Nagai Kafu is one of the greatest modern Japanese writers, but until now his classic collection, American Stories, based on his sojourn from Japan to Washington State, Michigan, and New York City in the early years of the twentieth century, has never been available in English. Here, with a detailed and insightful introduction, is an elegant translation of Kafu's perceptive and lyrical account.

Like de Tocqueville a century before, Kafu casts a fresh, keen eye on vibrant and varied America--world fairs, concert halls, and college campuses; saloons, the immigrant underclass, and...