In Japanese, the word for "foreign country" means "outnation." But to many Americans and Japanese, it is Japan itself, despite its increasing influence in world affairs, that is the outsider-the outnation: a country, as some have said, in the world but not of it. How different is this industrial superpower? Why did its fast climb to the pinnacle of the global economy also contain the causes of its subsequent fall? And what can we all-Americans and...

Presents nine projects with step-by-step instructions for creating objects inspired by Japanese art, including a windsock kite, a sandal case, a block print, and a bento box.