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Description
The Great WaveBy: Christopher Benfey When the United States entered the Gilded Age after the Civil War, argues cultural historian Christopher Benfey, the nation lost its philosophical moorings and looked eastward to Old Japan, with its seemingly untouched indigenous culture, for balance and perspective. Japan, meanwhile, was trying to reinvent itself as a more cosmopolitan, modern state, ultimately transforming itself, in the course of twenty five years, from a
By: Christopher BenfeyWhen the United States entered the Gilded Age after the Civil War, argues cultural historian Christopher Benfey, the nation lost its philosophical moorings and looked eastward to “Old Japan,” with its seemingly untouched indigenous culture, for balance and perspective. Japan, meanwhile, was trying to reinvent itself as a more cosmopolitan, modern state, ultimately transforming itself, in the course of twenty-five years, from a feudal backwater to an international power. This great wave of historical and cultural reciprocity between the two young nations, which intensified during the late 1800s, brought with it some larger-than-life personalities, as the lure of unknown foreign cultures prompted pilgrimages back and forth across the Pacific.
In The Great Wave, Benfey tells the story of the tightly knit group of nineteenth-century travelers—connoisseurs, collectors, and scientists—who dedicated themselves to exploring and preserving Old Japan. As Benfey writes, “A sense of urgency impelled them, for they were convinced—Darwinians that they were—that their quarry was on the verge of extinction.”
These travelers include Herman Melville, whose Pequod is “shadowed by hostile and mysterious Japan”; the historian Henry Adams and the artist John La Farge, who go to Japan on an art-collecting trip and find exotic adventures; Lafcadio Hearn, who marries a samurai’s daughter and becomes Japan’s preeminent spokesman in the West; Mabel Loomis Todd, the first woman to climb Mt. Fuji; Edward Sylvester Morse, who becomes the world’s leading expert on both Japanese marine life and Japanese architecture; the astronomer Percival Lowell, who spends ten years in the East and writes seminal works on Japanese culture before turning his restless attention to life on Mars; and President (and judo enthusiast) Theodore Roosevelt. As well, we learn of famous Easterners come West, including Kakuzo Okakura, whose The Book of Tea became a cult favorite, and Shuzo Kuki, a leading philosopher of his time, who studied with Heidegger and tutored Sartre.
Finally, as Benfey writes, his meditation on cultural identity “seeks to capture a shared mood in both the Gilded Age and the Meiji Era, amid superficial promise and prosperity, of an overmastering sense of precariousness and impending peril.”
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★★★★★ 5
Great loofahs
Style: Shower loofah:1Pink rabbit+1White rabbit
Super cute! My kids love them.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Adorable, Fun, and Perfect for Toddlers’ Bath Time!
Style: happy MARINE
These are so fun and cute! The size is just right for little hands, and they’re great quality with a gentle feel. My daughter is a lot more willing to wash her body herself using these, which makes bath time so much easier. They’re a big hit in our house!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Cute characters
Style: happy MARINE
I've had these for awhile and the characters help with bath time for my son. They're cute and my son picks a different character he wants to get washed by with each bath. They're fairly soft, not as soft as baby loofahs. Clean easily like any other loofah.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Totally cool
Style: happy MARINE
Very well made, and the kids love them.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2026
★★★★★ 4
Skin friendly for kids
Style: happy MARINE
It's of good quality but because of the design, if not dried properly can be a home to bacteria.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2026