Title: The idea of Japan : western images, western myths /
Authors: Littlewood, Ian.
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee,
Year: 1996
Subjects: Japan Civilization.
Abstract: Ian Littlewood's The Idea of Japan begins with the principle that the more remote a country is, the broader and more indiscriminate are the stereotypes we form of it. A hundred and fifty years ago, Japan was so remote from the West that it might have existed on another planet. Today its influence touches all of us, yet in the West we know almost as little about it as we did in the days when Henry Adams, visiting Japan, called it "a toy-world." In this book Mr. Littlewood.
Contents: 1. A Question of Category -- 2. A Marked Resemblance to Monkeys -- 3. Strange Forms of Knowledge -- 4. Glorious Death -- 5. An Unfathomable Planet -- 6. A Realised Fairyland -- 7. Force of Circumstance -- 8. A Place to Meditate -- 9. A Natural Infirmity -- 10. The Inhuman Aesthetic -- 11. A Bevy of Damsels -- 12. Butterflies with Hearts -- 13. A Lewd People -- 14. Cultural Penetration -- 15. A Streak of Violence -- 16. The Sadist -- 17. Bushido -- 18. Samurai in Suits -- 19. Back to the Yellow Peril?