Anglo-Irish-American orientalist and writer Lafcadio Hearn lived an amazing life. Born in Greece, raised in Ireland, began his career in the USA, where, in the era of legalized racial segregation, he married a black woman, lived in Martinique, studying voodoo rituals, and then went to Japan and stayed there forever, became a professor at the University of Tokyo, accepted the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo and married a second time to the daughter of a samurai. Hearn's arrival in Japan occurred during the Meiji period, named after the motto of the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912). This was the time when Japan, abandoning self-isolation, began to turn into a world power. While teaching English to the Japanese, Hearn studied himself: he learned the intricacies of the language and absorbed the spirit of Japan. Here his literary life began, which brought him world fame. This book includes ethnocultural texts, most of which are published for the first time in Russian, about the lifestyle, household items, customs, morals and beliefs of the Japanese. Illustrations by Irina Tibilova.