There are many books about Japan. This exotic country excites all the time, which gives birth to many reports concerning
it, including the ones written by Polish authors - let’s take Bator’s “Japonski wachlarz” (A Japanese Fan) or Bruczkowski’s “Bezsennosc w Tokio” (Sleepless in Tokyo) as an example. “Hokkaido” is
different. Even the book’s title suggests that you could look in its content in vain for spicy details concerning Japan’s landmarks - geishas, samurais, sake and origami. The authors (in the number of ten) endeavour to show Japan as it is, not as the readers would like to hear about. Thus, we will find here descriptions of local feasts, leisure activities and specific form of a sport encouragement. We will discover the secrets of mutton dishes as well as original residents of Hokkaido. We will travel through backwoods and cities’ centres just to eventually plunge in hot springs. The authors did their best to present Japan in a unconventional and
interesting way, but in the same time, not making it a country from another dimension. They prove that interesting not always means spectacular. The essays being content of the book are various. Some are general remarks on the authors’ lives in Japan while the others - are detailed reports on a fixed subject. Moreover, the first one, a lead-in, is over 70 years older than the others! Its author, Piotr Wilk-Witosławski was a Franciscan, spending some time on Hokkaido. His observations of life are interesting not only for their accuracy, but also timelessness. The following chapters are written by people of different age, education and reason for they stay in this country. Variety of styles and subjects may appear chaotic to some readers, but on the other hand, it undoubtedly diversifies read and adds some sense of reality to its content. The book was published in a very aesthetic way - with hard, ascetic cover, with bilingual introductions before each chapter (in Polish and Japanese). Inside there are hand-drawn pictures by one the authors, Piotr Wegrzynowicz, as well as computer-edited photos so that they looked as sketches. “Hokkaido” is a book worth recommendation, especially to all those, who are profoundly interested in Japan. It shows the country in a different mode, not glorifying nor condemning it. Its leading motto is to fight stereotypes and what follows it - prejudices. It’s hard to imagine a loftier purpose for creating a book, so I add this as an argument to emphasise this book’s value.