Arishima Takeo spent four years in the United States, studying and working at the turn of the century - one of the first Japanese to do so. This book is one of the first accounts of a Japanese experiencing life in a totally new, totally strange western society. It is also a real-life study of late Victorian America. The book is part of a series which aims to collect the best of Japanese fiction and non-fiction in modern translation, for presentation to a western audience. Produced under the aegis of the Japan-US Conference on Cultural and Educational Exchange, its volumes are designed to make readers aware of the social and cultural underpinnings of modern Japan.