Some were evacuated before the Marines landed and others were taken as Prisoners-of-War. The Japanese army and navy combatants are given a voice to share their experiences in the battle that coined the phrase, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue."

    It’s been a 60-year contract. Photography is love and death—that’ll be my epitaph.”  —Nobuyoshi Araki Japanese photographer Araki’s powerful œuvre, decades’ worth of images, has been distilled down to 560 pages of photographs that tell the story of Araki and compose the ultimate retrospective collection of his work.Known best for his intimate, snapshot-style images of women tied up with ropes (kinbaku, the Japanese art of rope-tying) and of colorful, sensual flowers, Araki is an artist who reacts strongly to his emotions and uses photography to experience them more fully. Obsessed with women, Araki seeks to come closer to them through photography, using ropes like an embrace and the click of the shutter like a kiss. His work is at once shocking and mysteriously tender—a deeply personal artist, Araki is not afraid of his emotions nor of showing them to the world.First published as limited edition – now available in an updated standard TASCHEN edition!

    Maori Murota, a Japanese cook who was born and bred in Tokyo, is passionate about the Japanese cooking she learned from her mother, and wants to share the dishes eaten in homes and local restaurants across the city. From the cult classics of sushi and miso to the perfect rice, gyoza, ramen, donburi, bento, tonkatsu, and mochi, Tokyo Cult Recipes will transport you to the heart of the city and its food culture. Following on from the best-selling New York Cult Recipes and Venice Cult Recipes, Tokyo Cult Recipes is another beautifully illustrated recipe book and travel guide in one, with bespoke photography of Tokyo food markets, street scenes, kitchens and food producers. About the authorMaori Murota grew up in Tokyo and is a freelance Japanese cook now based in France, specialising in Japanese family cooking. Maori has worked as a chef at Parisian restaurants D\o and Bento at La Conserverie. She is now an event caterer and private chef, giving classes in Japanese home cooking.

    Yet it has not been an easy path; military catastrophe, political atrophy, and economic upheavals have made regular appearances from the feudal era to the present. Today, Japan is seen as a has-been with a sluggish economy, an aging population, dysfunctional politics, and a business landscape dominated by yesterday's champions. Though it is supposed to be America's strongest ally in the Asia-Pacific region, it has almost entirely disappeared from the American radar screen.In Japan and the Shackles of the Past, R. Taggart Murphy places the current troubles of Japan in a sweeping historical context, moving deftly from early feudal times to the modern age that began with the Meiji Restoration. Combining fascinating analyses of Japanese culture and society over the centuries with hard-headed accounts of Japan's numerous political regimes, Murphy not only reshapes our understanding of Japanese history, but of Japan's place in the contemporary world. He concedes that Japan has indeed been out of sight and out of mind in recent decades, but contends that this is already changing. Political and economic developments in Japan today risk upheaval in the pivotal arena of Northeast Asia, inviting comparisons with Europe on the eve of the First World War. America's half-completed effort to remake Japan in the late 1940s is unraveling, and the American foreign policy and defense establishment is directly culpable for what has happened. The one apparent exception to Japan's malaise is the vitality of its pop culture, but it's actually no exception at all; rather, it provides critical clues to what is going on now.With insights into everything from Japan's politics and economics to the texture of daily life, gender relations, the changing business landscape, and popular and high culture, Japan and the Shackles of the Past is the indispensable guide to understanding Japan in all its complexity.

     The invasion of Guadalcanal was a long, cruel holding operation fought with too little equipment and support, not enough food and ammunition, and too few men. The marines on the island were subjected to bombing raids and strafing by Japanese aircraft, bombardment by battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and land artillery, as well as being continually attacked by Japanese tanks and infantry. For five long months they were attacked day and night before being eventually relieved by Army units. Who were these men who faced overwhelming odds? And how did they survive? T. Grady Gallant, who fought at Guadalcanal himself, answers these questions in his brilliant book On Valor’s Side Gallant’s account begins with an account of the grueling training that he and his fellow marines received in places such as Parris Island, before they undertook last minute preparations in New Zealand and made the journey towards Guadalcanal. It is a fascinating work that gives an eyewitness view of one of the most ferocious encounters that the United States Marines had to face through the course of the Second World War. “recreates the real-life training, fighting and comradeship of men at arms, from North Carolina to Guadalcanal.” — Kirkus Review “A great book” — Leon Uris T. Grady Gallant was a journalist, editor, columnist, author and editor. He served as a Sergeant of Special Weapons in the U.S. 1st marine Division, Fleet Marine Force 1941-1945, in the assault at Guadalcanal, and served a second tour with the 4th marine Division, Fleet Marine Force and was in the assault and Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. His book On Valor’s Side was first published in 1963 and he passed away in 2009.

