Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation

Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation is a classic Japanese history/Japanese studies text by Lafcadio Hearn.

A thousand books have been written about Japan; but among these,--setting aside artistic publications and works of a purely special character,--the really precious volumes will be found to number scarcely a score. This fact is due to the immense difficulty of perceiving and comprehending what underlies the surface of Japanese life.