Review: Introduction to Japanese Culture ed. by Daniel Sosnoski (L)

Synopsis: Featuring full-color photographs and illustrations throughout, this text is a comprehensive guide to Japanese culture. The richness of Japan's history is renowned worldwide. The heritage of culture that its society has produced and passed on to future generations is one of Japan's greatest accomplishments. In Introduction to Japanese Culture, you'll read an overview, through sixty-eight original and informative essays, of Japan's most notable cultural achievements, including:

Religion, Zen Buddhism, arranged marriages and Bushido

Drama and Art—from pottery, painting and calligraphy to haiku, kabuki and karate

Cuisine—everything from rice to raw fish

Home and Recreation, from board games such as Go to origami, kimonos and Japanese gardens

The Japan of today is a fully modern, Westernized society in nearly every regard. Even so, the elements of an earlier age are clearly visible in the country's arts, festivals, and customs. This book focuses on the essential constants that remain in present-day Japan and their counterparts in Western culture.

Edited by Daniel Sosnoski, an American writer who has lived in Japan since 1985, these well-researched articles, color photographs, and line illustrations provide a compact guide to aspects of Japan that often puzzle the outside observer. Introduction to Japanese Culture is wonderfully informative, a needed primer on the cultural make-up and behaviors of the Japanese. This book is certain to fascinate the student, tourist, or anyone who seeks to know and understand Japanese culture, Japanese etiquette, and the history of Japan. (from the online description)

Review: The edition I read, from 1996, was a bit dated, and contained nothing of the technology for which us, in 2018, know the Japanese. But the rich culture that defines the Japanese has not changed and Sosnoski's chosen authors explore and explain this with short but eloquent words. However, this is a simple book, intended as an overview and should not be taken as an indepth guide to any of the ideas stated within. Suitable for children, but I would recommend an updated version.

Bookmarks: 3.5 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 0-8048-2056-2
Year Published: 1996
Date Finished: 9-17-2018
Pages: 104