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Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: Two Volumes in One
This is a complete, two-volume set of one of the greatest books on 19th century Japanese history and culture.
Though Lafcadio Hearn went on to write a dozen more books on Japan, this collection of first impressions remains his most popular. Among the reasons is that here, more than anywhere else, the author most vividly captured a place that so affected him that he stayed for the rest of his life. The modern reader can still, through these pages, experience that "first charm of Japan, intangible and volatile as a perfume."
Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan combines two volumes of a work that first appeared in 1894. In the pages of this book are the customs, the superstitions, the charming scenery, the revelations of Japanese character, and all the other elements that Lafcadio Hearn found so bewitching. Here, for example, are essays on such subjects as the Japanese garden, the household shrine, the festivals, and the bewildering Japanese smile—all aspects of Japanese life that have endured in spite of the changes that have taken place during the modernization of Japan.
This edition also contains a new foreword by noted writer Donnie Richie that puts Lafcadio Hearn into perspective for modern readers.
Though Lafcadio Hearn went on to write a dozen more books on Japan, this collection of first impressions remains his most popular. Among the reasons is that here, more than anywhere else, the author most vividly captured a place that so affected him that he stayed for the rest of his life. The modern reader can still, through these pages, experience that "first charm of Japan, intangible and volatile as a perfume."
Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan combines two volumes of a work that first appeared in 1894. In the pages of this book are the customs, the superstitions, the charming scenery, the revelations of Japanese character, and all the other elements that Lafcadio Hearn found so bewitching. Here, for example, are essays on such subjects as the Japanese garden, the household shrine, the festivals, and the bewildering Japanese smile—all aspects of Japanese life that have endured in spite of the changes that have taken place during the modernization of Japan.
This edition also contains a new foreword by noted writer Donnie Richie that puts Lafcadio Hearn into perspective for modern readers.
688 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 20, 2011
About the author
Lafcadio Hearn
1,554 books468 followersGreek-born American writer Lafcadio Hearn spent 15 years in Japan; people note his collections of stories and essays, including
Kokoro
(1896), under pen name Koizumi Yakumo.
Rosa Cassimati (Ρόζα Αντωνίου Κασιμάτη in Greek), a Greek woman, bore Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν in Greek or 小泉八雲 in Japanese), a son, to Charles Hearn, an army doctor from Ireland. After making remarkable works in America as a journalist, he went to Japan in 1890 as a journey report writer of a magazine. He arrived in Yokohama, but because of a dissatisfaction with the contract, he quickly quit the job. He afterward moved to Matsué as an English teacher of Shimané prefectural middle school. In Matsué, he got acquainted with Nishida Sentarô, a colleague teacher and his lifelong friend, and married Koizumi Setsu, a daughter of a samurai.
In 1891, he moved to Kumamoto and taught at the fifth high school for three years. Kanô Jigorô, the president of the school of that time, spread judo to the world.
Hearn worked as a journalist in Kôbé and afterward in 1896 got Japanese citizenship and a new name, Koizumi Yakumo. He took this name from "Kojiki," a Japanese ancient myth, which roughly translates as "the place where the clouds are born". On that year, he moved to Tôkyô and began to teach at the Imperial University of Tôkyô. He got respect of students, many of whom made a remarkable literary career. In addition, he wrote much reports of Japan and published in America. So many people read his works as an introduction of Japan. He quit the Imperial University in 1903 and began to teach at Waseda University on the year next. Nevertheless, after only a half year, he died of angina pectoris.
Rosa Cassimati (Ρόζα Αντωνίου Κασιμάτη in Greek), a Greek woman, bore Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χερν in Greek or 小泉八雲 in Japanese), a son, to Charles Hearn, an army doctor from Ireland. After making remarkable works in America as a journalist, he went to Japan in 1890 as a journey report writer of a magazine. He arrived in Yokohama, but because of a dissatisfaction with the contract, he quickly quit the job. He afterward moved to Matsué as an English teacher of Shimané prefectural middle school. In Matsué, he got acquainted with Nishida Sentarô, a colleague teacher and his lifelong friend, and married Koizumi Setsu, a daughter of a samurai.
In 1891, he moved to Kumamoto and taught at the fifth high school for three years. Kanô Jigorô, the president of the school of that time, spread judo to the world.
Hearn worked as a journalist in Kôbé and afterward in 1896 got Japanese citizenship and a new name, Koizumi Yakumo. He took this name from "Kojiki," a Japanese ancient myth, which roughly translates as "the place where the clouds are born". On that year, he moved to Tôkyô and began to teach at the Imperial University of Tôkyô. He got respect of students, many of whom made a remarkable literary career. In addition, he wrote much reports of Japan and published in America. So many people read his works as an introduction of Japan. He quit the Imperial University in 1903 and began to teach at Waseda University on the year next. Nevertheless, after only a half year, he died of angina pectoris.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 19, 2026
4/19/26: Still love this book very much. I was inspired to pick this back up in earnest after watching a J-drama inspired by Lafcadio Hearn and his wife, set in her hometown of Matsue. I'm still not done, but I will continue to read this from time to time.
