Lost Japan (美しき日本の残像, Utsukushiki Nihon no Zanzo) is a 1993 book written by American Japonologist Alex Kerr.[1]
Background
The book deals with Kerr's life in Japan and on aspects of Japanese culture by which he was fascinated. The text is a collection of personal essays in which he suggests that the current popularity of ikebana, Kabuki, and other famous Japanese arts and crafts represents the final efflorescence of a moribund culture.[2] He wrote it in Japanese, and it was translated into English with the help of Bodhi Fishman and published as Lost Japan in 1996.
The original Japanese version was published by Shinchosha in 1993; a paperback version has been published since 2000 by The Asahi Shimbun Company. The English translation was first published by Lonely Planet in 1996; in 2015 the book was reissued by Penguin UK with a new preface written by Alex.
Translations have also been published in Traditional and Simplified Chinese characters, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.
Reception
The book won the Shincho Gakugei literature award in 1994. Kerr was the first non-Japanese winner.[3][4][5]
Damian Flanagan of The Japan Times wrote, "A fascinating chronicle of Kerr’s diverse interactions with the country, the book spans such subjects as restoring a traditional Japanese house in the Iya Valley in Shikoku to collecting Japanese antiques often found languishing unloved in the kura (storehouses) of family homes. Kerr is superlative not only in bringing a connoisseur’s eye to the artefacts and architecture of his adopted homeland, but also in providing revelatory insights into the country in general. He provides an illuminating exploration of many hidden, magical aspects of Japanese culture from the mandala of temples studded around Nara to the ancient brothel district of Tobita in southern Osaka."[6]
