Japan Through the Looking Glass [antikvár]

Prefacc Companions on the fourneif When Alice went into Wonderland and through the looking glass, she met numerous creatures who explained their world to her and tried to sort out her confusions. This book is likewise the result of many conversations, much advice and an enormous amount of support. Over the sixteen years since my wife Sarah and I first visited Japan I have been helped by many people, only a few of whom I can acknowledge here. It is not easy to understand Japan. My attempt to do so would have failed entirely without the help of two Japanese friends. Profess sors Kenichi and Toshiko Nakamura, hereafter called Kenichi and Toshiko. If I had spent the many years it requires to speak and read Japanese, I would not have been able to make the comparative studies of other civilisations which inform this work. Because I do not speak or read Japanese I am heavily dependent on informants. For example, the key works of several of the most important Japanese historians, anthropologists and political philosophers have not been translated. I thus rely on Kenichi's and Toshiko's summaries of their ideas. We have discussed the themes in this book many times. I have made six visits to Japan with my wife and on each occasion we have met, and often travelled through Japan with, Kenichi and Toshiko. We have asked them innumerable questions and they have taken it upon themselves to try to teach us as much about Japan as possible. I