The Passenger: Japan

The Passenger: Japan is part of a series that collects new writing, photography, art, and reportage from around the world. The volume explores Japanese society through various perspectives, examining the country's social structures, culture industry, major tech corporations, and enduring traditions alongside its diverse urban subcultures. Japan is presented as a complex subject caught between an aging population and extreme post-modernity, offering insights into contemporary and future global trends. The collection covers topics ranging from Japanese attitudes toward death and the Tokyo music scene to urban alienation, cinema, sumo, and toxic masculinity. Unlike traditional travel guides, these essays and reportage pieces function as literary exploration rather than practical tourism advice. Contributions include pieces on the tsunami's aftermath by Richard Lloyd Parry, life in Shimokitazawa by Yoshimoto Banana, and Japan's resistance to populism by Ian Buruma, along with articles on Shinto sects, debt evasion, declining sexual desire, American blues culture, sumo wrestling, and Ainu history.