Japan.

The country conjures up images: an army of men in suits taking over the world economy; tea ceremonies and serene gardens; a society of high-tech gadgets and Shinto shrines; a rapacious destroyer of the environment.

For David Suzuki and Keibo Oiwa, the country had more connotations. A Canadian with the face and genes of a Japanese, David Suzuki knew that his life had been irrevocably stamped by his heritage. And as a biologist and environmentalist, he despaired of the destruction the Japanese were wreaking on the land and the seas in their quest for economic dominance.

Keibo Oiwa grew up in Japan thinking he was Japanese; only as an adult did he learn that his father was Korean - a serious distinction in Japan. As an anthropologist who had spent time in North America studying minorities, he was also fascinated by the intricacies and diversity of the people in the country of his birth.

Together these two men journeyed through Japan, finding and interviewing men and women who showed them another side of the country. They met artists and farmers, grocers and teachers, TV reporters and scientists, aboriginal peoples and 'untouchables'. And they found concern for peace, passion for ancestral ways, a love of community and a determination to fight against environmental destruction.

In this book they bring these people, their ideas and their values to life. We hear the voices of the other Japan - a land of diversity, wonder and hope - a Japan we never knew.