I hope you will share your impressions on these books! I read "Lost Japan" before my first trip there and found it full of useful insights. Kerr may sound grumpy or preachy, but to me he's right about the Japanese being too careless about their heritage. And last November I hiked up to his house in Iya Valley to have a peak (I wasn't staying there). Beautiful house and surroundings!
Hi Inga. I will share my impressions on the blog one day. How fantastic that you were able to travel to the Iya Valley! I enjoyed Kerr's book, I think he grounded slightly the idealistic view I may have had about Japanese culture. When one has never travelled there, I think it's easy to imagine most of it Zen-like, if you know what I mean (I'm of course not referring to life in the big cities). On this second Japanese reading list there were two works that weren't my cup of tea; Mishima's story collection and Dazai's novel (I meant to read another book by him which wasn't available at the library).
I hope you will share your impressions on these books! I read "Lost Japan" before my first trip there and found it full of useful insights. Kerr may sound grumpy or preachy, but to me he's right about the Japanese being too careless about their heritage. And last November I hiked up to his house in Iya Valley to have a peak (I wasn't staying there). Beautiful house and surroundings!
ReplyDeleteHi Inga. I will share my impressions on the blog one day. How fantastic that you were able to travel to the Iya Valley! I enjoyed Kerr's book, I think he grounded slightly the idealistic view I may have had about Japanese culture. When one has never travelled there, I think it's easy to imagine most of it Zen-like, if you know what I mean (I'm of course not referring to life in the big cities). On this second Japanese reading list there were two works that weren't my cup of tea; Mishima's story collection and Dazai's novel (I meant to read another book by him which wasn't available at the library).
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