Although at first glance and to its many devotees Inari worship may seem to be a unified phenomenon, it is in fact exceedingly multiple, noncodified, and noncentralized. No single regulating institution, dogma, scripture, or myth centers the practice. In this exceptionally insightful study, the author explores the worship of Inari in the context of homogeneity and diversity in Japan. The shape-shifting fox and the wish-fulfilling jewel, the main symbols of Inari, serve as interpretive metaphors to describe the simultaneously shared yet infinitely diverse meanings that cluster around the deity. That such diversity exists without the apparent knowledge of Inari worshippers is explained by the use of several communicative strategies that minimize the exchange of substantive information. Shared generalized meanings (tatemae) are articulated while private meanings and complexities (honne) are left unspoken. The appearance of unity is reinforced by a set of symbols representing fertility, change, and growth in ways that can be interpreted and understood by many individuals of various ages and occupations.The Fox and the Jewel describes the rich complexity of Inari worship in contemporary Japan. It explores questions of institutional and popular power in religion, demonstrates the ways people make religious figures personally meaningful, and documents the kinds of communicative styles that preserve the appearance of homogeneity in the face of astonishing factionalism.

    These are real reproductions of paintings of punker moppets. That's for sure.

    The first major translation of the haiku poet Chiyo-ni, this books contains over 100 haiku, presented in both Japanese script and romaji, with an English translation.

    Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) is credited with modernizing Japan's two traditional verse forms, haiku and tanka. Born at a time of social and cultural change in Japan, Shiki welcomed the new influences from the West and responded to them by reinvigorating the native haiku and tanka forms. He freed them from outdated conventions, made them viable for artistic expression in modern Japan, and paved the way for the haiku to become one of his nation's most influential cultural exports.

    Shipped direct from Publisher to you. Our Amazon annual rating is 100% positive (with lifetime rating at 99%)! This new book sells for the following new/used prices: $79 (amazon.ca), $78 (amazon.de), $77 (amazon.fr), $79 (amazon.jp), and $74 (amazon.uk). We are happy to send to anywhere in the USA Amazon.com permits. Please be sure to allow a few extra days for shipping as all packages are posted on Saturdays.

    Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of ArtsHokusai: September 23-November 15, 1998Hiroshige: November 21, 1998-January 17, 1999The society of Japan's Edo period (1615-1867) embraced a number of intriguing contradictions. It was a time of unprecedented stability, when Japan, previously a mosaic of violently warring feudal states, finally achieved unity as a nation. Though strictly stratified in four hereditary classes -- nobles, farmers, artisans, and merchants -- Edo society nevertheless produced a vigorous middle class of enterprising commoners. By the 1800s, commoners enjoyed the numerous amenities of Edo (Tokyo), the world's largest city (pop. ca. 800,000). They launched businesses, perfected crafts, gained leisure time and literacy, traveled a system of safe roads, and enjoyed art and poetry.While initially print makers illustrated the denizens of the pleasure quarters, or ukiyo (Floating World), the print also became an acceptable and affordable medium for the full range of expression common to Japanese art, including landscape, flowers and birds, and genre scenes. The most important and prolific were the 19th-century artists Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, whose prints constitute the most recognizable images of Japanese art throughout the world. Hokusai and Hiroshige were the chief innovators of a new motif in ukiyo-e prints — the landscape as an independent subject. This collection of 200 prints, 100 by each artist, is designed to explore their full range of expression. The selection includes their great landscape series, among them Hokusai's complete Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, and the unfailing favorite, Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road, also in its entirety. In Hokusai's and Hiroshige's prints, we see the faces of the new middle class, both the excitement and drudgery of their daily activities, and their favorite views of landmarks and natural wonders.

    One day after school, he discovers and impulsively steals the gym clothes of Nanako Saeki, the classmate he has a crush on. However, a lonely girl named Sawa Nakamura happens to catch him in the act. Nakamura blackmails Kasuga into a "contract," under the threat of revealing his secret.

