A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture

A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture

by IanBuruma (Author)

Synopsis

The received myth is that the Japanese are a race so different from the rest of us that no outsider can understand them - a myth they seem rather to enjoy. But one that Ian Buruma explodes in this fascinating study of the Japanese character through a studied analysis of the way they perceive and, more importantly, portray, themselves in their popular culture. Anyone who has ever been intrigued by the images of kamikaze pilots, geisha girls or the intricate arts of Japan will find this book a revelation.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 04 Oct 2001

ISBN 10: 0753812541
ISBN 13: 9780753812549
Book Overview: Ian Buruma is one of this country's most original thinkers Ian Buruma is uniquely qualified to write on Asia: he studied Chinese and Japanese literature and cinema in Holland and Japan, and has lived in Asia for a third of his life 'An irresistible and occasionally very funny guide' Angela Carter 'Audacious, compelling and entirely readable' New Statesman 'Buruma's informed and perceptive study not only tells us a good deal about the matriarchs, warriors, geishas, whores and hoodlums of Japanese fact and fiction, but also identifies the deeply rooted erotic, violent and sado-masochistic fantasies which lie just beneath the surface of an exceptionally ordered society' Evening Standard 'A Japanese Mirror is what the tourist who wants to see the real Japan - 'through the looking glass' as it were - should pack in his flight-bag' Times Literary Supplement.

Author Bio
Ian Buruma was born in the Netherlands. He studied Chinese literature in Leyden, and Japanese cinema in Tokyo. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. He lives in London.