Japan

Photo: Dusk at an Osaka torii

Dusk darkens the torii, a gate built as the entrance to a Shinto shrine, on Miyajima.

Photograph by Paul Whitton, My Shot

Spilling more than 1,800 miles along the Asian mainland, from Siberia almost to Taiwan, the long string of islands that calls itself Japan is kaleidoscopic in the many faces it presents to the world. • Bullet trains, gentle geishas, strutting samurai, grim-faced salarymen. • History conjures horrific images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. • Today, Japan is an economic powerhouse, its technological marvels spanning the globe. • The values of Confucius—humility, generosity—may be found everywhere. • Still, the great philosopher would surely be mystified by this fabled land of endless contrast.

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