Writings from Japan Book

I loved this compilation of selections from Hearn's writings from the last years of his life in Japan. He was writing from a country which was largely unknown in most aspects of its culture, and also largely unchanged since opening to the west some 50 years previously. It's such an open window on Japan from 1890 until his death in 1904, and as such I would recommend it highly. I had heard of Hearn, yet never read a thing he had written until this volume. I understand his books as originally published are somewhat uneven, which may be the ultimate value of this compilation insofar as his reputation as a commentator on his times, and on Japan of over a hundred years past.