    This book is intended to address that virtual void by establishing the ground for critical discussion and reading of a central figure in Japanese culture, placing the works of Basho and his disciples in the context of broader social change. Intended for both the general reader and the specialist, Traces of Dreams examines the issues of language, landscape, cultural memory, and social practice in early modern Japan through a fundamental reassessment of haikai—popular linked verse that eventually gave birth to modern haiku—particularly that of Basho and his disciples. The author analyzes haikai not only as a specific poetic genre but as a mode of discourse that emerged from the profound engagement between the new commoner culture that came to the fore in the seventeenth century cities and the earlier traditions, which haikai parodied, transformed, and translated into the vernacular.Traces of Dreams explores the manner in which haikai both appropriated and recast the established cultural and poetic associations embodied in nature, historical objects, and famous places—the landscape that preserved the cultural memory and that became the source of authority as well as the contested ground for haikai re-visioning and re-mapping.

    Techniques and designs are presented with instructions for curves, angles, and texture. Metal threads are an integral part of the designs, creating stunning texture and depth.

    Each kanji entry is presented in extra–large form, with its strokes labeled in order by small numbers 1, 2, 3, … positioned at the beginning of each stroke to show how the kanji is to be written. Handwritten pen and variant forms of the kanji are also given, along with its general structure and graphemes. This dictionary is a concise version of the more comprehensive Kanji Dictionary. In all, this Japanese dictionary lists the most important 2,882 characters and 12,073 multi-character compounds, including all 1,945 Joyo Kanji decree for general use plus all 284 Jinmei–yo Kanji sanctioned for use in given names. In addition, the most frequently used approximately 700 surnames and 600 given names have been added.One feature that makes this dictionary particularly useful for a beginner, or anyone else wishing to learn Japanese, is that every compound is listed under each of its characters. This multiple listing makes it possible to look up a compound under whichever of its characters is quickest to find, and it is a big help in deciphering sloppy handwriting or a blurred copy. Entries are arranged according to a radical—based lookup system of the same type used in virtually all character dictionaries, but with improvements that make it particularly easy to learn and use. And with the alphabetically arranged index of kanji readings at the back of the dictionary, the user can look up a character via any of its known readings (or look up a compound via any of the readings of any of its characters), without having to determine radicals or count strokes.This handy character dictionary includes:2,882 character entries and 12,073 compounds.Character entries are according to the system of 79 Radicals.English–Japanese and Japanese–English SectionsInformation about writing, form, structure, etc. of each of the characters.Approximately 700 surnames and 600 given names.An alphabetical pronunciation index.

    Lowry's account reveals a Japan unlikely to be witnessed by the average Westerner. Drawing on his deep knowledge of the martial arts, Lowry acts as an interpreter of sorts, deftly describing for the reader the myriad ways in which Japan's subtle, yet rich customs and rituals inform and enrich the seemingly mundane practices of life. On his journey, he interweaves musings from his daily encounters--his introduction to an old ryokan-keeper; a contemplative visit to Kyoto's Daitokuji, "Temple of Great Virtue"; he even spots a ghost or two--with reflections on local history and the philosophies and origins of the Shinkage-ryu, one of Japan's oldest schools of classical swordsmanship.At the same time, Lowry's experiences in Japan serve as an unexpected opportunity bringing him to terms with the extraordinary relationship that exists between teacher and student, with his own past, his place in the long line of swordsmen from whom he has come, and with the challenge he faces in integrating the cultural streams of East and West. One of America's foremost writers on the Japanese martial arts, Dave Lowry has authored more than one hundred articles on the topic for the most popular English-language magazines, including Black Belt, Fighting Arts International, Furyu: The Budo Journal, Karate Illustrated, and Inside Karate. He has also contributed articles on traditional Japanese culture to Winds, the in-flight magazine of Japan Air Lines. Lowry is the author of nine books on budo, including Persimmon Wind's prequel, Autumn Lightning: The Education of an American Samurai. He is the food critic for St. Louis Magazine and has recently completed work on The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi. Lowry lives, with his wife and son, in front of a bamboo grove near St. Louis, Missouri.

    A remarkable memoir by the near-mythic coastwatcher who helped shape the first great Allied counter-offensive in the Pacific war.

