Alex Kerr is an American writer, antiques collector and Japanologist. Lost Japan is his most famous work. He was the first foreigner to be awarded the Shincho Gakugei Literature Prize for the best work of non-fiction published in Japan.
By exposing the convenient demarcations which define Kyoto, Alex Kerr and Kathy Sokol have deconstructed Kyoto cliche´s and in the process have produced a surprising and refreshing addition to Kyoto lore. ... Kerr and Sokol have performed a minor miracle by presenting that which is present in Kyoto as that which we have yet to see. I know that I will never pass a wall, or tread a floor, or sit on tatami the same way again. ... Another Kyoto is a kind of rapturous rupture which explodes the field of cultural, social, and poetic possibilities. * Kyoto Journal *