    This book goes beyond theory to show how to bring these teachings into practice in daily life. Containing profound truths for all people from every culture, it reveals the secret for attaining happiness for both oneself and others through the process of self-reformation. Based on the teachings of Nichiren, a 13th-century Buddhist teacher and reformer, the scriptures of the Lotus Sutra show how every person can attain Buddhahood.

    From earthquakes and crowded trains, to hilarious cultural faux pas, this comic explores the joys of living and working abroad, intercultural marriages, and trying to make a decent pot roast on Thanksgiving.

    Donald P. Gregg spent thirty-one years as an operations officer in CIA and ten years in the White House under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush. Pot Shards is his memoir. It tells of a philosophy major who graduated from college in 1951 and immediately joined CIA when told, "You'll jump out of airplanes and save the world!" With raucous humor, he describes his parachute training and arctic survival course in Idaho. His book is a window into the Cold War-era CIA, both its failings (twenty years in a Chinese jail for a close friend) and unheralded successes, including Gregg's role in saving the life of Kim Dae-jung, a Korean political dissident who later, as president, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Gregg colorfully describes his tours in Japan, Burma, Vietnam, and South Korea. His four years dealing with the Vietnam War illustrate clearly the difficulties of speaking truth to power with sharp-edged encounters with Robert McNamara, Curtis LeMay, and various generals. Gregg worked effectively against torture when encountered in both Vietnam and Korea. In the White House, Gregg was impressed by Vice President Bush's value as "the rudder on Reagan's sailboat," unseen but imperative. He recounts his travels with Bush to sixty-five countries with both humor and discernment-- Thatcher at the top, Mugabe at the bottom. Gregg served both as CIA station chief in Seoul, 1973-75, and as U.S. ambassador to Korea, 1989-93. He later made more than fifty trips to Seoul as chairman of The Korea Society. Now, as chairman of the Pacific Century Institute, the former diplomat, once feared and disliked by North Korea, has visited that secretive nation six times, as recently as February 2014. Gregg always stresses dialogue over demonization in dealing with the North Koreans. "Don Gregg is that authentic and admirable thing: a great American. He spent most of his life serving his country: in the CIA, at the White House and as a US ambassador. He has stories to tell, many of them gripping, and they are beautifully and movingly recollected here in this memoir of a splendid life." -Christopher Buckley "A personal witness to decades of largely hidden intelligence and diplomatic history, Donald Gregg recounts his unlikely and amazing career as a CIA officer, national security advisor, and US diplomat. His adventures and insider knowledge of US relations with East Asian nations over many decades make for a lively narrative, entertaining for the general reader and useful for serious scholars alike. Through it all, Ambassador Gregg expresses a natural warmth and concern for humanity that makes his story a truly personal journey." -Nicholas Dujmovic, Ph.D., CIA Staff Historian, Center for the Study of Intelligence

    Rather than using techniques of assassination to protect themselves, ninja relied on their senses, and on an acute awareness of their natural surroundings, In fact, ninja avoided unnecessary conflict, and used weapons such as knives and swords only as a last resort. These are the true techniques of ninjutsu, and the art in which the ninja unrelentingly trained.In The Complete Ninja The Secret World Revealed, Masaaki Hatsumi, the world's most renowned ninja grandmaster and top budo master, creates a companion volume to his bestselling The Way of the Ninja. Like the earlier work, The Complete Ninja features hundreds of historical illustrations, documents, and photos (including many of the author demonstrating techniques) to explore the essence and wisdom of ninjutsu and reveal its hidden truths.The Complete Ninja will help readers sharpen their perceptions and deepen their understanding of two core principles: that ninjutsu is the very backbone of the martial arts, and that it clarifies their essential spiritual significance. Since budo transcends any one particular martial tradition, all practitioners, whether they study judo, aikido, karate, kendo, kenjutsu, jujutsu, or other combative sports, will find the book fascinating and enlightening.