    More than forty years later, he reigns as the undisputed king of monsters, with legions of fans spanning several generations and countless international boundaries.But despite his icon status, Godzilla has been consistently maligned by critics and sci-fi purists who insist that a man in a rubber suit, stomping through intricately built miniature cities, is mere cheap camp. The vast contributions to the horror cinema made by Godzilla's creators - director Ishiro Honda and SFX director Eiji Tsuburaya among them - have gone largely unnoticed in the West, and relatively little information on Japan's greatest film star has ever been published in English. Until now.Godzilla: The Unauthorized Biography is the first authoritative guide to the Godzilla legend published in America. This thoroughly researched volume includes in-depth production details on all 22 Godzilla movies produced by Toho Co. of Japan between 1954 and 1995, including several "unmade" features, plus the upcoming May 1998 big-budget U.S. Godzilla remake by the producers of Independence Day. The book dispels the myths and illuminates the mysteries of Japan's enigmatic monstar, and is loaded with background information, trivia, and interviews with the people who created Godzilla - then and now.

    The shunga served as illustrations for love novels, instructive albums for young wives, and even lucky charms for warriors. This book is the first to present a special collection of rare, previously unpublished prints, enriched by texts that introduce the various periods and defining characteristics of the genre. Unabashed and exquisitely rendered, these images are a surprising accessible visual chronicle of erotic fine art.

    Mori, who studied fashion in Tokyo and art in London and New York, has become one of the freshest young artists working in the '90s, and this book, which is the first on her work, comprehensively catalogs her upcoming exhibitions. Recent video work by Mori has included such works as Nirvana (shown at the '97 Venice Biennale), in which the artist depicts herself making symbolic Buddhist hand-gestures as she floats above the Dead Sea. Still another piece is a video in which Mori, in futuristic space wear, rolls a crystal ball through an airport to the haunting melodies of a Japanese song. These works involve a surrealistic interplay of imagery which suggests something akin to the art of Yayoi Kusama, the costs of funk icon George Clinton, science fiction, and the film works of Matthew Barney.

    One hallmark of Edo art is the lack of distinction between "high art" and "craft": an artist was as likely to paint on lacquer, ceramic, or textile as on paper or silk. This gorgeous book presents examples of Edo art in all media and across social boundaries -- from paintings of nature and city life on gold-leaf screens to wood-block images of Kabuki actors and courtesans, from Zen paintings and calligraphy to spectacular helmets and armor for the samurai, from brilliantly colored porcelains to textiles made for Noh theater, Kyogen comedy, and affluent women of the merchant class.Works are grouped thematically into such areas as festivals, warrior arts, religious beliefs, travel, play, and courtly traditions, and essays written by experts in the field address these various themes, placing the works in the context of the times. The book also provides entries on the individual objects reproduced.

    Ry�sanpaku) under the lead of the brave and righteous Song Jiang. The Suikoden was enormously popular in Japan during the 19th century. It was Kuniyoshi's initial designs for the single-sheet print series The one hundred and eight heroes of the popular Suikoden (Ts�zoku Suikoden g�ketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori) - in which the full-length portraits of the heroes are charged with a new sense of dynamism - that spurred a Suikoden craze in Edo (present-day Tokyo).

    More than 300 illustrations from public and private collections are accompanied by essays on Kuniyoshi's deluxe printed images ("surimono"), paintings and comical pictures ("giga"), making this book an invaluable source of information for Japanese print lovers. This book was produced in cooperation with the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and Philadelphia Museum of Art to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Society for Japanese Arts.

    These talks were originally recorded by Koun Ejo Zenji, Dogen's dharma sucessor, and probably edited by his disciples after Ejo's death.

