Introduction to Japanese Culture

Its literature, music, art and cuisine embody the richness of Japan's renowned culture. Preserved for centuries in its highly independent and utterly unique rituals, festivals, and ethics, Japanese culture may now seem utterly Westernized—yet much of it will seem mysterious to Westerners. Introduction to Japanese Culture presents an overview, through sixty-eight original and informative essays, of some of JapanÆs most notable cultural achievements. From the anything-but-prosaic box lunch to the inscrutable Noh plays, these cogent essays, complemented with photographs and illustrations, reveal the tenacious cultural past still resonant in JapanÆs arts, festivals, and customs. They focus on the essential constants that remain in present day Japan and their counterparts in Western culture. A fascinating read.

Narumi Yasuda, born in Kagawa Prefecture in 1947, is a leading landscape photographer whose work has appeared on calendars and in numerous magazines and other publications, including Michinoku Bojo (Journey into Northern Japan), Furusato no Shiki wo Yuku: Nihon no Joki-Kikansha (Steam Locomotives through the Japanese Countryside), Japan: An Invitation, Nippon: Land of Beauty and Tradition, and Beautiful Japan.

Daniel Sosnoski is an American writer who has lived in Japan since 1985. His experiences as an editor of travel and cultural guides have taken him the length and breadth of Japan and given him an appreciation of the country's natural beauty. He continues to explore and discover new elements of the land and its people.