Introducing Japan (Paperback)

by Donald Richie (Author), Edwin O. Reischauer (Foreword) "Tokyo, the capital and the largest city in Japan and perhaps in the world, is an enormous metropolis holding more than one-tenth of the country's..." (more)
Key Phrases: Inland Sea, World War, Mount Fuji (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
From the metropolitan bustle of busy, modern Tokyo to the serenity of classical Kyoto, from the northern frontier land of snowy Hokkaido to distinctly colorful Kyushu and Okinawa in the southwest, Japan is a country of striking contrasts and frequent contradictions-geisha and baseball, the Kabuki theater and oil refineries, skyscrapers of steel and glass, landscape gardens of sand and rock. The blend of the ancient and the contemporary is unique and fascinating.
Here in one volume are all the beauty and vitality of a nation whose recorded history reaches back nearly two thousand years, a nation that has progressed in little more than a century from self-imposed isolation to a place of prominence among the nations of the world. Facts-historical, geographic, cultural and economic-are wedded In a definitive combination to extraordinary pictures by some of Japan's leading photographers.
This book provides, in addition to the incisive text and captions written by Donald Richie, an informative foreword by the late Edwin O. Reischauer.
For the general reader, for those who have visited these islands, and for those who are unfamiliar with them, this is a superbly well-rounded introduction.

About the Author

DONALD RICHIE, born in the United States in 1924, has lived in Japan off and on for nearly fifty years. Formerly Curator of Film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, he is well known as the Western authority on the Japanese cinema, but has also written many books on the country, including The Inland Sea and Different People.
EDWIN O. REISCHAUER was born in Japan in 1910. He became a professor at Harvard University in 1946, but left the university temporarily to be the United States Ambassador to Japan from 1961 to 1966. Dr. Reischauer became one of the best-known authorities on the country, producing numerous works such as Japan: The Story of a Nation and The Japanese. He died in 1990.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (June 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 477001791X
• ISBN-13: 978-4770017918
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,297,232 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book with good information and Wonderful pictures!, May 4, 1999

By	[e-mail] (California) - See all my reviews

This book is great for any student who needs or wants to get a good round idea about Japan. It includes the basic needs to write any report, and is filled with beautiful color pictures throught the book, giving any one the visual effect! It's 72 pages, LOADS of pictures, 2 charts... one map, and the symbols for writting in Japan. Well written and great for students in middle school, maybe even up to ninth grade! If you are looking for indepth study, tense facts, and dence litature, this is not the book. It gives you a basic all around idea of Japan, nothing more, nothing less.