    It has poured down on me endlessly, too much for this meager vessel to hold. Joyful as a child with a new set of paints, I have woven and woven yarn dyed by the grasses and trees”.A startlingly original creator in the medium of textiles, Living National Treasure Shimura Fukumi is also well known in Japan for her essays on color, nature, and the work of weaving and dyeing. The Music of Color collects some of Shimura’s most insightful writing together with Takao Inoue’s stunning photographs of her art and the natural world that inspires it.From winter snows to spring blossoms, from the foothills of Japan’s “Southern Alps” to the back streets of Gion, Kyoto, Shimura initiates the reader into a facet of Japanese culture where the boundary between craft and art is blurred. Her insight into the sources and uses of natural color, along with her decades of experience in the world of Japanese textiles, from silkworm and loom to finished kimono, are both on full display in this rich collection. Travels from Bashо’s “Deep North” to the western island of Kyushu are recorded, as are valuable accounts of Shimura’s encounters with other figures in Japanese aesthetics such as lacquerware master Kuroda Tatsuaki and poet–critic Оoka Makoto.Offering new perspectives on contemporary textiles, Japanese folk craft traditions, and thoughts on how Japanese artists engage with the four seasons, the gemlike essays and translucent photographs of The Music of Color will linger with the reader long after the book itself is over.“We draw the beautiful colors of the sakura not from the petals but the gnarled bark and branches. . . . The blossoms have already bloomed, so no color can come from there. It is the spirit of the tree entire, ceaselessly active, that emerges in the hue of each petal— and do we not see the same truth in the world of words?”

    Also includes some black and white backstage photographs, as well as a 12-page original photoshoot.

    This new workbook will help students acquire that facility. It introduces 60 particles and their 188 basic functions in order of frequency of usage. Each function is illustrated with example sentences, and exercises are presented every few lessons to allow users to test their understanding, writing directly in the workbook and checking their work against the answers provided. A basic vocabulary is employed throughout to allow students to concentrate fully on one important goal—the mastery of Japanese particles.

    A painter by profession, Buson took delight in the natural beauty of colors and forms as well as in the artistic beauty of composition. A seeker of ideals that were more aesthetic than religious or moral, he freely let his imagination wander into a land of exotic beauty far removed from contemporary society, often evoking ancient China, Heian Japan, and the world of the supernatural. This book presents an overview of Buson's life and poetry, beginning with speculations on the mysterious circumstances of his birth and then tracing the various stages of his career as poet. In the process, the author cites some 180 of Buson's haiku in English translation, and analyzes them from a predominantly biographical point of view. The book is illustrated with twelve examples of Buson's work as painter and calligrapher.

    Set in ancient Japan, this award-winning story is a spiritual yet lighthearted tale offering a fanciful account of how kites came to be.

    During this time, the military government at Kamakura controlled the country, maintaining the emperor with his court at Kyoto as symbolic head of state. Though the imperial court had little real power, it attempted to maintain as much of its former dignity and prestige as it could.The Clear Mirror is at least semi-fictionalized, promoting a picture of a court healthier and more powerful than it really was. Moreover, the work sees the court as guardian of its own traditional arts and lifestyle, and thus provides not only a history of imperial succession and other events but also copious examples of poetic expressions and descriptions of courtly traditions and ceremonies. Because of its attempt to exemplify the best in the courtly prose tradition (it is noted for its imitation of the style of the masterpiece The Tale of Genji), the work has long been valued in Japan as much for its artistic literary contribution as for its historical significance. The present translation makes available to English readers the last significant work belonging to the genre of “historical tales” (rekishi monogatari), another example of which is A Tale of Flowering Fortunes (translated by William and Helen Craig McCullough, Stanford, 1980).The introduction provides a brief summary of the significant historical and political events of the period, together with a discussion of the significance of The Clear Mirror within the “historical tales” tradition, and comments on the literary strengths and weaknesses of the work. A glossary identifies people and places mentioned in the text, and an appendix discusses details concerning the work’s authorship, possible dates of initial publication, and other matters relating to the original manuscript.

    In this newly revised and updated edition, the value of anthropological approaches to help understand an ancient and complex nation is clearly demonstrated.While living and working in Japan the contributors have studied important areas of society. Religion, ritual, leisure, family and social relations are covered as are Japanese preconceptions of time and space - often so different from Western concepts.This new edition of Interpreting Japanese Society shows what an important contribution research in such a rapidly changing industralised nation can make to the subject of anthropology. It will be welcomed by students and scholars alike who wish to find refreshing new insights on one of the world's most fascinating societies.

    Professor Maynard presents, in thirty entries, clear explication of Japanese discourse organization and detailed analysis of the rhetorical strategies used. Also included are practice readings selected from contemporary Japanese discourse, including essays, newspaper columns, a short story, a comic and an advertisement, with translations and wordlists. A helpful self-study guide, it is also an excellent reference source for students and instructors of Japanese.

