Alex Kerr loves Japan as much as anyone, but he knows much more about it than most. With the publication April 25 of “Inu to Oni” (Kodansha) — a translation of his book “Dogs and Demons” (Hill and Wang, 2001) — Japanese, too, will be able to share his insight. As it says on the cover of “Dogs and Demons,” the book offers “tales from the dark side of Japan’s well-known modern accomplishments.”
Kerr was born in 1952 in Bethesda, Md., and first came to Japan aged 14 when his naval officer father was posted to Yokohama. Since then he has lived in this country on and off for more than 30 years, though even his years away have been spent cultivating his passion for Japan and Asia. After taking a BA in Japanese Studies at Yale, he spent a year at Keio, then went to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, to take a degree in Chinese Studies.
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