Introduction

Utsukushiki Nihon no Zanzo is the original Japanese edition of Lost Japan. It's a group of autobiographical essays, describing experiences I had since coming to Japan as a boy in 1964, and how the country has changed.

I wrote this book in Japanese as a series of articles for Shincho 45 magazine. In 1993, the articles came out as a book Utsukushiki Nihon no Zanzo (Last Glimpse of Beautiful Japan), which won the Shincho Gakugei literature award in 1994 (the first ever by a foreigner ). I later translated the book with the help of Bodhi Fishman into English, and in 1996 Lonely Planet published the English version as Lost Japan.

In 2000, Shincho-sha the original publisher, ceded the rights to Asahi Bunko, which now publishes the book in soft-cover.

The Japanese edition includes two essays lacking in the English version: one, a preface by Kabuki actor Bando Tamasaburo, and the other, an article by noted writer Shiba Ryotaro, who was head of the committee that awarded the book the Shincho Gakugei prize