Windows on Japan: A Walk Through Place and Perception - Hardcover

Roscoe, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0875864929 ISBN 13: 9780875864921

Publisher: Algora Pub, 2007

Synopsis

In Windows on Japan a New Zealander walks across rural Japan and ponders centuries-old perceptions about the country that is still prisoner to an isolationist past. In a deeply insightful commentary, the author surveys cultural, social and political mores, explores the wellspring of racial perception and the problem of the memory of war. Windows on Japan alternates chapters of physical travel with travel through perception about Japan, and challenges the logic of much Western thought about the country that perplexes as much as it pleases. The author walked a route that connects the ports of Niigata and Yokohama and from these windows on the world considers perceptions of people and place. He also assesses the effect of Japan on writers from Jonathan Swift to Oscar Wilde, Shirley MacLaine and Paul Theroux with surprising results. The trading entity that wraps its tentacles around the globe, converses in most languages and understands most customs, is perceptive and urbane and none appears more capable or cosmopolitan. Yet the individuals who inhabit these islands take refuge in their language as a private habitat, resent intrusions, and are captured by a cultural particularism that distances them from others. The author discusses this paradox, as well as environmental and linguistic issues and topics of history and literature. Along the way, he lifts a veil on the life of a snow country geisha, discusses current events with a priest and a reporter, and takes advice on becoming a Japanese. Though he is understood, it is only on return visits to places he has come to love that he wins acceptance. Notes on music delightfully enrich the narrative.

About this title

About the Author

Bruce Roscoe was educated at the universities of Canterbury (Christchurch, NZ) and Sophia (Tokyo) and holds a bachelor degree in political science and Asian area studies. He lived in Japan for 22 years as student, journalist and corporate researcher. He has written widely on Japanese business, politics, and society for the Far Eastern Economic Review and Chicago Sun-Times, among other newspapers. He divides his time between Auckland and Tokyo.

Edition details

• Publisher: Algora Pub
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875864929
• ISBN 13: 9780875864921
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320