The Japanese passenger who survived the Titanic but faced unbearable shaming at home

[Jorpho]

@boingboing

but had instead come to Japan via the 1859 book Self Help by Samuel Smiles, which was a huge success in translation and proved enormously influential in introducing Western values to Japan.

Well, that’s interesting. Is there a particular reason it was so successful? Was it just an unusually good book? Did it have a lot of competition? Is it still well-known in Japan today? (Is Mr. Smiles the subject of preposterous anime caricatures?)