The book is dedicated to describing the culture and lifestyle of the Japanese. The first part of the book, which gave the name to the entire publication, belongs to A. N. Meshcheryakov, a famous scientist, author of many works on ancient and medieval Japan, who lived for a long time in this interesting country. With constant love, but bluntly, he shows us the internal, sometimes intimate features of Japanese life in the inextricable connection of the past and present. The second part contains historical notes of Jesuit missionaries who preached Christianity among the Japanese in the 16th-17th centuries. The third part is made up of archival documents, travel diaries and memoirs of European travelers who visited Japan in the 17th-19th centuries. All this makes it possible to better understand not only the realities of Japanese everyday life, but also to penetrate the very soul of the Japanese from the side that has remained hidden for us for so long. The book is richly illustrated and addressed to those who are interested in the culture of the peoples of the Far East.