    It transformed Japan from a country of hundreds of feudal domains under the hegemony of the Tokugawa Shogun, into a modern industrialized world power under the unifying rule of the Emperor. The shogun was head of the ruling Tokugawa family, and his regime was known as the Tokugawa Bakufu (Bakufu, for short).The first chapter of Samurai Revolution opens with the arrival of American warships commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853, sparking the revolution that would end with the fall of the Bakufu in 1868. The last chapter ends with the crushing defeat in 1877 of an army of former samurai who stood against the Imperial government they had created, marking the end of the samurai era, and with it the last vestiges of feudal Japan.The series of tumultuous events between 1853 and 1868 are collectively called the Meiji Restoration (i.e., the restoration of Imperial rule). The Meiji Restoration was Japan’s modern revolution. It was different from other great revolutions in that it was brought about by men of the ruling caste—i.e., samurai. It is a human drama of epic proportion, which is how author Romulus Hillsborough treats it in Samurai Revolution. And just as the Meiji Restoration was “the dawn of modern Japan,” knowledge of this history is essential for understanding the complexities of today’s Japan.The overthrow of the Bakufu in 1868 sparked a contained civil war that would have spread throughout the country, endangering Japan’s sovereignty, had Katsu Kaishu, as commander in chief of the fallen shogun’s still formidable military, not negotiated an eleventh-hour peace with Saigo Takamori, commander of the Imperial Army.While Katsu is a household name in Japan, Samurai Revolution, based largely on primary sources, is the first comprehensive English language treatment of the man’s life, mind, and important role in the Meiji Restoration, though Hillsborough has written about him in other books as well. And though the focus is on Katsu Kaishu, this book is more of a history than a traditional biography. In telling this history from the perspective of Katsu Kaishu, commissioner of the shogun’s navy and later supreme commander of the Tokugawa military, Hillsborough also portrays an array of other leading players in the Meiji Restoration drama – examining their values and social systems, their culture and ideals, their desires and fears, and their historical perspectives – against a backdrop of tumultuous events that would change their world forever.OverviewThe Introduction provides the historical and political background of Japan under the hegemony of the Tokugawa Bakufu. The body of Samurai Revolution (not including the Epilogue) is divided into two Books (published as one volume), comprising a brief Prologue and five distinct Parts in 37 Chapters, and ending with the lengthy Epilogue and Appendix.Book 1: The Fall of the Tokugawa Bakufu (1853-1868) covers the cataclysmic fifteen-year history of the fall of the Bakufu and the restoration of Imperial rule–i.e., the Meiji Restoration (1853-1868). The Prologue and Parts I through III comprise Book 1.Book 2: The Rise of Imperial Japan (1868-1878), comprised of Parts IV and V, chronicles the first decade of Imperial Japan (1868-1877) under the newly restored monarchy.The Epilogue summarizes the last two decades of Katsu Kaishu’s life (1879-1899).Throughout the volume, Hillsborough quotes Katsu Kaishu, a prolific writer, focusing on his journals, letters, histories, biographical sketches, and oral memoirs. (All citations are Hillsborough’s own translations of the original texts.) As such, Kaishu’s unique personality – the down-to-earth attitude, magnanimity, scathing humor, genius in overcoming adversity, and humanity – come forth.Fourteen of the thirty-seven chapters focus on historical events and sociocultural phenomena in which Katsu Kaishu had little or no direct involvement–but which nonetheless had a profound effect on him personally and on Japanese society and history overall. The remaining twenty-three chapters focus either on Katsu Kaishu or events in which he was directly involved.The revolution, broadly speaking, pitted three of the most powerful samurai clans – Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa – against the Bakufu and its allies, with the Emperor and his Court caught in the middle. Beside Katsu Kaishu, among the most prominent men are: Ii Naosuké, the boy-shogun’s dictatorial regent whose assassination in the spring of 1860 marked the beginning of the end of the Bakufu; Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun, whose rise and fall is integral to this history; Saigo Takamori and Okubo Toshimichi, who emerged, respectively, as the military and political leaders of Satsuma, the former the driving force behind the revolution, the latter the most powerful man in the early Imperial government; Yoshida Shoin, Takasugi Shinsaku, and Katsura Kogoro, respectively the spiritual/academic, military and political leaders of Choshu, without whom the revolution, as it happened, would have been unachievable; and the outlaw samurai Sakamoto Ryoma of Tosa, who, formerly Katsu Kaishu’s protégé, brokered the military alliance between Satsuma and Choshu to overthrow the government his mentor represented.Samurai Revolution is the first English-language presentation and analyses of these powerful and alluring personalities in one volume aimed at a general international audience.

