Windows on Japan: A Walk Through Place and Perception

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Algora Publishing, 2007 - History - 308 pages
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.
 

Contents

PREFACE CHAPTER 2 GULLIVER UNDERSTOOD 153
5
MISSING PERSONS
19
PAUL ABOUT HIMSELF
29
SOUTH INTO SANJŌ
41
LETTERS TO THE PAST
51
100 SACKS OF RICE
59
SHIRLEYS CLOAK
73
FEUDAL FACSIMILE
77
LYRICS AND MIRRORS
173
THE GAZE OF THE GODDESS
177
STOLEN WORDS
185
SLEEPLESS IN SAITAMA
191
74 MINUTES
199
KAWAGOE COMFORT
201
AS WE SEE THEM
207
THE CITY THAT WORKS
213

JACKS EPIC
85
AN ORDERLY TOWN
87
GOLF AND TULIPS
97
THE SCENE CHANGES
99
TRADING TERMS
107
AMID THE TALL CEDARS
111
ONCE WERE ANIMALS
119
MATSUES LIFE
121
PUPPETS FEEL NO PAIN
135
TRAVELERS ARE STRANGERS
137
A MURDEROUS CULT
147
WAKEUP CALL
151
WHAT OSCAR REALIZED
157
THE PATH OF GHOSTS
163
LOOKING OUT TO SEA
225
HE LOVED HIS WIFE
235
UNTIL THE END
239
THE UNCOUNTABLE Dead
243
WAR AND MUSIC
255
FEATHERSTON
259
THE WAY BACK
267
OPERA CITY
277
HIGHER GROUND
281
ENGLISH BORROWINGS OF JAPANESE WORDS
287
BIBLIOGRAPHY
289
INDEX
297
Copyright

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Page 18 - The History of Japan, giving An Account of the ancient and present State and Government of that Empire; of Its Temples, Palaces, Castles and other Buildings; of its Metals, Minerals, Trees, Plants, Animals, Birds and Fishes ; of The Chronology and Succession of the Emperors, Ecclesiastical and Secular; of The Original Descent, Religions, Customs, and Manufactures of the Nativcs, and of their Trade and Commerce with the Dutch and Chinese.

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