"To many, the title of Jonathan Clements's work would seem to be an absolute impossibility. In recent times, it became the powerhouse of global industry, a nexus of pop culture and a harbinger of post-industrial decline. It was the terminus of the Silk Road and the edge of the known world, a fictional construct for European arts and crafts, and an enduring symbol of the mysterious east. Despite a reputation for sprawling cities and cutting-edge technology, seventy-three percent of its land comprises uninhabited mountains and forests.įirst revealed to the West in the Travels of Marco Polo, Japan was the legendary faraway land defended by the fearsome Kamikaze storm, and ruled by a divine sovereign. Japan is a country of paradoxes, a modern nation steeped in ancient traditions a democracy with an emperor as head of state a famously safe society built on 108 volcanoes and an active earthquake zone. Stretching for nearly 2000 miles and encompassing almost 7000 islands, Japan has the fourth largest GDP and the tenth largest population in the world. This fascinating book tells the story of the people of Japan, from ancient teenage priest-queens to teeming hordes of salarymen, a nation that once sought to conquer China, yet also shut itself away for two centuries in self-imposed seclusion.
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