Ronald Dore (1925–2018)

This minor book charts the postwar developments and local personalities of a rural Japanese village. The British author seems to have built up enough trust over twenty years that the much-quoted Shinohata villagers are completely candid about their family relationships and local squabbles. It's chockablock full of information about farming, architecture, and local rituals. It's all a little too distant and clinical to recommend to a casual reader, but if you (for some reason) need to know about rural Japanese life in 1955, this book is an excellent source.… (meer)

Having read two books on Japan by British authors, I am always pleased by dry sense of humor they bring to their work. The nonchalance with which Dore described the practice of "nightcrawling" by salacious youths had me chuckling to myself for hours.

However, this was an excellent book for seeing rural japanese life as it was and is. Of particular interest was the observerations the author made over twenty years as the country began its rapid industrial growth after the second world war.

There are enough tidbits (or as Dore would say, "titbits") here to keep me entranced for a long time. I might revisit this book again sometime.… (meer)