Strange But True Stories from Japan

by Jack Seward

Overview

Strange but True Stories from Japan is a fascinating collection of vignettes, ranging from historical to the personal.

Here you will be exposed to the goings-on of Americans serving time in Japanese prisons and the many who claimed the identity of Tokyo Rose. And learn about the bizarre habits of the eels that roam the Chikugo River.

In this eclectic and, well, strange, book you'll relive-from a distance-Kamakura's hara-kiri bloodshed and discover the surprising fate of the armless geisha, Tsuma-kichi. Seward also weaves touching memoir pieces between chapters that recount hilarious instances of fractured English and shocking-to-the-average-American Japanese cuisine. Written with an eye and ear for the theatrical and for the rhythm of Japanese life, this delightful but serious romp through modern Japan brings Seward's wide and varied cultural and military background to center stage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462900305
Publisher:	Tuttle Publishing
Publication date:	07/05/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Jack Seward has written forty-four books on Japan in both English and Japanese, including three Charles E. Tuttle titles—Outrageous Japanese (1991), Hari-Kiri (1968), and Cave of the Chinese Skeletons (1964)—and his best-known work, The Japanese (William Morrow, 1972). He studied Japanese at the US Army language school at the University of Michigan. He was sent to Japan during the Occupation as an army officer and later served as a CIA agent. He remained in Japan for twenty-five years as a businessman and writer. Seward is a regular contributor to Nichibei Journal and Tokyo Weekender, and he lives in Houston, TX.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	xi
Chapter 1	Lionhearted Women	1
Chapter 2	Americans Serving Time in Japanese Prisons	11
Chapter 3	Phallic Follies	21
Chapter 4	The Mass Hara-kiri at Kamakura	31
Chapter 5	A Second Israel?	39
Chapter 6	An Unusual Character from the Past	51
Chapter 7	Three Extraordinary Geisha	59
Chapter 8	Children at War	73
Chapter 9	One or Two Dozen Tokyo Roses	83
Chapter 10	Xmas Paint Your Harts	99
Chapter 11	Manga: The Literature of the Nation?	109
Chapter 12	The Reincarnation of Jesus Christ in Japan?	117
Chapter 13	Night Crawling, Eel Traps, and Retreaded Hymens	129
Chapter 14	Gun Control, Japanese Style	137
Chapter 15	Alexander Romanov: Grand Duke or Great Comedian?	145
Chapter 16	Z - Z - Z - Z	153
Chapter 17	A Kitten Battles the Traffic at the Iigura-cho Intersection	161
Chapter 18	What Food These Morsels Be	169
Chapter 19	An American Apostate Humanizes the Emperor	193
Chapter 20	The Supreme Hero of Modern Japan	205
Chapter 21	The First American Teacher of English in Japan	215
Chapter 22	Deadly Metal into the Abdomen	223
Chapter 23	Japan Tests an Atom Bomb	233