Reviewed by Stephen Mansfield Recent years have seen a number of excellent anthologies of writings on Japan, including "Japan: True Stories of Life on the Road" and the superb "Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature From Okinawa." Now comes another welcome slice of cultural geography in this collection edited by former Japan habitue Ingrams.
Considerable care has gone into selecting extracts that transmit the character and plurality of these islands — no surprise given the imprint of Eland, a U.K. publisher closely identified with quality travel literature.
Ingrams skillfully introduces each region and city with a well-considered historical and cultural profile. There are a number of factual errors in the editorial sections, though, and while they scarcely detract from one's enjoyment of the collection, I was certainly surprised to read that Araki-cho, a quarter in Tokyo I know rather well, "does not exist any more."