    Explore the enduring beauty of Japanese design through some 250 objects, ranging from bento boxes, calligraphy brushes, and Shoji sliding doors to Noguchi’s Akari lamp, the iconic Kikkoman soy sauce bootle, and a modern-day kimono designed by Issey Miyake.Printed on craft paper and bound in the traditional Japanese style, WA features stunning, full-page illustrations and an introduction by MUJI art director Kenya Hara.

    One destiny. A nation on fire.In the lush Inzai Valley, young Soma Yoshimoto knows little of the War For The Chrysanthemum Throne that has raged throughout Oyashima for the last twenty years. Instead, he yearns to leave his noble birth behind him and become a farmer. But when his father is assassinated, and his village slaughtered, Yoshimoto must flee with only his governor for protection, an old monk for advice, and his two cousins for company.As competing factions alternately vie to win his loyalty or destroy him, Yoshimoto must travel further than he could ever imagine if he is to find his father’s killer and restore his family name.Yet it is not just the road that brings danger, for the shadows are lengthening and an ancient darkness stalks the land. Soon Yoshimoto will have to confront not only his destiny, and the growing power inside him, but he must decide which woman he truly loves and which one to sacrifice.

    As never before, John Stevens captures the radiant and powerful simplicity of Rengetsu's life and art in this biography and new translation of her work.

    Paul Glynn told the powerful story of Dr. Nagai, a Christian convert of remarkable courage and compassion who ministered to the many victims of the atomic bomb attack, The Smile of a Ragpicker brings us the heroic and moving story of Satoko Kitahara, a young, beautiful woman of wealth who gave up her riches and comfort to became one with the ragpickers. She plunged into the life of the poor, regardless of the consequences.In nine remarkable years at Sumida Park in Tokyo, Satoko showed through her Christian commitment and serenity how the lives of so many people could be changed by one person. Importantly, she helped the poor recover their self respect and dignity.In finding Christ, Satoko found herself. The journey was not easy but her strong new Christian faith assured her that Christ would be with her. Like many of the saints, Satoko experienced the “dark night of the soul”. A restless young rich woman, she was led by the Holy Spirit to forget her reservations and pride and live with the poorest of the poor. The Lord heard the cry of the poor, and He sent them Satoko. She became known as “Ari no Machi no Maria”—Mary of Ants Town. She inspired all those she touched.Every day Satoko encountered Christ in some new and challenging way. She was calling the Church back to identification with the poor. She showed the strength of her internal faith. Like Dr. Nagai, she expressed her faith through the sensitivity and beauty of her own culture. Satoko died a young woman, in dire poverty in a Tokyo slum. Yet her death, mourned by many thousands, reflected her triumphant life of deep Christian faith and charity.This book is a powerful story of reconciliation, not between countries, but between people of different social, economic and religious backgrounds, inspired by a frail young woman of luminous faith. Illustrated with photos.

    Detailed printing guides and sketches also give a rare insight into this artist’s technical excellence.240 pages packed with record covers, flyers, posters, action figures, fashion design, Kustom Kulture, rough sketches, photos, animation work and the story behind two brands(Erosty Pop! and Erostika).

    The technique, which uses a loom and several strands of silk thread, was once used to create the strong, slender cords that reinforced samurai warrior armor. Today, it is primarily used to make beautiful, color-drenched cords for jewelry and other decorative items. In "Twist, Turn, & Tie 50 Japanese Kumihimo Braids," readers will get everything they need to get started in this ancient craft, including a mini braiding loom! They'll also find: An overview of tools and materials from looms to bobbins to glues to beadsStep-by-step instructions for basic loom braiding, handling threads, beads, and more50 gorgeous projects from simple beginner braids to complex beaded cords400 full-color photographs for inspirations and instruction With details on kumihimo terminology, starting and finishing braids, and calculating thread and bead counts, this book is an ideal guide for new braiders.

