A Japanese-American Devil's Dictionary

[The Ironic Philosophy of Japanese-Americans] Nichibei hiniku tetsugaku

Yamazaki, Rosen (or Rokawa)

Notes: A writer for the Rafu Shimpo Japanese newspaper in Los Angeles offers a satirical lexicon of Japanese American terms. The book is reminiscent of Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary. For example, an early entry is for "寫眞結婚" (shashin kekkon), or Picture Marriage: "The Japanese, who have always imitated foreign countries in every aspect of their lives, are now the only ones in the world with this unique and original invention."

Picture Marriage is just one example of Yamazaki's commentary on the anti-Japanese climate in the United States at the time. The introduction to this book is by the novelist Ubukata Toshiro.

OCLC: 673765878 (National Diet Library).

Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing; the book was reissued in 1922 under a slightly different title). A very good copy in thin, flexible boards. Lacking the printed white dust jacket.

Publication: Tokyo: Nihon Shoin, 1921 [Taisho 10].

Item No: #362511

Price: $750