ISBN ‎978-4924971400 1.05 pounds 219 pages International House of Japan; First Edition (2015) Synopsis Before the modern era, people in Japan and in other nations tolerated and even welcomed foolery in their heroes. Modernization, at least in Japan, ushered in a preoccupation in schools and in the workplace with seriousness and diligence. Japanese society lost its tolerance for silliness. People came to regard foolery as socially useless, as mere frivolity’. So declares the author of this thought-provoking analysis of the role of laughter in Japan.