A Beginner's Guide to Japan Observations & Provocations

After thirty-two years in Japan Pico Iyer can use everything from anime to Oscar Wilde to show how his adopted home is both hauntingly familiar and the strangest place on earth. He draws on readings reflections and conversations with Japanese friends to illuminate an unknown place for newcomers and to give longtime residents a look at their home through fresh eyes.A Beginner's Guide to Japan is a playful and profound guidebook full of surprising brief and incisive glimpses into Japanese culture. Iyer's adventures and observations as he travels from a meditation-hall to a love-hotel from West Point to Kyoto Station make for a constantly surprising series of provocations guaranteed to pique the interest and curiosity of those who don't know Japan and to remind those who do of the wide range of fascinations the country and culture contain. About the Author Pico Iyer is the author of more than a dozen books translated into twenty-three languages. His four recent TED Talks have received more than eight million views so far. In the summer of 2019 he was the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton guest director of the Telluride Film Festival and the first official writer-in-residence at Raffles Hotel in Singapore.