Marking this as read for now, setting it aside to make way for Halloween reading. 🙂 This is an amazing book. Very dense, but the writing is so incredibly descriptive. Hearn's travels in Japan are so interesting to read about, and I love learning about the Japanese folklore and Buddhist/Shinto traditions he encountered. I have a feeling this book is one I will continue to chip away at, one essay at a time.
Marking this as read for now, setting it aside to make way for Halloween reading. 🙂 This is an amazing book. Very dense, but the writing is so incredibly descriptive. Hearn's travels in Japan are so interesting to read about, and I love learning about the Japanese folklore and Buddhist/Shinto traditions he encountered. I have a feeling this book is one I will continue to chip away at, one essay at a time.
May 28, 2026
Ask anyone on the street where they would like to visit, and the answer is invariably Japan. For better and for worse, the land comprised of around fourteen thousand islands seems to hold an endless charm for Westerners.
Hearn was one of those enthralled outsiders, a man of Greek-Irish lineage who found his home in Japan, passing his final years with his wife and child, feeling a sense of belonging that had seemingly eluded him in his younger years. His journey is still relevant today: a love letter to a people and their culture, and a tale of fantasy versus reality – that dizzying cocktail of what Japan is and what we want it to be.
Hearn wrote detailed notes about everything, and he took to his new life with gusto. He was a proto-Bill Bryson, offering insights to would-be travellers from his own time. Reading it now, well over a century later, it is a gorgeous time capsule of a gone-by era. Which is apt, as Hearn was preoccupied greatly with the sense that Japan was losing its essence as it modernized and opened to the West. (Something that has echoes in modern Japanese politics.)
His enthusiasm is infectious. When he wants to buy everything in tourist shops, he is relatable. And as his narrative starts with breathless brush strokes of this new, alien society, before giving way to a more useful and considered approach, we accompany him as he settles in and integrates.
Through our erstwhile narrator, we learn about the plots of long-forgotten plays, the superstition around foxes (and much more), travelling carnival shows where the ‘world’s largest rat’ was actually a kangaroo, and wind-up toys that sang and moved. In between the many myths, there are accounts of fading samurai, lost in a modernizing world, and the grim fate of retired geishas, women sold into servitude and then abandoned in their golden years.
Nevertheless, this detailed approach doesn’t always work – a barrage of placenames and myths can sometimes tire the reader as anecdotes and observations blend together. This is ‘unfamiliar’ Japan after all, and there are no SparkNotes. Occasional footnotes add some context, but even they can extend across a couple of pages as they are dense with information.
There is too much in the book to mention. There are stories of besotted men enlisting priests so they could find out if their love was reciprocated. The spirit of the woman would take over the priest’s body and speak through him. There is a whole essay about the differences between a Japanese and European garden.
And then, there is Hearn himself. In many places, he drew crowds of hundreds. In hotels, heads would pop into his room and gently observe him, before popping out again. (We learn that there is little privacy in Japanese hotels.) On the street and in restaurants, he was a sensation, but the crowd always treated him with deference and respect.
The behaviour of Japanese people throughout the book, according to Hearn, is exemplary. Even rough sailors cause little disruption, unlike their European counterparts.
From The Simpsons to blogs by Japanese air hostesses and beyond, the idea of the enigmatic Japanese smile has provided much fodder for conversation and reflection. In Glimpses of Unknown Japan, Hearn was specifically tasked by a friend to work out why the ‘natives’ smiled so much.
「As an aside, Hearn had links to Ireland but spent little time there. In fact, he belonged to the British ruling class, so many of his contemporaries in Japan were from Britain, and some carried with them a sneering disregard for the locals.」
Across three genuinely shocking anecdotes, Hearn showed how two English gentlemen and one gentlewoman, by turns, drove an ageing samurai to hara-kiri, laughed at a recent widow holding an urn, and smashed a peasant on the head with a whip handle. All because the serene smiles of the Japanese person in front of them provoked an irrational ire.
Hearn wrote an in-depth essay delineating the reasons for the so-called Japanese smile. To condense his thoughts, he attributes this sanguine inscrutability to Confucism and an overriding desire to maintain social cohesion. Things one can read about today when Googling Japanese business etiquette.
Despite Hearn’s 19th-century biases, he was more open than most of his countrymen. The reprinted letter from his students shows a real sadness at his departure, and the fact that students, teachers and parents escorted him to his steamer ship – ahead of his relocation to another part of Japan – denotes a certain sense of love and respect… unless they were happy to see the back of him.
