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Lost Japan (Travel Literature) (Lonely Planet Lost Japan) [Paperback]

Alex Kerr
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)


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Book Description

August 2009 Travel Literature
Originally written in Japanese, this passionate, vividly personal book draws on the author's experiences in Japan over thirty years. Alex Kerr takes us on a backstage tour, as he explores the ritualized world of Kabuki, retraces his initiation into Tokyo's boardrooms during the heady Bubble Years, tells how he stumbled on a hidden valley that became his home...and exposes the environmental and cultural destruction that is the other face of contemporary Japan.

Winner of Japan's 1994 Shincho Gakugei Literature Prize.


Editorial Reviews

Review

one of the finest books about Japan written in decades' --Insight Japan

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 276 pages
  • Publisher: Lonely Planet; 2 edition (August 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1741795230
  • ISBN-13: 978-1741795233
  • Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Alex Kerr does an excellent job of pointing out one of Japan's greatest tragedies, the loss of it's own culture. Ryan Sheets (crsheets@hotmail.com  |  10 reviewers made a similar statement
No book on Japan by a foreign resident has ever succeeded as well at making felt both elements. Robert Self  |  8 reviewers made a similar statement
If you have any interest at all in Japan, this is a must read book. Dennis A. Murphy  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When Alex Kerr talks about "Lost Japan," it is clearly his own personal Japan that is being lost. He speaks fondly of the "literati" of old Japan, a group of well-off leisure class who whistled their days away creating art and appreciating beauty, free of toil or earthly constraints. Oxford and Yale educated, coming from money, Kerr firmly sees himself as the last vanguard of the literati, and his lifestyle is leaving him. The lifestyle of the educated elite.

Composed of a series of unrelated articles, the book tells the tale of Kerr's life, of things that happen to capture his fancy, and of the intersecting lives of wealthy art dealers, artists and artisans. Everyone in the book is a genius. Everyone, the last embodiment of their vanishing breed. The world has become too cold to appreciate them. This is the Japan that is lost.

The book is incredibly well-written, and Kerr sees with the eyes of an artist. He has insights into parts of Japanese culture that would normally be closed, such as the back stage scene of Kabuki theater. His writing is strong enough to make you long for that vanishing Japan. Secret places and unappreciated nooks will appear as interesting as the most famous temple in Kyoto.

Worth reading and enjoyable, but ultimately a grain of salt is needed. Kerr's elitism leaves him blind to anything modern, any new artistic innovation or art form. He sees only the past, and wants to capture Japan like a photograph, and preserve it forever.

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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Arrigato Gozaimasu Alex Kerr January 19, 2000
By Erika
Format:Paperback
Alex Kerr has authored the best book I've read on contemporary Japan. I lived in Osaka from 1992-1994. Mr. Kerr's observations on everything from the arts and environment to business and education struck familiar chords. This book is excellent for foreign nationals currently living in Japan, and for anyone who's ever lived there. The book was originally written for a Japanese audience so some points may be lost on readers who've never made the trip. However, if you're planning to go to Japan and want to learn about more than cultural stereotypes, Lost Japan is your ticket.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Modern Day "In Praise of Shadows" May 5, 2003
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was hooked by "Lost Japan" immediately and could not put it down until I finished the last page. This book should be required reading for anyone who's lived in Japan, anyone who's interested in Japan, or even anyone who thinks all there is to Japan is samurai and geisha (or alternatively, anime and Pokemon). Lost Japan is very reminiscent of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's "In Praise of Shadows": they are both works lamenting a disappearing Japan, and both are told in a series of seemingly unrelated essays and anecdotes. Unfortunately, as several reviewers have mentioned already, sometimes Kerr goes to the point that his stories are so self-focused that they detract from the big picture. The entire chapter on literati, for example, did not add much to the story for me at least. However, overall Kerr's style is a success.

What impressed me the most with this book is how well Kerr was able to avoid falling into the easy traps of Japan Bashing or Japan Worship. It is obvious that he loves Japan, but at the same time his vision is clear enough so that he can view Japan objectively and speak hard truths. Most likely, any reader of this book who has been to Japan for any period of time found themselves nodding along to many parts of this book that were both critical of and in praise of modern Japan. Kerr says so many things that seem so obvious, and yet they feel so novel because the Japanese themselves have not publicly admitted that there are serious, fundamental problems in contemporary society. The sad thing is that it has been about a decade since Kerr's essays were published in Japan and it is questionable whether Japan has made any real progress in that time....

