The Land od the Rising Yen

Alien
    ‘The English have no soul; they have
understatement instead.’ An alien himself, George Mikes looks at Britain and the British from an outsider’s point of view — and provides many wry and
humorous insights along the way.
     
    How to be Decadent
    The British are a sporting race —
having been Top Dog and Ruler of the Waves for centuries, they’ve decided to
give others a chance. This is not a nation of Vulgar Winners, this is the
nation of Good Losers. The thing is, one has to know how to decay: your
inborn excellence may keep you at the top; or else you may overdo it and decay
a shade too speedily. But don’t despair, one can become successfully decadent.
All that is needed is determination, skill, the united effort of a great nation
— and this hilarious book.

1  Richard Storry, A History of Modern Japan, Penguin Books.

2 See also my earlier book, East is East, André Deutsch, 1958. I have taken over a few odd paragraphs from the book,
without expressing my thanks and indebtedness to myself on each occasion.

3 Quoted from Richard Storry, A History of
Modern Japan.

4 See Dr G. A. Lensen; Russia ’s Japan Expedition 185 2-5 , University of Florida Press.

5 May I, with apologies, refer the interested
reader to a chapter on Australian egalitarianism in my Boomerang (André
Deutsch).

6 Ruth Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the
Sword, Seeker and Warburg.

7 Published by C. E. Tuttle.

8 Translated by C. R. Boxer and quoted by Richard
Storry in A History of Modern Japan.

9 Japan Unmasked, C. E. Tuttle.

10 This is a legal expression, meaning the age
when women consent to one.

11 ‘Ancestor-worship (in Britain) has taken the
form of reverence for old houses and churches, the most amazing coinage, the
quaintest weights and measures. Guards regiments, public houses, old cars,
cricket, above all the hereditary monarchy etc.' The Rise of the
Meritocracy, by Michael Young, Thames and Hudson.

12 Instant Japanese, by Masahiro Watanabe
and Kei Nagashima, Yohan Publications.

13 Watanabe and Nagashima, Instant Japanese.

14 This was a little joke. The Emperor of Japan is
not actually Jewish.