As mentioned, the book has its peculiarities. He never references his wife, but the pretty girls from different prefectures find their way into the pages. An anachronistic celebration of militarism and manhood sometimes creeps in; a reminder that some shadows exist in the Land of the Rising Sun. But overall, the delights and awe that flesh out the story make for a mostly engaging read. Even if you can’t distinguish between samurai and sushi, and you are one of those rare people who is not a Japanophile, there is still something to enjoy in this two-volume collection.
Hearn was one of those enthralled outsiders, a man of Greek-Irish lineage who found his home in Japan, passing his final years with his wife and child, feeling a sense of belonging that had seemingly eluded him in his younger years. His journey is still relevant today: a love letter to a people and their culture, and a tale of fantasy versus reality – that dizzying cocktail of what Japan is and what we want it to be.
Hearn wrote detailed notes about everything, and he took to his new life with gusto. He was a proto-Bill Bryson, offering insights to would-be travellers from his own time. Reading it now, well over a century later, it is a gorgeous time capsule of a gone-by era. Which is apt, as Hearn was preoccupied greatly with the sense that Japan was losing its essence as it modernized and opened to the West. (Something that has echoes in modern Japanese politics.)
His enthusiasm is infectious. When he wants to buy everything in tourist shops, he is relatable. And as his narrative starts with breathless brush strokes of this new, alien society, before giving way to a more useful and considered approach, we accompany him as he settles in and integrates.
Through our erstwhile narrator, we learn about the plots of long-forgotten plays, the superstition around foxes (and much more), travelling carnival shows where the ‘world’s largest rat’ was actually a kangaroo, and wind-up toys that sang and moved. In between the many myths, there are accounts of fading samurai, lost in a modernizing world, and the grim fate of retired geishas, women sold into servitude and then abandoned in their golden years.
Nevertheless, this detailed approach doesn’t always work – a barrage of placenames and myths can sometimes tire the reader as anecdotes and observations blend together. This is ‘unfamiliar’ Japan after all, and there are no SparkNotes. Occasional footnotes add some context, but even they can extend across a couple of pages as they are dense with information.
There is too much in the book to mention. There are stories of besotted men enlisting priests so they could find out if their love was reciprocated. The spirit of the woman would take over the priest’s body and speak through him. There is a whole essay about the differences between a Japanese and European garden.
And then, there is Hearn himself. In many places, he drew crowds of hundreds. In hotels, heads would pop into his room and gently observe him, before popping out again. (We learn that there is little privacy in Japanese hotels.) On the street and in restaurants, he was a sensation, but the crowd always treated him with deference and respect.
The behaviour of Japanese people throughout the book, according to Hearn, is exemplary. Even rough sailors cause little disruption, unlike their European counterparts.
From The Simpsons to blogs by Japanese air hostesses and beyond, the idea of the enigmatic Japanese smile has provided much fodder for conversation and reflection. In Glimpses of Unknown Japan, Hearn was specifically tasked by a friend to work out why the ‘natives’ smiled so much.
「As an aside, Hearn had links to Ireland but spent little time there. In fact, he belonged to the British ruling class, so many of his contemporaries in Japan were from Britain, and some carried with them a sneering disregard for the locals.」
Across three genuinely shocking anecdotes, Hearn showed how two English gentlemen and one gentlewoman, by turns, drove an ageing samurai to hara-kiri, laughed at a recent widow holding an urn, and smashed a peasant on the head with a whip handle. All because the serene smiles of the Japanese person in front of them provoked an irrational ire.
Hearn wrote an in-depth essay delineating the reasons for the so-called Japanese smile. To condense his thoughts, he attributes this sanguine inscrutability to Confucism and an overriding desire to maintain social cohesion. Things one can read about today when Googling Japanese business etiquette.
Despite Hearn’s 19th-century biases, he was more open than most of his countrymen. The reprinted letter from his students shows a real sadness at his departure, and the fact that students, teachers and parents escorted him to his steamer ship – ahead of his relocation to another part of Japan – denotes a certain sense of love and respect… unless they were happy to see the back of him.
As mentioned, the book has its peculiarities. He never references his wife, but the pretty girls from different prefectures find their way into the pages. An anachronistic celebration of militarism and manhood sometimes creeps in; a reminder that some shadows exist in the Land of the Rising Sun. But overall, the delights and awe that flesh out the story make for a mostly engaging read. Even if you can’t distinguish between samurai and sushi, and you are one of those rare people who is not a Japanophile, there is still something to enjoy in this two-volume collection.
June 9, 2026
This book is a treasure. It's hundreds of pages of firsthand accounts of Japanese history, culture, and myth. I've spent many years in Japan and was raised by a Japanese mother, so I was surprised to find some amazing stories in here that I've never heard before and that I will not soon forget. From fox demons and Jizo to ancient samurai and geisha legends. It is written in short essays, which made it somewhat of a slog for me, but setting the style aside, it provided great incites into the culture and unforgettable stories that moved me deeply.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews