Concretely

摘要

This is a gloomy book, made darker by the author's disillusionment with a Japan that failed to live up to his expectations. Like so many before him and since, the young Japanologist fresh out of college in America in the early 1970s was drawn to the country by its artistic treasures, a love of the language and visions of "lush mountains and clear-running streams pouring over emerald rocks". But, again, like so many foreigners who have adopted Japan and made it their home, affection eventually turns to frustration, anger even, as the subtle and inevitable exclusion by a culture that treasures its homogeneity starts to erode the foreigner's enthusiasm.