In de tijdmachine door Japan: De Hofreis van het jaar 2000

by Rudy Kousbroek

Dutch

199 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2000

About the author

Herman Rudolf (Rudy) Kousbroek was a Dutch writer. As a prolific essayist who was a rationalist and atheist, he was a prominent figure in Dutch cultural life between 1970 and 2010. He sometimes used the pen names Leopold de Buch or Fred Coyett.

Reviews

[Jeroen]

3.5 stars

This book has on original concept, it falls somewhere between a travel blog and historic research. There are lots of interesting stories in this book, about how the Dutch used to live in Japan. Highlights are everything about prostitutes (or public women), and about Siebold, who turns out to have been a very unique person.

There are also a lot of languages in the book, I saw Dutch, Japanese, old Dutch (pretty obvious), but also German, French, English and even some Latin. The old Dutch, German and French wasn't translated most of the time, so that can be a challenge.

Rudy has a very interesting writing style. Sometimes archaic, but always vivid. Combined with the multitude of languages, this is not a quick read.

All in all, definitely recommended.