The best academics bring a peculiar humility to their work. Alan Macfarlane, a distinguished anthropologist at Cambridge University and the author of this fine new survey of Japanese life, is a case in point. Drawing inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s conceit of a looking-glass land where all is not as it seems, Macfarlane masters a wealth of exotic detail into an elegantly arranged narrative that takes in everything from the mythical roots of sumo to the ubiquity of Shinto shrines. At the same time, he is sufficiently perceptive in remembering that looking-glasses are there for us to take a clearer view of ourselves, and addresses his own assumptions and values.

What’s missing is a personal sense of discovery. Throughout the book, Macfarlane quotes his Japanese friends as authorities on particular facets of their society without elaborating on the history of the relationships. Such an account might have shed some valuable light on the cross-cultural encounter without detracting from the seriousness of his project.

But Japan is the story here, not the author. If we don’t learn much about our guide, beyond his restless curiosity and fidelity to his discipline, the rewards of such professional modesty are evident.