    This comprehensive guide to the appreciation and appraisal of the blades of Japanese swords provides, at last, all the background that readers need to become true connoisseurs.The book is organized along historical lines for the sake of clarity and convenience, and its approach is always practical. Broad discussions of each tradition within the Gokaden focus on the features that distinguish specific schools and smiths-the various kinds of jihada, hamon, boshi, and hataraki favored in different periods and regions-making this an invaluable reference tool for all enthusiasts, especially those who wish to take part in kantei-kai, or sword appreciation meetings. Each section closes with an easy reference chart summarizing the distinctive features of the work of various schools and smiths.The chapter on terminology gives advice on what to look for when examining the different parts of a blade, again making reference to the unique features of particularly significant smiths. The chapter on care and appraisal of blades tells precisely how to handle blades and what to expect at a sword appraisal meeting, including an explanation of all the various responses that a judge may give in response to a bid.Richly illustrated throughout with more than 550 of the author's own painstaking oshigata illustrations-sword tracings onto which details are penciled in by hand-The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords is easily the most informative and comprehensive guide to the blades of Japanese swords ever to appear in English.Kokan Nagayama, who is widely recognized as one of the foremost living sword polishers, compiled the notes for this book over the course of many years spent teaching the arts of polishing and appraisal.Nagayama-sensei is widely recognized as one of the foremost living sword polishers and is a veteran teacher of both polishing and appraisal. Here in one accessible volume he distills the store of knowledge he has gained over a lifetime of intensive research.Nagayama-sensei and his senior pupils have for many years now taken an enlightened approach to study of Japanese swords outside of Japan. They have been of great assistance to collectors here in Great Britain and in other countries, traveling and living abroad, organizing exhibitions, teaching us and polishing our swords, always in an altruistic spirit. This translation is another example of this same approach. In the past we have often struggled on our own or in small groups to gain an understanding of this peculiarly Japanese cultural asset, and with many of the definitive books on the subject still untranslated, a wealth of information has in the past been inaccessible to the non-Japanese reader. The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords will be of great help in making educated judgments at kantei sessions, and will be an invaluable and constant reference work.-From the Foreword by Clive SinclaireChairman of the Token Society of Great Britain

    The Kakure Kirishitan are the descendants of the communities who maintained the Christian faith in Japan as an underground church during the time of persecution, and then chose to remain separate from the Catholic Church when religious toleration was granted in 1873.

    Most published accounts rely on English-language works written in the 1950s and 1960s. The Japanese-language sources have remained relatively inaccessible to Western scholars in part because of the difficulty of the language, a difficulty that Edward J. Drea, who reads Japanese, surmounts. In a series of searching examinations of the structure, ethos, and goals of the Japanese military establishment, Drea offers new material on its tactics, operations, doctrine, and leadership. Based on original military documents, official histories, court diaries, and Emperor Hirohito’s own words, these twelve essays introduce Western readers to fifty years of Japanese scholarship about the war and Japan’s military institutions. In addition, Drea uses recently declassified Allied intelligence documents related to Japan to challenge existing views and conventional wisdom about the war.

    

    Discover KyotoCelebrate the seasons at an elaborate geisha danceRid yourself of bad karma at Jingo-ji - just try not to get addictedSift through reams of vintage kimono fabric at the local flea marketsMake a night of it in the baths at Funaoka OnsenIn This Guide:The only full city guide to KyotoPersonally researched by a long-term resident authorNew coverage of traditional crafts, with the best places to buy handmade paper, fans and potteryContent updated daily - visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveler insights.

    This is intended for everyone, whether Buddhist, Christian, Moslem, Jewish, male, female, black, white, Japanese, German, a mother, a dentist — whatever! The author illustrates the way we human beings often regard the aliveness of each moment and expresses with exceptional insight the Buddhist perspective on everyday life.

    But waiting isn't easy--especially when every little noise sounds like Santa! Includes 24 flash cards. Full color.

