Japan: The Soul of a Nation. John Carroll

was in place for its rapid modernization after the Meiji Restoration of 1868,

      The young samurai from peripheral feudal domains who overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate, quickly shifted gears and pushed through an institutional and psychological revolution designed to make Japan strong, independent and respected throughout the world.

      By the time Emperor Meiji died in 1912, Japan was a world power with an empire of its own. But the Meiji modernization process that had made possible impressive triumphs on battlefields and global markets also contained the seeds of destruction that were to bear bitter fruit at Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.

      Whether in the city or countryside. Japanese bathhouses have always been centers for community interaction. This one is at the Hoshi Onsen in Gumma Prefecture.

      Scenes from the Tawaraya Inn in Kyoto. Service at such a first-class, traditional ryokan is fit for royalty and is designed to pamper all the senses while appealing to aesthetic sensibilities.

      Japanese love to eat. but denizens of Osaka are especially famed for their lusty appetites. In the Dotombori entertainment district, a chef at the Wadoka Fish Restaurant prepares a tasty treat. Diners slurp down ramen noodles, ubiquitous throughout the country. A couple enjoys a cup of java at a café in the trendy Daikanyama district of Tokyo. A dedicated staff is an absolute necessity for such an establishment as the Tawaraya Inn in Kyoto.

      The semi-traditional garden of the Adachi Museum in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, This quiet town was for many years home to the famous writer Lafcadio Hearn, whose Japanese name was Koizumi Yakumo.

      Traditional Japan

      "In winter as in summer the people live on raw vegetables and go about barefooted . They are fond of liquor . In their worship, men of importance simply clap their hands, instead of kneeling or bowing. The people live long, some to one hundred and others to eighty or ninety years."

      — Excerpt from the Wei Zhi (History of the Kingdom of Wei) C. AD 297

      A mendicant priest with begging bowl in Tokyo.

      Participants in this Shinto ceremony at Nikko wear a variety of traditional costumes denoting specific function and status.

      It is fascinating how foreign travelers to Japan, whether from the Asian mainland or the West, have made surprisingly similar observations even though their visits have been separated by hundreds of years or even a millennium.

      Much that is typically Japanese has survived the Meiji Restoration, rapid urbanization and the Occupation after World War II. Although General Douglas MacArthur and his band of reformers more or less forced the Japanese into accepting a very liberal constitution, at heart the country remained an authority-oriented, vertical society. Today's Japan is indeed democratic, just like it is indeed a free market economy, but always true to them in its own fashion, always true to them in its own way.