Extreme Exoticism: Japan in the American Musical Imagination

By W. Anthony Sheppard, Marylin & Arthur Levitt Professor of Music. To what extent can music be employed to shape one culture’s understanding of another? In the American imagination, Japan has represented the “most alien” nation for over 150 years. This book offers a detailed documentation and wide-ranging investigation of music’s role in shaping American perceptions of the Japanese, the influence of Japanese music on American composers, and the place of Japanese Americans in American musical life.