Curious, how life works out

I've decided on the topic for my dissertation (which I won't start writing until this winter): travel literature on the Far East (haha, far east-- it's home for some people!). This will include not just travelogues or travel guides, but novels, for novels certainly take you to certain locations. So, I'm looking for novels or poems, for that matter, that take the reader to the far east. So far, I've not found much. East, yes-- there's tons on India (how very probable), but not so much on the "far" East, or to be more precise, the northern part of the far east. China, Japan, Korea. So, if anyone knows anything, do inform me! Guide me!

And I say this turn of events is quite curious, for travel has always been a thing for me. I would be literally antsy to go somewhere, and would find myself so happy when abroad. And now, here I am, planning to look at records of people who did the same thing a hundred years ago...