    Born in Westphalia in 1651, Kaempfer travelled throughout the Near and Far East before settling in Japan as physician to the trading settlement of the Dutch East India Company at Nagasaki. During his two years residence, he made two extensive trips around Japan in 1691 and 1692, collecting, according to the British historian Boxer, "an astonishing amount of valuable and accurate information". He also learned all he could from the few Japanese who came to Deshima for instruction in the European sciences. To these observations, Kaempfer added details he had gathered from a wide reading of travellers' accounts and the reports of previous trading delegations. The result was the first scholarly study of Japan in the West, a work that greatly influenced the European view of Japan throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, serving as a reference for a variety of works ranging from encyclopedias to the libretto of "The Mikado".Kaempfer's work remains one of the most valuable sources for historians of the Tokugawa period. The narrative describes what no Japanese was permitted to record (the details of the shogun's castle, for example) and what no Japanese thought worthy of recording (the minutiae of everyday life). However, all previous translations of the History are flawed, being based on the work of an eighteenth-century Swiss translator or that of the German editor some fifty years later who had little knowledge of Japan and resented Kaempfer's praise of the heathen country. Beatrice Bodart-Bailey's impressive new translation of this classic, which reflects careful studyKaempfer's original manuscript, reclaims the work for the modern reader, placing it in the context of what is currently known about Tokugawa Japan and restoring the humor and freshness of Kaempfer's observations and impressions.

    It includes essays on Endo Shusaku, Hayashi Kyoko, Kanai Mieko, Kurahashi Yumiko, Murakami Haruki, Murakami Ryu, Nakagami Kenji, Oe Kenzaburo, Ohba Minako, Shimada Masahiko, Takahashi Takako and Yoshimoto Banana.

    Items from Imperial China once filled the porcelain cabinets of European courts, and Japanese painting and wood-carving made their way to Europe in the nineteenth century. The impressive illustrations in this volume present the reader with the unique wealth of art forms in China and Japan, forms which have also exerted tremendous influence on Western art: artful ceramics, woodcarvings, small sculptures and bronzes, porcelains and ink drawings from China; and from Japan, temple districts, imperial villas and Zen gardens, ukiyo paintings of the Edo period, the famed No masques, as well as precious textiles and costumes. These are only a few of the many aspects selected by the authors to convey the wealth and unbelievable variety of artistic forms of East Asia. An illustrated glossary and extensive bibliography complete the book.

    This second edition follows the same syllabus as the first edition, but features an updated design and colourful new artwork.

    Based on extensive research, the dictionary includes 140 essential topics arranged into 12 thematic units, aiming to meet the language needs of beginning and intermediate, young adult and adult learners of American English. A Teacher's Book contains teaching tips, lesson plans and vocabulary practice activities. The accompanying Focused Listening Cassette provides hours of listening practice, using the vocabulary in interesting and stimulating ways.

    This book is the first study of Shiga to explore in depth his affinities - both aesthetic and philosophic - with the long tradition of Zen art.

    Developed by U.S. government experts, this book introduces you step-by-step to the basics of Japanese pronunciation, vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and grammar.Inside You'll Find:All the words and phrases from the 40 lessons on the Living Language Japanese Complete Course recordings plus additional vocabularyA guide to pronunciationUseful topics: Directions, Introductions, Shopping, etc.Explanations of grammar and usageShort quizzes to help you check your progressA comprehensive summary of Japanese grammarVerb charts, including all tensesA special section on writing lettersWhile this book stands on its own as an instructional program and an invaluable reference, you'll find that using it with the recorded lessons is even more effective. Along with the recordings, Living Language Japanese Complete Course cassette and compact disc packages include this book as well as a dictionary.

    In a situation analogous to early modern Germany, Japan in the Edo period (1600-1867) was divided into over 230 realms, many of which developed into competitive states that struggled to reduce the dominance of the shogun's economy. This study of the merchants of one such domain, Tosa, reveals how they developed mercantilist strategies to protect and invigorate their domain's economy, and to support the public value of the merchant in a hostile Confucian world.

    Covers the battles and campaigns, leaders, major military units, and weaponry of World War II in the Pacific, and examines the political, social, and economic factors that affected the war's progress and outcome.

