Through Japanese Eyes

by Richard H. Minear

Book Overview

Through Japanese Eyes shows us Japanese history and society through the eyes of a wide variety of Japanese (and a few non-Japanese) observers -- male and female, young and old, novelists, poets, and journalists. With an emphasis on young people and their educations, this volume interweaves the historical and the contemporary, the laudatory and the critical, the domestic and the foreign. It demolishes all stereotypes of Japan and leaves students...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0938960539
• ISBN13: 9780938960539
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Publishing Group Inc/Bloomsbury
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 18 to 22 years
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

About Japan, It Does Not Get Better Than This

When Richard Minear, Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and one of the world's most distinguished scholars of historical and modern Japan, wrote the fourth revised and expanded edition of Through Japanese Eyes, his goal was to show Americans a comprehensive and balance view of the Japanese nation. Also, he wanted to hold up Japan as a national cultural mirror to American readers so that they can better understand themselves. The book succeeds admirable with these twin goals. The book is excellent and exciting at showing the similarities and differences between the experiences of Japan and the U.S. It is the differences that reveal Japan's unique history and current cultural situation. The details are there and yet what emerges so eloquently and fascinatingly is the unfolding story of Japan -- its island mentality, legacy of ancient traditions, international endeavors, and modern-industrial-technological achievements. In the book's ten chapters, the topics are relevant and lively, including the World War II era, the Occupation years, Nature and Pollution, Gender, Life Today, among others. Japan's past and present are vividly presented to bring into profound and sometimes amusing focus a cultural description unmatched in history or among the contemporary community of nations. Whether you are a fan of Japanese art, gardens, martial arts, comic books, games electronics, cars or sumo, this book's historical and cultural context will dazzle and inform you. Thank you, Professor Minear, for putting Japan under the microscope and into the spotlight for us Americans.