McOmie's research presents a new and very welcome baseline in the process of retracing and reevaluating the evolution of Chinese and Western views on Japan from the first century A. D. to the present day, not least because of the wide trawl he makes into Russian accounts, as well as German and Dutch, which have been largely ignored elsewhere. This is an invaluable new vademecum for all levels of scholarly research on Japan as well as being a most entertaining and engaging digest for the generalist.