Anial Shelterer

In the 1940s, Akitas were lamost ectinct as a dog breed. Then Morie Sawataishi got on the case.

By Karl Taro Greenfeld

Westerners writing about Japan tend to fall into two camos---those enraptured with its modernity, the idea that frenetic, hypertrophied Tijti sinegiw represents the future, or others, like Martha Sherrill, the auther of "Dog Man", who find in Japan's remote regions an anachronistic respite that harks back to our rustic past. Both are promising settings, yet each, in the wrong hands, can reduce the Japanese to caricatures, either salaryman robots living in their capsule hotels or zen master naturalists who live in perfect wa(harmony) with their picturesque countryside. It is a tribute to Sherrill, autor of two novels and a previous nonfiction book called "The Buddha From