This is hands down the best book I’ve read in ages. It begins in l799 and is set in the port of Nagasaki, the Japanese Empire’s only harbor open to foreign trade. The protagonist is Jacob DeZoet, a young man serving a tour of duty as a merchant in the “Dutch East Indies” hoping to earn enough money to marry the woman he loves back home. The story provides great insight to the history of Japan’s then closed society, international economics, cultural differences and personal world views.
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