    It explores the crossover between ‘art’ and ‘fashion’ in this period at the hands of famous Japanese painters who worked with clothing pattern books and painted directly onto garments. With Japan’s exposure to Western fashion in the nineteenth century, and Westerners’ exposure to Japanese modes of dress and design, the kimono took on new associations and came to symbolize an exotic culture and an alluring female form. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the kimono industry was sustained through government support. The line between fashion and art became blurred as kimonos produced by famous designers were collected for their beauty and displayed in museums, rather than being worn as clothing. Today, the kimono has once again taken on new dimensions, as the Internet and social media proliferate images of the kimono as a versatile garment to be integrated into a range of individual styles.            Kimono: A Modern History, the inspiration for a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,not only tells the story of a distinctive garment’s ever-changing functions and image, but provides a novel perspective on Japan’s modernization and encounter with the West.

    At age ten, after believing that her family was simply going on a “camping trip,” she found herself living in a tar-papered barrack, nightly gazing out instead at a searchlight. She wondered if anything would ever be normal again.      In this creative memoir, Lily Havey combines storytelling, watercolor, and personal photographs to recount her youth in two Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. In short vignettes snapshots of people, recreated scenes and events a ten-year-old girl develops into a teenager while confined. Vintage photographs reveal the historical, cultural, and familial contexts of that growth and of the Nakais’ dislocation. The paintings and her animated writing together pull us into a turbulent era when America disgracefully incarcerated, without due process, thousands of American citizens because of their race.      These stories of love, loss, and discovery recall a girl balancing precariously between childhood and adolescence. In turn wrenching, funny, touching, and biting but consistently engrossing, they elucidate the daily challenges of life in the camp and the internees’ many adaptations.  Winner of the Evans Biography Award.  Selected by the American Library Association as one the Best of the Best from University Presses. Finalist in the cover design category in the Southwest Book Design and Production Awards.

    Some were evacuated before the Marines landed and others were taken as Prisoners-of-War. The Japanese army and navy combatants are given a voice to share their experiences in the battle that coined the phrase, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue."

    He imagines places of freedom, strength and love, and reminds himself that "Others may have the power to shackle my body, but I always hold the power to free my mind."

    Until about the fifteenth century, it was also among the world’s largest cities and, as the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, it was a place where the political, artistic, and religious currents of Asia coalesced and flourished. Despite these and many other traits that make Kyoto a place of both Japanese and world historical significance, the physical appearance of the premodern city remains largely unknown. Through a synthesis of textual, pictorial, and archeological sources, this work attempts to shed light on Kyoto’s premodern urban landscape with the aim of opening up new ways of thinking about key aspects of premodern Japanese history.The book begins with an examination of Kyoto’s highly idealized urban plan (adapted from Chinese models in the eighth century) and the reasons behind its eventual failure. The formation of the suburbs of Kamigyō and Shimogyō is compared to the creation of large exurban temple-palace complexes by retired emperors from the late eleventh century. Each, it is argued, was a material manifestation of the advancement of privatized power that inspired a medieval discourse aimed at excluding “outsiders.” By examining this discourse, a case is made that medieval power holders, despite growing autonomy, continued to see the emperor and classical state system as the ultimate sources of political legitimacy. This sentiment was shared by the leaders of the Ashikaga shogunate, who established their headquarters in Kyoto in 1336. The narrative examines how these warrior leaders interacted with the capital’s urban landscape, revealing a surprising degree of deference to classical building protocols and urban codes. Remaining chapters look at the dramatic changes that took place during the Age of Warring States (1467–1580s) and Kyoto’s postwar revitalization under the leadership of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Nobunaga’s construction of Nijō Castle in 1569 transformed Kyoto’s fundamental character and, as Japan’s first castle town, it set an example soon replicated throughout the archipelago. In closing, the book explores how Hideyoshi—like so many before him, yet with much greater zeal—used monumentalism to co-opt and leverage the authority of Kyoto’s traditional institutions.Richly illustrated with original maps and diagrams, Kyoto is a panoramic examination of space and architecture spanning eight centuries. It narrates a history of Japan’s premodern capital relevant to the fields of institutional history, material culture, art and architectural history, religion, and urban planning. Students and scholars of Japan will be introduced to new ways of thinking about old historical problems while readers interested in the cities and architecture of East Asia and beyond will benefit from a novel approach that synthesizes a wide variety of sources.

