Zen, haiku, martial arts, sushi, anime, manga, film, video games . . . Japanese culture has long enriched our Western way of life. Yet from a Western perspective, Japan remains a remote island country that has long had a complicated relationship with the outside world. Even at the nearest point, Japan--an archipelago strung like a necklace around the Asian mainland--is considerably farther from Asia than Britain is from Europe. The sea provides an...