„Неудобният“ остров. Книгата „За Япония като за Япония“ (1984) на Марко Семов

The article aims to examine the publication of Marko Semov’s book “About Japan as About Japan” (1984). The author is well placed before the socialist authorities in the People's Republic of Bulgaria, but his book about Japan is associated with crossing the established ideological boundaries, which is why the writer was sanctioned and his book was stopped from distribution. The article argues that the image of Japan in the book turns into an “inconvenient” island, during the visit of which not only the cultural asymmetries between the Bulgarian and the Japanese can be distinguished. Considered in a comparative aspect, next to the spectacular Japanese successes, it is much easier to stand out the numerous shortcomings related to the Bulgarian system in social, economic, ecological terms, etc.