Japanese society

Before World War II, anthropological materials on Japan in English were practically nonexistent, with Embree's Suye Mura a lonely precursor of the flood of research published in the postwar years. Anthropology has been accompanied by Western scholars in other disciplines, and the readily available literature on Japan in English alone is now beyond the compass of all, save an accomplished few. The variety of approaches and differing interpretations call for guidance, and this volume provides that and more. -- Foreword.