ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about a land that was once regarded as exotic and "Oriental," Japan; and about a remarkably homogeneous people, the Japanese. The Japanese no longer really live in the "Far East"; the term is an ethnocentric invention of the Europeans. Japanese reside in an area Americans might well call the "Middle West." The book attempts to bring Japan and the Japanese into sharper focus. A description of the Japanese landscape is a logical beginning. Despite the depredations of industrialization and pollution, the proximity of mountains and sea still makes for startlingly beautiful scenery. The cultural gap is most clearly revealed in the world's response to Japanese activities in foreign trade, investment abroad, and establishment of multinational branch plants outside Japan. The Japanese experience is a classic example of the movement from a primitive to a settled, agrarian lifestyle.
