Samuel L. Leiter is professor emeritus of theater at Brooklyn College, CUNY.

Leiter is well known as one of the foremost scholars of Kabuki. In the present volume, he offers a fascinating glimpse of the cross-cultural moment when Japan opened to the West after the Meiji Restoration (1868) and "foreigners" encountered Kabuki for the first time. Including some 40 first-person accounts dating from 1859 to 1912, the anthology comprises six chronological sections and provides a kaleidoscopic view of Kabuki through non-Japanese eyes. The individual pieces are fascinating, but the value of the anthology is greater than the sum of its parts because of the variety and depth of the individual essays and Leiter’s erudition and strong, clearly written commentary. The book is equally intriguing for the range of its authors/observers: Americans, Europeans, Australians. Who were they? Why were they in Japan? What do their impressions of Kabuki reveal about them? This brilliant book will be an invaluable resource for scholars of Japanese theater and for those interested in history, intercultural encounters, and changing cultural perceptions. Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgments Part I: OverviewChapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: A Brief Survey of Meiji KabukiPart II: The 1860sChapter 3: From Japan through American Eyes (1859; 1860), by Francis HallChapter 4: From Ten Weeks in Japan: “Japanese Drama” (1860), by Rev. George SmithChapter 5: From Japan through American Eyes (1861; 1862), by Francis HallChapter 6: From the Capital of the Tycoon: “Osaca” (1862), by Si Rutherford AlcockChapter 7: From A Lady’s Visit to Manila and Japan (1862) by Anna D’AlmeidaChapter 8: “Japanese Theaters” (1864), by Humbert AiméChapter 9: From A Diplomat in Japan (1866?), by Sir Ernest SatowChapter 10: More from the 1860s, by Jacob Mortimer Silver, R. Mountenney Jephson, and Edward Pennell ElmhirstPart III: 1870sChapter 11: From Japanese Episodes: “A Day in a Japanese Theatre” (1872), by Edward H. HouseChapter 12: From Clara’s Diary: “Kabuki—the Japanese Theater” (1876), by Clara A.N. WhitneyChapter 13: From Japan Day by Day: “The Theatre” (18

Samuel L. Leiter is professor emeritus of theater at Brooklyn College, CUNY.

Leiter is well known as one of the foremost scholars of Kabuki. In the present volume, he offers a fascinating glimpse of the cross-cultural moment when Japan opened to the West after the Meiji Restoration (1868) and "foreigners" encountered Kabuki for the first time. Including some 40 first-person accounts dating from 1859 to 1912, the anthology comprises six chronological sections and provides a kaleidoscopic view of Kabuki through non-Japanese eyes. The individual pieces are fascinating, but the value of the anthology is greater than the sum of its parts because of the variety and depth of the individual essays and Leiter’s erudition and strong, clearly written commentary. The book is equally intriguing for the range of its authors/observers: Americans, Europeans, Australians. Who were they? Why were they in Japan? What do their impressions of Kabuki reveal about them? This brilliant book will be an invaluable resource for scholars of Japanese theater and for those interested in history, intercultural encounters, and changing cultural perceptions. Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgments Part I: OverviewChapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: A Brief Survey of Meiji KabukiPart II: The 1860sChapter 3: From Japan through American Eyes (1859; 1860), by Francis HallChapter 4: From Ten Weeks in Japan: “Japanese Drama” (1860), by Rev. George SmithChapter 5: From Japan through American Eyes (1861; 1862), by Francis HallChapter 6: From the Capital of the Tycoon: “Osaca” (1862), by Si Rutherford AlcockChapter 7: From A Lady’s Visit to Manila and Japan (1862) by Anna D’AlmeidaChapter 8: “Japanese Theaters” (1864), by Humbert AiméChapter 9: From A Diplomat in Japan (1866?), by Sir Ernest SatowChapter 10: More from the 1860s, by Jacob Mortimer Silver, R. Mountenney Jephson, and Edward Pennell ElmhirstPart III: 1870sChapter 11: From Japanese Episodes: “A Day in a Japanese Theatre” (1872), by Edward H. HouseChapter 12: From Clara’s Diary: “Kabuki—the Japanese Theater” (1876), by Clara A.N. WhitneyChapter 13: From Japan Day by Day: “The Theatre” (18

Samuel L. Leiter is professor emeritus of theater at Brooklyn College, CUNY.

Leiter is well known as one of the foremost scholars of Kabuki. In the present volume, he offers a fascinating glimpse of the cross-cultural moment when Japan opened to the West after the Meiji Restoration (1868) and "foreigners" encountered Kabuki for the first time. Including some 40 first-person accounts dating from 1859 to 1912, the anthology comprises six chronological sections and provides a kaleidoscopic view of Kabuki through non-Japanese eyes. The individual pieces are fascinating, but the value of the anthology is greater than the sum of its parts because of the variety and depth of the individual essays and Leiter’s erudition and strong, clearly written commentary. The book is equally intriguing for the range of its authors/observers: Americans, Europeans, Australians. Who were they? Why were they in Japan? What do their impressions of Kabuki reveal about them? This brilliant book will be an invaluable resource for scholars of Japanese theater and for those interested in history, intercultural encounters, and changing cultural perceptions. Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgments Part I: OverviewChapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: A Brief Survey of Meiji KabukiPart II: The 1860sChapter 3: From Japan through American Eyes (1859; 1860), by Francis HallChapter 4: From Ten Weeks in Japan: “Japanese Drama” (1860), by Rev. George SmithChapter 5: From Japan through American Eyes (1861; 1862), by Francis HallChapter 6: From the Capital of the Tycoon: “Osaca” (1862), by Si Rutherford AlcockChapter 7: From A Lady’s Visit to Manila and Japan (1862) by Anna D’AlmeidaChapter 8: “Japanese Theaters” (1864), by Humbert AiméChapter 9: From A Diplomat in Japan (1866?), by Sir Ernest SatowChapter 10: More from the 1860s, by Jacob Mortimer Silver, R. Mountenney Jephson, and Edward Pennell ElmhirstPart III: 1870sChapter 11: From Japanese Episodes: “A Day in a Japanese Theatre” (1872), by Edward H. HouseChapter 12: From Clara’s Diary: “Kabuki—the Japanese Theater” (1876), by Clara A.N. WhitneyChapter 13: From Japan Day by Day: “The Theatre” (18