I did not agree with everything Kerr had to say, but I found his arguments and ideas stimulating and fresh. I hope Japan pulls itself out of its cultural and economic recession soon, but as Kerr hints at, a mere decade is no cause for panic in a country where events are measured in centuries and millennia. Japan has suffered worse destruction in its past; here's hoping that the difficulties of the past decade will be made worth it with the rebirth of a new Japan that is able to combine features of its past with the realities of the present. Read more ›

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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Counter-Revolutionary! March 22, 2001
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have mixed feelings about this book. There is a central thesis to the book - that Japan's culture is "lost," and worth saving. However, the episodic nature of the book, and the fact that his most impassioned writing comes at the beginning, distracts from the thesis. Instead, the book comes off as an extended one-way conversation with the author, which I must admit wasn't entirely a good thing. While he's obviously intelligent and sensitive, and intimately involved with what he writes about, I found myself a little turned off by the constant name-dropping, claims that anybody mentioned anywhere in the book is a genius, and the tangential anecdotes and facts which seemed entirely self-serving. At one point, he mentions being accepted into an Oxford school society so elite that undergraduates haven't been allowed in for two hundred years. Impressive, but it doesn't have anything to do with the book, and comes off as posturing.

Having been born in Honolulu, with similar problems such as ugly, sprawling hotel districts and a kidnapped culture, I'm extremely sympathetic to Alex Kerr's anger at the uglification and cultural deadening of Japan. However, his attitude towards modern Japan is one of instant revulsion. The revulsion lends the book a bitter-old-man sentimentality, that everything has gotten worse. That's not a minor gripe - the author has made it his goal, both in this book and in personal life, to prove that the traditional ways of Japan should be more a part of modern Japanese life. Waxing on about Japan's traditional arts, while unilaterally rejecting modern Japan, just furthers the book's counter-thesis: that the modern and traditional aren't compatible....

Perhaps I'm being too negative, and for those interested in the current state of the traditional in Japan, Alex Kerr knows the subject well. Regardless, I found myself disheartened that the book has such a strong thesis, has such an intelligent and undeniably knowledgable author, makes so many good points, but still ends up being an extended bitter rant. Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Lost Japan
This is a short yet descriptive look at Japan and how it's culture and countryside has changed over the years. Read more
Published on January 13, 2011 by Spider Monkey
5.0 out of 5 stars The Heart of Japan
This book is beautifully written by someone who knows Japan in a way that many who were born there do not. Read more
Published on October 10, 2010 by MW
5.0 out of 5 stars Japan beyond geishas, sushi and sumo
Lost Japan is a bit dated, but a worthwhile look at how Japan's rush to modernity is changing its culture and landscape. Alex Kerr has a deep love of traditional Japanese arts. Read more
Published on January 28, 2009 by Tracy Fox
4.0 out of 5 stars More accurate title would be "My Lost Japan"
Although the topics Kerr addresses are relevant all over Japan and to many aspects of Japanese culture, this book is not going to reflect the experience of many Japanese people,... Read more
Published on May 28, 2008 by T. M. Jackson
4.0 out of 5 stars A lovely read
Most of the reviews of this book either support or criticize Kerr's point of view regarding the topics he covers. Read more
Published on September 23, 2007 by Brian V. Hunt
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reading
If you have any interest at all in Japan, this is a must read book. This is very well written, interesting to the point that I could not put it down, and a great book to read... Read more
Published on September 3, 2007 by Dennis A. Murphy
4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for those interested in Japan
Three years ago, Alex Kerr finally left the Japan he had called home for some 30 years prior to that. Read more
Published on April 10, 2005 by R. Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars Another Lonely Planet Journeys gem
I've had really good luck with several Lonely Planets Journeys published books--their editors have done a great job of finding stories by exceptional writers that would not find a... Read more
Published on December 7, 2004 by s. nicholas
5.0 out of 5 stars For good & bad, read this book
Embarking on a life in Japan, I picked up this book for the rich cover art if anything else. On turning the pages I found myself being taken by Alex Kerr on a very personal journey... Read more
Published on September 20, 2004 by Ant
4.0 out of 5 stars A passionate, but reactionary book
This book, written from an experience of living in Japan for 30 years, highlights many of the experiences the author has taken. Read more
Published on March 20, 2004 by Jim Richards
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