    Like its companion volume, the encyclopedia covers important political topics, the arts, religion, business, literature, education, journalism, and other major social, cultural, and economic forces.Looks at the emperor and nationalismEmphasizing the close ties that always existed between the emperor system and nationalism, the encyclopedia carefully explores the various forms of nationalism that flourished since the middle of the last century, discusses how hte supernationalism of the beginning of the century ultimately led to World War II, looks at the uniquely Japanese custom of national self-analysis, and examines the country's remarkable postwar market-building economic nationalism. Charts major influences and contemporary concerns The Encyclopedia brings together in a single volume the major themes and currents that influenced and shaped Japan into a modern economic giant. Ranging over the entire spectrum of modern Japanese history, expert contributors provide concise entries on specific episodes and individuals, as well as longer articles on broad topics such as militarism, labor, cinema, censorship, and returning students. The Encyclopedia also examines many of the forces driving Japan today: trade relationships, attitudes towards World War II, the role of national defense, whether to revise the constitution, dealing with unskilled foreign labor, and more. All major entries are followed by an English-language bibliography for pursuing subjects in depth.

    This is one book that no foreign resident of Japan will want to be without.Japan Health Handbook covers every health care related situation you might face in Japan, including choosing a health insurance plan and a doctor or other caregiver who is right for you, having regular checkups, keeping your children healthy, getting proper nutrition and exercise, and even having a baby, caring for an elderly relative, and dealing with the death of a non-Japanese. In each case the book is highly specific, even outlining any complicated paperwork that needs to be completed. Anyone who has known the frustration of making one phone call after another in a search for answers, only to be put on hold again and again, will greatly appreciate the research and care that have gone into this book.The emphasis throughout is not just on treating sickness but also on promoting good health, so preventive health care, proper nutrition, and sports are all treated in depth.Rather than recommending specific practitioners or treatments, Japan Health Handbook simply lets you know what your alternatives are and provides you with the resources to make your own informed choices. It answers questions that you may not even have known you had, and points you in the direction of a fuller, healthier life in Japan.Did you know that: if you dial the emergency number 119 in Japan and are physically unable to speak but simply tap twice on the receiver and then leave it off the hook, an emergency team will trace the call and come to your house? Japanese soba noodles are a lot more nutritious than udon? Several hospitals and clinics offer smoking cessation programs that have helped many people to quit? Vacuuming your futons will help rid them of dust mites? If you are covered by Japanese public health insurance, you are eligible for a one-time subsidy from the government if you have a baby?o Each chapter expanded, updated, and reorganized o A detailed index and numerous cross-references throughout, for easy access to all the information you need o Recent changes to Japanese health insurance law clearly and completely explained o More and updated resources for health care and maintenance of good health than ever, many now with Internet web site addresses

    Her work combines elements of expressionism, minimalism, surrealism and pop art.

    The author investigates eighth- to seventeenth-century paintings from three traditions: Esoteric Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and the kami-worshipping (Shinto) tradition. It is generally recognized that many of these mandalas are connected with texts and images from India and the Himalayas. A pioneering theme of this study is that, in addition to the South Asian connections, certain paradigmatic Japanese mandalas reflect pre-Buddhist Chinese concepts, including geographical concepts. In convincing and lucid prose, ten Grotenhuis chronicles an intermingling of visual, doctrinal, ritual, and literary elements in these mandalas that has come to be seen as characteristic of the Japanese religious tradition as a whole.This beautifully illustrated work begins in the first millennium B.C.E. in China with an introduction to the Book of Documents and ends in present-day Japan at the sacred site of Kumano. Ten Grotenhuis focuses on the Diamond and Womb World mandalas of Esoteric Buddhist tradition, on the Taima mandala and other related mandalas from the Pure Land Buddhist tradition, and on mandalas associated with the kami-worshipping sites of Kasuga and Kumano. She identifies specific sacred places in Japan with sacred places in India and with Buddhist cosmic diagrams. Through these identifications, the realm of the buddhas is identified with the realms of the kami and of human beings, and Japanese geographical areas are identified with Buddhist sacred geography. Explaining why certain fundamental Japanese mandalas look the way they do and how certain visual forms came to embody the sacred, ten Grotenhuis presents works that show a complex mixture of Indian Buddhist elements, pre-Buddhist Chinese elements, Chinese Buddhist elements, and indigenous Japanese elements.

