Japan: In the Land of the Broken-Hearted

by Michael Shapiro

The stories of six foreigners--one of them, the 19th century writer, Lafcadio Hearn--who fall in and out of love with Japan. The book uses their stories to examine the struggle between Japan adn those who sould hope not only to understand her, but to be accepted. "A graceful, honest, useful book about Japan," Martin Weinstein, Newsday

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Michael Shapiro is the author of multiple non-fiction books. His work has appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, New York, and Esquire. He is a tenured professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Reviews

[Amanda Campanaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy-to-follow narrative; engaging for a nonfiction; opens western eyes to the ugly parts of Japanese culture.

[user_fjifods998877 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mainly focused his own story and the story of Lafcardio Hearn, an American coming to Japan at the end of 19 centuries when the country was undergoing dramatic changes in both its power and modernization. I skimmed the other five stories but still found them interesting. I like how the author organizes the five stories and his personal narratives in a parallel way in five chapters all named after Japanese cities. With the transient experience both living in the states and in Vietnam as a foreigner who is inevitable preoccupied by its own imagination/ illusion about the unfamiliar lands prior to the real exposure, I can empathize the same curiosity, anxiety, frustration, and reluctance when the real encounter came as the author telling his experience moving and struggling in Japan. Throughout the five stories, I found an unchanged core despite the unique forms of various stories, that is the essential question how people raised in one culture sense, feel, react and readjust when they are encountering another culture, plus the geographical barriers of departing your homeland, leaving friends, families and all the surroundings they were familiar with and felt comfortable to.

[~Lyn~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like the perspectives of the author.. He wrote more about the character rather than about the condition or situation in Japan itself. Therefore, I don't catch why Japan is called the land of the brokenhearted. Good title but poor story. I don't recommend this book