    Rather than a continuation of ancient traditions, however, bushido developed from a search for identity during Japan's modernization in the late nineteenth century. The former samurai class were widely viewed as a relic of a bygoneage in the 1880s, and the first significant discussions of bushido at the end of the decade were strongly influenced by contemporary European ideals of gentlemen and chivalry. At the same time, Japanese thinkers increasingly looked to their own traditions in search of sources of national identity, and this process accelerated asnational confidence grew with military victories over China and Russia.Inventing the Way of the Samurai considers the people, events, and writings that drove the rapid growth of bushido, which came to emphasize martial virtues and absolute loyalty to the emperor. In the early twentieth century, bushido became a core subject in civilian and military education, and was a key ideological pillar supporting the imperial state until its collapse in 1945. The close identification of bushido with Japanesemilitarism meant that it was rejected immediately after the war, but different interpretations of bushido were soon revived by both Japanese and foreign commentators seeking to explain Japan's past, present, and future. This volume further explores the factors behind the resurgence of bushido, which has proven resilient through 130 years ofdramatic social, political, and cultural change.

    Despite outselling most other alcoholic beverages in Japan, however, these premium distilled treats have largely remained hidden from the rest of the world. But that is beginning to change. Written by licensed sommelier and longtime Japan resident, Christopher Pellegrini, The Shochu Handbook is the first major reference published on the subject in a language other than Japanese. Illustrated with dozens of beautiful color photographs, the book covers everything from how distilled beverages arrived in Japan to a step-by-step overview of the distilling process. There are also detailed chapters devoted to deciphering bottle labels, food pairing, serving styles, and speaking the language of these divine drinks. Packed with information, The Shochu Handbook also includes an extensive list of recommended bottles, a chapter devoted to cocktail and homemade liqueur recipes, and Japanese-English language assistance for everything from ordering shochu in a bar to telling the difference between single-distilled and multiple-distilled drinks. This book is essential for Japanese food enthusiasts, restauranteurs, distributors, journalists, retailers, beverage professionals, and everyone in between.

    These 48 essays reveal what’s hidden behind the gleaming exteriors and unconcerned faces in the largest, most crowded city in the world.How to sweat politely, survive noise trucks and glance sideways are some of the many skills needed to live in Tokyo, but these tricks of daily life also contain deep meanings. Pronko’s essays muse over the minutest of details, everything from window flowers to moments of eye contact to the gestures needed to navigate crowded spaces. If you’re traveling to Tokyo, living there or just thinking of going, these essays point you toward the rich byways and fascinating undercurrents of Tokyo life.Essay Topics Include:Compact LifeTokyo ExhaustionThe Lunch RitualMothers and DaughtersTokyo DoubledAs in his first collection of essays, Beauty and Chaos, Pronko examines Tokyo as a city, a culture and an overpowering experience. Tokyo’s Mystery Deepens explores the enigmatic sides of Tokyo with humor, delicacy and a large dose of healthy confusion.Pronko writes about Japanese culture, art, jazz, society, architecture and politics for Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, Artscape Japan, as well as other venues. He has appeared on NHK and Nippon Television and runs his own website, Jazz in Japan (www.jazzinjapan.com). He teaches American Literature and Culture at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo and after class wanders Tokyo contemplating its intensity.Praise for his first collection of essays, Beauty and Chaos:“Japanese who are used to Tokyo are caught off guard by his conclusions derived from careful observation, and are struck dumb. Tokyo, the city we are so careless of, suddenly starts to become glorious. It is a wonder!” Chunichi Shimbun (Newspaper)“Giving up the bias and seeing the city with completely different standards, you will see the unexpected, attractive face of Tokyo. This book is a guide for rediscovering Tokyo that lets us see the city with unique new features.” Nikkan Gendai (Newspaper)Japanese version available from KADOKAWA Publishers as: トーキョーの謎は今日も深まる マイケル・プロンコ (著)

    It examines the approach taken by the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to issues of gender equality in Japan, and the repercussions of that approach on women's political experiences and representation. This book covers a range of themes including the role of the LDP and other major political parties in constructing the modern Japanese political system, the under-representation of women in Japanese politics, women's experiences in party politics and the gendering of government policies. Using in-depth interviews with women members of the national Diet, the book sheds light on how political women negotiate the male-dominated world of Japanese politics.

