In his Foreword the editor explains that many Japanese writers have journeyed to the West in praise of Western civilization, only to revert to their conception of 'true' Japanese spiritual, social, cultural and aesthetic values. The book aims at describing and clarifying these movements to and from Japan in both the spiritual and physical senses. This idea can be seen as a Japanese search for cultural identity during the modern period.

Several chapter headings will serve to clarify the thrust of the book. Sukehiro Hirakawa presents a Japanese intellectual's return to Japan as predicted and described by Lafcadio Hearn; Hae-Hyung Sung analyses Okakura Tenshin's encounter with the West and his advocacy of Japanese and Asian values; Stephen Dodd looks at Kunikida Doppos's unique way of referring to the Japanese suburban furusato (native home) as a metaphor of fleeing urban life -- an incarnation of the West, and Noriko Thunman describes Mishima Yukio's fascination with Greek culture and his later rejection of the superficial culture of Japan in the post-war period.

This book will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of anyone who studies the links between Japan and the West and others who are interested in Japanese cultural, historical and intellectual thought inside and outside of Japan and how they have been affected by the West.

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