the Sapporo Bar, Hilliot. Follow the tramlines, it's just past the Customs House, Meet you there tonight." (Pg 67) "What was the name of the place?" "Sapporo Cafe and Bar. Here, I've got the card. Listen to this. Nice and clean accommodation. Quick service. Sapporo Cafe and Bar, No. 157, Yamagata-Dori, Tel. No. 6705. Soft and hard drinks. Mariners are all welcome. Here is a place you must not fail to visit, everything at very moderate charges." (Pg. 134). Lowry first used that last sentence in his short story 'Punctum Indifferens Skibet Gaar Videre' (Pg. 71).

The above card from Stan Hugill's book Sailortown confirms the address given by Lowry. Given the precise detail referred to on page 134 of Ultramarine we must assume that Lowry visited the bar and kept the card as the language is very similar to the cards depicted in Hugill's book. Hugill also refers to a Sapporo Cabaret in Tsingtao a port visited by Lowry on his voyage to the Far East.

Experiment Magazine 1928–31

Lowry participated in 2 magazines whilst at Cambridge - Venture and Experiment. He had 2 short stories published by Experiment - 'Port Swettenham', pp. 22 - 26 No 5 and 'Punctum Indifferens Skibet Gaar Videre', pp. 62-75 No 7.

The magazine was edited by William Empson, Jacob Bronowski, Hugh Sykes and Humphrey Jennings, published in Cambridge from November 1928 - Spring 1931. The publisher for: Nos. 1-2 was Cambridge University Press; Nos. 4-7 were published by G. F. Noxon, Trinity College, Cambridge/G. F. Noxton, 68a St. Andrew's Street, Cambridge. There were only seven editions which came out on a Quarterly-Irregular basis priced one Shilling and sixpence. Read more about edition on Modernist Magazine Project.

I did come across a very good article in Jacket 20 by Kate Price on Experiment:

We are concerned with all the intellectual interests of undergraduates. We do not confine ourselves to the work of English students, nor are we at pains to be littered with the Illustrious Dead and Dying. Our claim has been one of uncompromising independence: therefore not a line in these pages has been written by any but degreeless students or young graduates. It has been our object to gather all and none but the not yet too ripe fruits of art, science and philosophy in the university. We did not wish so much that our articles should be sober and guarded as that they should be stimulating and lively and take a strong line. We were prepared in fact to give ourselves away. But we knew that Cambridge is painfully well-balanced just now (a sign, perhaps, of anxiety neurosis) and so we were prepared also to find, as the reader will find, rather too guarded and sensible a daring. Perhaps we will ripen into extravagance. [Experiment Number 1, November 1928]


The concern of Experiment with ‘all the interests of undergraduates’ was not simply a matter of having literary-minded mathematicians on the editorial team, nor one of including poetry produced by students reading Natural Sciences or Economics. Even taking Experiment as a literary magazine with an inspired eye on contemporary science, the ‘scientific’ content appears somewhat thin on the ground. The occasional article on biochemistry or biology, some hopeful remarks about the development of aesthetic science and Empson’s relativity poems are about the size of it. A distinctly literary and cinematic avant-garde emerges, giving the impression of an exclusively aesthetic kind of experimentation. Read full article here