Best of
Japan

1980

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art


Shizuo Tsuji - 1980
    Japanese food is a favorite of diners around the world. Not only is sushi as much a part of the Western culinary scene as burgers, bagels, and burritos, but some Japanese chefs have become household names. Japanese flavors, ingredients, and textures have been fused into dishes from a wide variety of other cuisines. What hasn't changed over the years, however, are the foundations of Japanese cooking. When he originally wrote Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, Shizuo Tsuji, a scholar who trained under famous European chefs, was so careful and precise in his descriptions of the cuisine and its vital philosophies, and so thoughtful in his choice of dishes and recipes, that his words--and the dishes they help produce--are as fresh today as when they were first written. The 25th Anniversary edition celebrates Tsuji's classic work. Building on M.F.K.Fisher's eloquent introduction, the volume now includes a thought-provoking new Foreword by Gourmet Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl and a new preface by the author's son and Tsuji Culinary Institute Director Yoshiki Tsuji. Beautifully illustrated with eight pages of new color photos and over 500 drawings, and containing 230 traditional recipes as well as detailed explanations of ingredients, kitchen utensils, techniques and cultural aspects of Japanese cuisine, this edition continues the Tsuji legacy of bringing the Japanese kitchen within the reach of Western cooks.

Origins of Modern Japanese Literature


Kōjin Karatani - 1980
    Against a history of relative inattention on the part of Western translators to modern Asian critical theory, this first English publication is sure to have a profound effect on current cultural criticism in the West. It is both the boldest critique of modern Japanese literary history to appear in the post-war era and a major theoretical intervention, which calls into question the idea of modernity that informs Western consciousness.In a sweeping reinterpretation of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Japanese literature, Karatani Kojin forces a reconsideration of the very assumptions underlying our concepts of modernity. In his analysis, such familiar terms as origin, modern, literature, and the state reveal themselves to be ideological constructs. Karatani weaves many separate strands into an argument that exposes what has been hidden in both Japanese and Western accounts of the development of modern culture. Among these strands are: the "discovery" of landscape in painting and literature and its relation to the inwardness of individual consciousness; the similar "discovery" in Japanese drama of the naked face as another kind of landscape produced by interiority; the challenge to the dominance of Chinese characters in writing; the emergence of confessional literature as an outgrowth of the repression of sexuality and the body; the conversion of the samurai class to Christianity; the mythologizing of tuberculosis, cancer, and illness in general as a producer of meaning; and the "discovery" of "the child" as an independent category of human being.A work that will be important beyond the confines of literary studies, Karatani's analysis challenges basic Western presumptions of theoretical centrality and originality and disturbs the binary opposition of the "West" to its so-called "other." Origins of Modern Japanese Literature should be read by all those with an interest in the development of cultural concepts and in the interrelating factors that have determined modernity.

Noh Theater: Principles and Perspectives


Kunio Komparu - 1980
    Originating in dance and music performed at sacred rituals and festivals, it was developed and brought to maturity in the 14th and 15th centuries by Kan'ami Kiyotsugu and his son, Zeami Motokiyo, two great dramatists who distilled the crude entertainments of the open fields into a predominately tragic drama of illusion played upon an empty stage. This volume, first published in 1983 and long out of print, is the first work in either English or Japanese to offer a comprehensive explanation and analysis of the principles of the Noh theater. The author was an active practitioner of the art, representing the 22nd generation in a direct line of Noh performers. His book painstakingly outlines both physical and intellectual aspects of Noh-its technical principles and its philosophical perspectives-on a scope hitherto unknown. An invaluable tool for the student of any aspect of drama, it offers as well deeper insights into Japanese history and culture.

Our Land Was a Forest: An Ainu Memoir


Kayano Shigeru - 1980
    Based on the author's own experiences and on stories passed down from generation to generation, the book chronicles the disappearing world—and courageous rebirth—of this little-understood people.Kayano describes with disarming simplicity and frankness the personal conflicts he faced as a result of the tensions between a traditional and a modern society and his lifelong efforts to fortify a living Ainu culture. A master storyteller, he paints a vivid picture of the Ainus' ecologically sensitive lifestyle, which revolved around bear hunting, fishing, farming, and woodcutting.Unlike the few existing ethnographies of the Ainu, this account is the first written by an insider intimately tied to his own culture yet familiar with the ways of outsiders. Speaking with a rare directness to the Ainu and universal human experience, this book will interest all readers concerned with the fate of indigenous peoples.

The Art of the Japanese Kite


Tal Streeter - 1980
    An interdisciplinary exploration into the history of kite making and flying.

At Home With Japanese Cooking


Elizabeth Andoh - 1980
    Accompanied by line drawings, and an introduction to Japanese kitchen equipment, as well as a glossary of ingredients.

Three Mile an Hour God: Biblical Reflections


Kosuke Koyama - 1980
    

Letters of Four Seasons


Ikeda Inoue - 1980
    Letters written between two Japanese authors discuss their travels, experiences with sickness and death, memories of the past, and visions of the future

The Making of James Clavell's "Shōgun"


James Clavell - 1980
    

The Vermilion Bridge


Shelley Mydans - 1980
    An historical novel set in ancient Japan during the Nara period.

Ikebana, a New Illustrated Guide to Mastery: A New Illustrated Guide to Mastery


Waf-U Teshigahara - 1980
    Teaches the traditional and delicate art of ikebana, or Japanese flower arranging, incorporating many different types of plant materials in harmonious containers to reproduce the beauty of nature on a smaller scale.

The Art Of Japanese Prints


Richard Illing - 1980
    

Kyoto Rediscovered


Clifton Karhu - 1980
    

Hiroshima Peace Reader


Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation - 1980
    The book consists of three chapters. The first chapter deals with the history of Hiroshima beginning with the Mōri era. It concludes with a description of the city which rose from the ashes as a phoenix after the A-bombing, the city which has been rebuilt as an international city of peace. The second chapter is mainly concerned with the disaster of the atomic bomb. In the third chapter the historical background of Peace Memorial Park and the monuments built in and around the park are described in detail with an attached map showing the location of the monuments.

Tokutomi Soho, 1863-1957: A Journalist for Modern Japan


John D. Pierson - 1980
    Through a comprehensive and balanced biography of this important public figure, John Pierson examines the interaction of a man and his time.Originally published in 1980.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Southeast Asia Under Japanese Occupation: Transition & Transformation


Alfred W. McCoy - 1980
    

Everyday Japanese Characters: A Visitor's Guide to the Written Language


M. Pye - 1980