Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: First Series

"Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan: First Series" by Lafcadio Hearn is a collection of impressionistic travel sketches reporting on Hearn's first travels in Japan between years 1890 and 1893. Hearn discusses several themes concerning Japanese culture such as religion and local folklore, and gives a detailed account of Japanese lands and people. Hearn describes an image of Japan that is mysterious and which intrigues him, which reminds him of an ancient civilization spared by what he believes to be a "Western contamination", as synonymous to modernization.