As the first British professor of philosophy since 1882 to be invited to teach at the prestigious and enigmatic University of Tokyo, Simon May enjoyed a degree of access denied to other commentators. Each chapter of the book focuses on some everyday human matter, such as love, death, bureaucracy, hygiene, food, commuting, education, marriage, and memory. Japanese attitudes to such issues are explored through a mixture of light-hearted anecdote and trenchant analysis, and through his vivid accounts of flying goldfish, gangsters at funerals, businessmen paying good money to be whipped, doctors faking death certificates, and cover-ups at all levels of society, Simon May provides a unique first-hand account of immersion into a fascinating culture.
