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.