From Nine Years in Nipon by Henry Faulds, 1887.

"The rain dragon, from a Japanese drawing by Kano."  From The Mikado's Empire by William Griffis, 1883.

From Djin-Djin, the Japanese Bogie Man, 1896.

"The Daimio and Hatamoto," from Young Americans in Japan by Edward Greey, 1882.

From The World's Inhabitants by George Thomas Bettany, 1888.

From Community English by Mildred Flagg, 1921.  The text on the tree reads, "Japanese reading and writing books are odd[ly] printed.  Read from right to left.  First page is at back.  Lines run up and down.  Address is backward.  Words are painted with brushes."

In honor of the phenomenon that is "Floating Head Friday."  From Saito Musashi-bo Benkei by James Seguin De Benneville, 1910.

If it's true that a lack of specificity in characterization creates the stereotypes that evoke the intuitive knowledge upon which a work relies for its emotional effect and thematic meaning (as per Erich Segal: A Critical Companion), then these stills from Kamen Rider Kuuga speak for themselves.

Or, to quote from the Gervase Fen mystery we're currently reading, "Characterisation seems to me a very over-rated element in fiction.  I can never see why one should be obliged to have any of it at all, if one doesn't want to.  It limits the form so." —Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin