+ − Boston Transcript p6 F 14 ’20 480w + Cath World 111:412 Je ’20 90w
GREENBIE, SIDNEY. Japan real and imaginary. il *$4 (2½c) Harper 915.2
20–9726
It is the author’s claim for his book that he has given due regard to both the pleasant and the unpleasant sides of Japan, to the fine sights and the bad odors. Japan is in a state of transition, with resultant discords everywhere between the old and the new Japan, and the impression the reader takes away from the book is that in its present state it is an unhappy country. “To save Japan from itself we must stop exalting it; to save ourselves from Japan we must stop condemning it.” The contents are in four parts: 1, Impressionistic; 2. The communal phase; 3. The spokes of modern Japan; 4, Critical. There are many illustrations and an index.
+ Booklist 17:67 N ’20
“His book is of conspicuous value for the shrewdly observed wealth of detail it gives of the everyday life of contemporary Japan. The faults of the book are patent enough. With so much matter, it is to be regretted there is not more perfect art.” R. M. Weaver
+ − Bookm 51:633 Ag ’20 400w
“It is the best book on actual Japan, by an American, in some time; best from the viewpoint of fact, not poesy nor romantic charm. No one interested in the far East as related to America should miss it.”
+ Dial 69:323 S ’20 90w