Seeing Japan

By Charles Whipple

Book Overview

A gloriously illustrated book about Japan today. It's regions, culture, customs, people, and society. Seeing Japan showcases the best of the country today with lavish, full-colour photographs and lively text. The scenes and images that best typify Japan are showcased in this lavish production - full colour photographs throughout, with a succinct and illuminating text. Part 1 presents the tremendous range of landscapes and customs in the various distinctive regions of this suprisingly large and diverse nation, while Part 2 concentrates on the arts and traditions of a

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 4770023375
• ISBN13: 9784770023377
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Kodansha USA
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.9" x 0.7" x 11.9"

Customer Reviews

My new favorite book of photos on Japan

Way to go. I am glad to see a sweeping overview of everything to do with the breathtaking beauty of my favorite island. Region by region, city by city, building by building, landmark by landmark, and a lot of lovely photos of natural beauty make this one a pleasure to see. And the accompanying text is not too dry or boring. Great book.

Japan of my Dreams

Wow, this is one beautiful book. All of the considerable beauty of the island nation of Japan has been sought out, carefully selected, and elegantly photographed to be even more stunning than it is in real life. There is quite a sweeping range of images here, from the lavender fields and Snow Festival of Hokkaido, to the ancient temples of Nara and Kyoto, all the way to the high technology of the ASIMO robot and the mag-lev Bullet Train. This is the kind of book that makes me really want to go to Japan, even though I live there. "Seeing Japan" is not an honest look at Japan, but more of a love-letter or a tourists brochure. There is not anything so much as hinting at a dark corner on this Isle of Wonders. All of the images are radiant and lovely, with the bad parts carefully edited out. There is no stray shot of the spider's web of powerlines that covers the country, obscuring almost all scenes of beauty. The temples contain no element of the loudspeakers that blare away history lessons and advertisements, or the hustle and bustle of the millions of people that are everywhere you go. Looking at this book, one would almost think that Japan was a serene, quiet country, which of course it is not. And that's OK. There are plenty of other books out there looking at the underbelly of Japan, so it is nice to have one that is pure frosting. Sometimes it is easy to forget what a spectacularly beautiful country Japan is. It takes a photographer's eye to bring out the very best, to showcase the colors and the textures that are so very abundant. It takes someone like Charles Whipple to write the text, a nostalgic guided tour through a country he obviously loves, to inspire one to hunt for this Japan, the Japan of my Dreams.