From: The Art Bulletin | Date: March 1, 1994| Author: | COPYRIGHT 1994 College Art Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information) Copyright information

The subtext of Christine Guth's remarkable book Japan's role in the centuries-old traffic in misunderstanding and discord between traditional, non-Western societies and the aggressive, technologically advanced nations of the West. Japan began to experience these tensions in the 1540s, at the dawn of the Age of Exploration. Guth takes up the story in the 1860s, when Western warships forced Japan to reopen itself to trade and diplomatic relations. Its reaction, of course, was one of the most remarkable in modern history. In less than forty years Japan restructured its government and ...

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