Although this book has a promising start, after the first chapter it just reinforced my opinion that everything made by the West about Japan, with the exception of military history, is utter rubbish. Every time I read something about Japan people seem to be utterly gobsmacked by how foreign it is. What were you expecting? An example is how they are not allowed to see a sword on visiting a swordmaster's house because 'to see them in any profound way would take at least three years of constant study, not a one-hour visit on a Monday morning.' They seem to buy into the ridiculous stereotypes Japanese people apparently have about Westerners (given their source these are themselves somewhat dubious), such as 'We were gaijin, capable only of hurting the sword or ourselves.' In the first instance it would take Japanese people more than a one-hour visit to truly understand the sword, and in the second, anyone who possesses an ounce of delicacy and self-preservation would be able to draw a sword from it's scabbard and return it there without damaging the blade or themselves. Any discourse on the content of the three year's study to truly appreciate the sword on the part of the swordmaster or the author are absent.
This book is somewhat better informed than other works about Japan (namely film) but information hasn't translated into any improvement of understanding. They still possess the same damn tourist mentality everyone else exhibits when making any sort of work about Japan, with the exception of a handful of academics. After the first chapter I had no inclination to read any further, threw it in my bookcase and returned to language studies.
