Title: Japan
First published: 1989
Description: Japanese and Westerners approach the world, their lives, their friendships, in such profoundly different ways that they often end up confusing and hurting each other. Many Westerners have come to Japan seeking cultural perfection, only to have their innocent visions shattered. Among the most famous was Lafcadio Hearn, who arrived at the turn of the century and the beginning of Japan's westernization. His presence, through his writings, serves as the author's alter ego. Five contemporary Americans and several surprising Japanese lead the reader deep within the workings of a homogenous society. There is the baseball player baffled that his team doesn't protest when an umpire calls a ball a strike; the businessman who attempts to move his stubborn Japanese boss into new markets; the woman who defies the alien fingerprinting law and dares a stunned legal system to through her into the workhouse; and the missionary couple who find that whatever religion their community professes outwardly, their only true belief lies in "Japanesism"--A club to which no foreigner can be admitted.
Subjects: Americans, Description and travel, Ethnic relations, Homes and haunts, Japanese National characteristics, National characteristics, Japanese, Travel, New York Times reviewed, Japan, social conditions, Journeys
Places: Japan
People: Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), Michael Shapiro (1952-)
LC classification: DS830 .S33 1989