Overview

Through Japanese Eyes shows us Japanese history and society through the eyes of a wide variety of Japanese (and a few non-Japanese) observers -- male and female, young and old, novelists, poets, and journalists. With an emphasis on young people and their educations, this volume interweaves the historical and the contemporary, the laudatory and the critical, the domestic and the foreign. It demolishes all stereotypes of Japan and leaves students with a new appreciation of Japanese diversity. And it challenges students to ask the same questions of their own society that these Japanese are asking of Japan. Sections with four to seven readings each treat "Japan before 1850," "The War Years," and "Japan Today." Sections with somewhat tighter focus treat "Textbooks and the Teaching of History," "Nature and Pollution," "Gender." A concluding section introduces the topic of "Japanese Americans." The text is accompanied by many boxes, photos, and charts. It is suitable for seventh grade and up. Varied, non-stereotyped; fascinating.