This book aims to provide a wider understanding of Japanese culture by showcasing Japan's rich cultural and societal practices, which are often baffling for foreigners. Drawing on the author's 40-year career as a diplomat, lecturer and writer, the volume takes a practical approach, offering unique insights into Japanese daily life for specialists and general readers alike. Featuring comparisons with Western cultural touchstones, this is the first book in English to propose a systematic examination of the twin concepts of Japanese sensibility and Oriental wisdom. It demystifies modern Japan, situating the Japanese in their historical, regional and philosophical contexts, with discussion ranging from the natural world to the linguistic and even culinary. The book makes an urgent argument for closer cooperation between East and West predicated on a greater role for Japanese sensibility and Oriental wisdom in tomorrow's global world, providing valuable suggestions for a new lifestyle to match the new era.
Jun-ichi Nakamura is a retired diplomat, lecturer and writer. Following degrees in Law from the Universities of Tokyo, Japan and Cambridge (Selwyn College), UK, he enjoyed a lengthy career in the Japanese Foreign Service, involving numerous overseas postings, before serving as Chief of Protocol and finally as Japan's Ambassador to Belgium. Upon retirement from active diplomacy, he spent a decade as President of the Kyoto International Conference Centre, Japan. He is currently Visiting Professor at St Agnes' University, Kyoto, and has lectured on diplomacy, international relations and comparative cultures at five universities in Japan. He has a lifelong interest in Zen Buddhism. This book is a distillation of his personal and professional reflections on Japan and her special traditions, as well as her standing in the modern world. An earlier Japanese version, from which this book has been fully adapted for an Anglophone audience, enjoyed acclaim in the author's native Japan where extracts have been used in school examinations, a rare feat for a living author.
