Boye Lafayette De Mente has had a rather long and varied career, most notably for me writing about Japan and the Japanese way of thinking. I would consider his
Japan's Cultural Code Words: 233 Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese
and
Japanese Etiquette & Ethics In Business
classics in helping to understand the Japanese culture in a way we gai-jin can understand it and can heartily recommend those volumes.
This volume, 'The Bizarre & the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun!' doesn't quite fit. Oh, it is amusing and it gives pleasant little insights to the Japanese for this gai-jin, but it is pretty much pure fluff. Written as a series of short vignettes the book casts its eye on various Japanese, well, 'quirks', again from a gai-jin perspective; the Japanese don't see anything quirky about any of this. The book seems to be edited by Boye's daughter and almost seems like a weak, last hurrah from the man. I do hope he is well, but then again he has been exploring the world since the 50's...
While I can recommend the book as a pleasant-enough read - the vignettes are indeed interesting, amusing and do offer insights to the Japanese - as a serious work for someone trying to get a real handle on how to do business with the Japanese the work falls short of what I'd expect from Boye Lafayette De Mente. A pity, that.
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