Secrets of Japan
Japan's traditional architecture and interior design, its arts and crafts, its food and apparel, even its wrapping paper, have an exotic appeal to Westerners that verges on the hypnotic, and exercises a seductive attraction on foreign visitors. TOKYO April 29, 2004 -- When the first Westerners of record stumbled onto Japan in the 1540s, the discovery of the islands by Europeans resulted in an influx of traders and Christian missionaries, both intent on expanding their empires in Asia. Among the many things that astounded these first Western visitors to Japan was the incredible quality of its handicrafts and arts, and the ability of Japanese craftsmen to copy any Western product not only perfectly but to improve on it in the process. Thereafter, Japanese arts and crafts as well as Western products made in Japan were shipped to Europe in large volume. ......

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