Japan To-day and To-morrow

Abstract

THIS book makes little attempt to give the history of Japan or to describe the country or its political or naval and military development. It is, we think, a successful attempt to understand the Japanese temper, character, spirit, and genius. In material things the Japanese have altered altogether in the last sixty years, but in spiritual things they have altered very little. The traveller describing faithfully what he sees is usually ignorant of the things described in this book, but these are the things which it is most important for the statesmen of other countries to know. Mr. Mabie is an American, and he is anxious that Americans particularly shall look below the surface of things. He shows that the genius of a people eludes the direct search for it, and he looks for its revelation not in universities and courts, but in shops and fields and homes. Japan To-day and To-morrow. By H. W. Mabie. Pp. ix + 291. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 8s. 6d. net.