Present-day Japan

Front matter

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Preface

THE letters which form the groundwork of what will be found in the following pages were not in the first instance intended for publication. The writer's apology for adding to the already large number of books on Japan is the frequently-made suggestion that they might prove to be not without interest to a wider circle than that for which they were originally intended, as reflecting the experience of a person arriving in Japan with no feeling but curiosity and gradually falling under the influence of its manifold charm through the sympathy brought by . increasing familiarity.

The contrast between first impressions and those received after some degree of such familiarity had been acquired has suggested to the writer that in the case of Japan — ^more, perhaps, than in that of most foreign countries — the pleasure of a visit depends greatly on a knowledge of the associations connected with what is s^en; she is, moreover, convinced that the present achievements of the nation are best understood when considered in the light of its past and with reference to the ethical forces which acted upon it during the centuries of its seclusion. For these reasons she has retained and amplified the notes on historical and religions subjects meant originally for the information of an intmding visitor.

The letters are not dated or separated, because they are not presented in order as written, but have been so arranged that the places and subjects spoken of might be treated with some degree of continnity, passages written soon after arrival being retained by way of introduction to each chapter for the sake of the descriptions which they contain.

London, 1907.