Written during a period (1935-38) when, according to the author, there was much talk of the Japanese spirit and of the superiority of things Japanese, the essays collected here explore the essential nature of the Japanese character. The author notes that "the virtues of the Japanese national character are not only mistaken by foreigners, but are frequently misunderstood by the Japanese themselves." His penetrating examination of the Japanese character opens up important new avenues of thought on a subject about which, even today, comparatively little has been written in English.
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