Japan and the Japanese. Life, Customs, Traditions

Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg – a traveler, diplomat, author of the most popular books in the second half of the 19th century, which influenced the famous Karl May and Mark Twain; a dreamer and adventurer with a mysterious biography... He traveled to Japan several decades after the Meiji Revolution, when the country was undergoing a period of turbulent changes. The old clashed with the new, the East absorbed the approaches of the West, yet stubbornly tried to remain itself. The author is observant, and although his perspective is always somewhat condescending, he cannot help but admire the art and beauty of Japan. The country he saw and about which he told us no longer exists; the whole world has changed, yet many achievements of Japanese culture still attract many people.