It is a land of great beauty,both in the landscape and in its celebrations,festivals, and traditional arts. After photographing China, North Korea, and the United States, Hiroji Kubota spent four years traveling the length and breadth of Japan's many islands, capturing the magnificent diversity of his own country.

Modern Japan, the second largest economy in the world, is a land of contradictions. Home of some of the most sophisticated technology and manufacturing, it also has communities whose daily life has changed little in the last 500 years. It is a land of great beauty,both in the landscape and in its celebrations,festivals, and traditional arts. After photographing China, North Korea, and the United States, Hiroji Kubota spent four years traveling the length and breadth of Japan's many islands, capturing the magnificent diversity of his own country. From rice paddies to pachinko parlors, ancient temples to the Honda assembly plants, Kubota's lens has captured both the ordinary and the extraordinary in 175 sumptuous color photographs.

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PHOTOGRAPHER'S AFTERWORD

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS