Behind the Mask

Behind the Mask by Buruma, Ian. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780452010543.

Subtitle: ON SEXUAL DEMONS, SACRED MOTHERS, TRANSVESTITES, GANGSTERS, AND OTHER JAPANESE CULTURAL HEROES From the back cover: After reading this book, you will never look at Japan and the Japanese in quite the same way again. For you will see Japan as more than a land of Toyotas, transistors, tea ceremonies, and flower arranging. You will understand it also as a land of people with dreams and fantasies, and a morality and an immorality all their own. BEHIND THE MASK is an exploration of that Japan -- as expressed in its pornographic movies and comic books, massage parlors and strip joints, popular TV shows and entertainment idols, and other manifestations of Japanese attitudes and activities in the realm of the psyche and the senses.