    McVeigh uses a unique anthropological approach to step outside flawed stereotypes of Japanese society and really engage in the current debate over the role of bureaucracy in Japanese politics.To many in the West, Japan appears as a paradox: a rational, high-tech economic superpower and yet at the same time a deeply ritualistic and ceremonial society. This adventurous new study demonstrates how these nominally conflicting impressions of Japan can be reconciled and a greater understanding of the state achieved.

    Leaving behind a homeland culturally isolated for more than 200 years, these samurai travellers were especially fascinated by the extent of British political and commercial influence they observed during their travels, and therefore paid particularly close attention to the Victorian world and recorded all they saw in minute detail. Their diaries and 'travelogues' comprise the single largest body of material on Victorian society to be recorded in any non-European language. This book examines the nature of these travellers' experiences and their perceptions of Victorian Britain. A deeper understanding of this rich source material is important because, although entirely unknown to British readers, the documents reveal one of the most spectacular culture shocks ever recorded in World History. They are also important because the images of Victorian and other western societies that they portrayed to the Japanese reading public in the late nineteenth century still underpin Japanese understanding of the outside world more than a hundred years later.

    Originally published in 1985 as Japan From Shogun To Sony, this book begins with the Shoguns of the 16th century and their first forays into trade with the Western world, and ends with updated information through the Olympics and the recent economic crisis.

    A behind-the-scenes look at how journalists have covered the news in Japan.

    Born in Hiroshima in 1913, she was in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. From then till now she has addressed her poetry primarily to issues of nuclear destruction, nuclear weapons, and nuclear power. Herself a victim of the world’s first nuclear attack, she became the poetic conscience of the Hiroshima that was no more. But Kurihara turned her attention soon to more controversial issues, including Japan’s role as victimizer in World War II. Many of her poems attack the Japanese government and its policies then and now.When We Say “Hiroshima” contains a selection of the poems Kurihara wrote between 1942 and 1989. They include meditations on death, on survival, on nuclear radiation, on Japanese politics, on American foreign policy, and on women’s issues.

    This work asserts that Kyoka's writings were a refinement of a vision that came into focus around 1900; that this narrative archetype formed the aesthetic and ethical bases of his work; and that Kyoka, despite modernist imports from the West, did not jettison Japanese literary tradition.

    Its balanced treatment includes sources of authority; structures of government; informal or "floating" structures such as mass media and citizen action groups; issues (the future of education policy, environmental challenges, economic development, social welfare, and the future of nuclear power); "outsiders" and "insiders;" the changing role of women; and Japan in a changing global environment. Focusing on recent current events, Japanese Politics: Fixed and Floating Worlds analyzes the connections between an old, aristocratic culture and a modern democratic state; examines the October 1996 national election for the House of Representatives; discusses the changing roles of women; and compares East/West differences, especially with the United States. For readers with a limited background in Japanese history, the book includes a glossary of important people, places, events, and concepts critical to the development of the modern Japanese state, today and through history. A valuable reference book for any reader who needs a greater understanding of modern Japan, and essential reading for any professional doing business in Japan.

    Three thousand refugees transited Japan and China, and more than 21,000 spent the war in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Japanese diplomats in Europe were caught off guard by the flood of visa applicants, and the Foreign Ministry belatedly confronted a refugee problem. Unexpected visitors became uninvited guests. Vice Consul Sugihara Chiune might have faded into history as a minor diplomat in Lithuania had he not issued thousands of transit visas to refugees, including those who fulfilled few visa requirements. Sakamoto demonstrates how he helped thousands escape Europe; in the end, as she points out, a number of Japanese diplomats saved Jews by issuing visas, but very few issued visas to save Jews.Sakamoto focuses on the extensive archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which have not been treated at length before. By examining the cable traffic between diplomats and the ministry headquarters, she reveals the uncensored reactions of Japanese diplomats to Jewish refugees. Through the files of Jewish organizations and the American government, she presents the dimensions of the crisis as Germany's emphasis on emigration changed to extermination. Interviews with former diplomats, refugees, and those who knew Sugihara give human dimensions to a fascinating and little-known episode of the war.

    Includes sections on Japanese cuisine. Kyoto's temples, shines and teahouses, tips for excursions to Nara, Osaka and Lake Biwa, detailed notes on ancient heritage and modern lifestyles, and an indispensable language section.