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INCREDIBLE JAPAN is a crash course in Japanese culture—an introduction to those inimitable aspects of the country which are necessarily alien to the foreign observer. With delightful cartoons by the Japanese artist-illustrator, Masakazu Kuwata, the book proves that what is incredible about Japan is not inexplicable, and provides enlightenment on such potentially incomprehensible paradoxes as:
• Highly-skilled young men who hold degrees in judo—and flower arrangement.
• The “man in the moon”—who isn’t a man at all, but a rabbit.
• Charming hotels with no public dining rooms and no private baths.
• Attractive gift packages so meticulously wrapped in paper proclaiming the poor quality of the contents.
After chuckling through this book, the reader will find he has become effortlessly informed on the history, houses, food, clothing, customs, language, and amusements of incredible Japan.
Cover design by H. Doki
Incredible
JAPAN
Incredible
JAPAN
cartoons by Masakazu Kuwata text & captions by Charles E. tuttle
REPRESENTATIVES
For Continental Europe:
Boxerbooks, Inc., Zurich
For the British Isles:
Prentice-Hall International, Inc., London
For Canada:
Hurtig Publishers, Edmonton
For Australasia:
Paul Flesch & Co., Pty. ltd.
c/o Bookwise Australia
104 Sussex Street, Sydney
Published by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.
of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
with editorial offices at
Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032
Copyright in Japan, 1975
by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0382-5 (ebook)
This book was first published
in 1954 under the title
Japan Unbuttoned.
Revised edition, 1975
Printed in Japan
FOREWORD
ANY SIMILARITY in these cartoons to actual occurrences is strictly intentional. Both the Japanese artist and the American author, however, plead malice toward none and have only hoped to throw a little humorous light on everyday life in one of the world’s most colorful countries.
In the twenty years which have passed since the publication of this book as Japan Unbuttoned, Japan has become Incredible Japan—a country recognized for making an incredible economic recovery in an incredibly short period of time. While the foreign observer may at first glance be struck by the apparent Westernization of the island country, he will, on second look, be impressed by the retention in 1975 of cultural patterns and traditions that were captured in cartoons in 1954. So with revisions—deleting the obsolete and editing out the anachronisms—we present Incredible Japan.
CONTENTS
