India, Aug. 30 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan - New Delhi's ties with Tokyo have deepened over the past couple of decades - has renewed interest in modern Japan and its society, which, while being very different from India's, shares some striking similarities with the latter. Against this backdrop, travel writer and author Pico Iyer's A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations becomes a window to the nation. The book draws on Iyer's readings, reflections, and conversations with Japanese friends - the author is based in Nara, Japan. A book of brief and incisive glimpses into Japanese culture, it binds anecdotes and statistics in a single thread. It covers a wide spectrum of subjects relating to Japanese life, from baseball to family, gardens to dating, familiarising the reader with the country without the trappings of a typical travel guide or travelogue....