I Understood Japan. From Dragons to Pokémon

Unique knowledge about the history of the land of the rising sun from a historian-japanologist.

Alexander Raevsky is a historian-japanologist, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor at Tohoku University (Japan). He graduated from the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University and defended his PhD thesis on the religious sect “Aum Shinrikyo.” In 2019, he moved to Japan, where he lives and works to this day.

Japan is undoubtedly one of the most mysterious and astonishing countries on Earth, having given the world so many unique cultural phenomena that you can’t count them all. Geographically it is the East, but mentally it leans toward the West—it has hung somewhere in the middle and is capable of surprising any foreigner.

This book is for those who feel the charm of Japan, are intrigued and would like to learn more about it. Here are combined academic knowledge about the country’s history and culture, as well as the author’s personal experience. The seriousness of the content goes hand in hand with an engaging narrative language and ease of exposition. In the pages of this book you will find:

– major milestones of Japanese history—from the wars of samurai to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki;

– the roots of the manga and anime phenomenon, as well as of Japan’s classical cinema;

– surprising facts about the Japanese national cuisine and their tastes;

– and finally, an attempt to gather all the pieces of this puzzle to understand the mysterious Japanese soul.

To understand Japan, of course, is far from easy—but this book is written to help everyone who wants to take the first step in that direction.