THE IDEA OF JAPAN: Western Images, Western Myths

by Ian Littlewood

What sort of images does the word ‘Japan’ bring to mind? At times this country, so remote from our own, so different in culture, has seemed like an aesthetic wonderland, at others an alien threat. Its inhabitants have been variously seen as models of courtesy, as sadistic monsters, as artists of everyday life, as inhuman insects. Across four and a half centuries, from the reports of Jesuit missionaries to the accounts of Victorian travellers, from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly to James Clavell’s Shogun, wildly different stereotypes have swung into and out of favour. Their effect has been to create a Japan that is a projection of our own fears and fantasies. This book examines the development of our myths and the hold they still have on us today. By focusing on a small group of images that have dominated western responses, it establishes a framework for exploring one of the most intriguing cultural relationships of our time.

'a sharp and amusing guide to cultural myths and misunderstandings'
- The New York Review of Books

‘excellent study… Everyone here ought to read this’ - Donald Richie, The Japan Times

'the most interesting book this summer' - The Asahi Shimbun Magazine

‘a fascinating exploration of Japanese life’ - Booknews

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 2, 2017