A Walk in Kumamoto: The Life & Times of Setsu Koizumi, Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese Wife

Providing a rare insight into the daily life and idiosyncrasies of a world-famous cross-cultural (Japanese-British) marriage at the turn of the century, this book is related by the Japanese wife and named after the town where she and her famous author husband, Lafcadio Hearn, married. It was a world famous partnership because the British side was (at the time) a bestselling author (Lafcadio Hearn) who married the daughter of a high-ranking Samurai, and later became a naturalized Japanese - hence the new name Koizumi. The book gives a first-hand account of how wealthy, distinguished Samurai families were turned onto the streets of Japan following the end of the Japanese Civil War in 1868 when the old feudal order , where the Samurai reigned supreme, was rejected completely in favour of modernization and Westernization . It includes accounts of daily life in Japan a hundred years ago, and aims to help the reader understand the Japanese way of life that illuminates the present day. Lafcadio Hearn’s books about Japan are considered (by scholars) to offer the most penetrating insights into Japanese society and culture of any books written during the last century. This book aims to help bridge the different thinking between East and West.