    In additional to being the author of the most famous koan ever written, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” he is credited with reviving the Rinzai sect of Zen in Japan, perhaps the most important and most rigorous branch in the Golden Age of Buddhism. His “Song of Zazen” is chanted in monasteries daily all over the world. Hakuin taught that there are three essentials to Zen practice: Great Faith, Great Doubt, and Great Resolve. Only Dogen comes close to matching the power and breadth of his writing and teaching.Norman Waddell has spent his life reading and commenting on the vast work of Hakuin. He has published several previous selections, all leading to his work on this major, monumental gathering, the Keiso Dokuzui, never before translated in any foreign language. Translating sacred texts requires years of practice and intimate familiarity with the material in its original language, as well as complete mastery of the available commentary. There’s no one alive better capable of handling this important and difficult offering.For this collection Hakuin gathered more than 200 individual pieces, consisting of commentaries, memorials, poems, koans, and teisho (lectures). They were offered to the many students living around his temple as well as to the countless lay followers around the country, and Hakuin spent his life offering these teachings together with his own commentary. Result is an organic, growing collection of understanding and advice, certain to engage Zen students as well as religious practitioners in other spiritual disciplines

    Based on the blog, "Living Tall in Japan." http: //www.jamieism.com

    Kana From Zero! is perfect for current students learning to read and write Japanese hiragana and katakana.

    And you still had to try to stay, and stay with your position. You had dengue fever, which is even worse than malaria. Men that were scratched with coral became infected with a rundown condition. It was a war of attrition, mostly, for the Marines.” – Major Vincent Kramer, 5th Defense Battalion, US MarinesThe names of history’s most famous battles still ring in our ears today, with their influence immediately understood by all. Marathon lent its name to the world’s most famous race, but it also preserved Western civilization during the First Persian War. Saratoga, won by one of the colonists’ most renowned war heroes before he became his nation’s most vile traitor. Hastings ensured the Normans’ success in England and changed the course of British history. Waterloo, which marked the reshaping of the European continent and Napoleon’s doom, has now become part of the English lexicon. In Charles River Editors’ Greatest Battles in History series, readers can get caught up to speed on history’s greatest battles in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. The Guadalcanal Campaign, which ran from August 1942 to February 1943, was a bitter and protracted struggle that also happened to be a strange and transitional confrontation quite unlike any other in the long Pacific War. In conjunction with the American victory at the Battle of Midway, Guadalcanal represented the crucial moment when the balance of power in the Pacific tipped in favor of the Allies, but the idea that Guadalcanal would be such a significant battle would have come as a surprise to military strategists and planners on both sides. Nonetheless, by the time the Guadalcanal campaign was underway, it was a confrontation that neither side actively sought, but that both sides came to believe they could not afford to lose. When Allied forces landed on the island, it was an effort to deny the Japanese the use of the island and other nearby islands, but the Japanese defenders fought bitterly in an effort to push them off the island, resulting in a rather unique battle that consisted mostly of a Japanese offensive against Americans that invaded amphibiously and dug in. While the Americans closed the campaign with a substantial material advantage, the American garrison on Guadalcanal was initially undermanned and terribly undersupplied. Eventually, nearly 100,000 soldiers fought on the island, and the ferocity with which the Japanese fought was a fitting prelude to campaigns like Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The campaign would include six separate naval battles, three large-scale land clashes, and almost daily skirmishing and shelling. Not surprisingly, the campaign exacted a heavy toll, with more than 60 ships sunk, more than 1200 aircraft destroyed, and more than 38,000 dead. While the Japanese and Americans engaged at sea and in the skies, of the 36,000 Japanese defenders on the ground, over 30,000 of them would be dead by the end of the Guadalcanal campaign, while the Americans lost about 7,000 killed. By the end of the fighting, the Guadalcanal Campaign had unquestionably become a turning point in the Pacific War, representing both the last gasp of the Japanese offensive and the first stirrings of the American onslaught. In the wake of the Japanese defeat, Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi asserted, “Guadalcanal is no longer merely a name of an island in Japanese military history. It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army.

    

    Rejected by orthodox Japanese scholars and never before translated into English, these documents speak of primeval alphabets, lost languages, forgotten technologies, and the sacred spiritual science. Some even refer to UFOs, Atlantis, and Jesus coming to Japan. Translating directly from the original Japanese, Avery Morrow explores four of these manuscripts in full as well as reviewing the key stories of the other Golden Age chronicles. In the Kujiki Taiseikyo manuscript Morrow uncovers the secret symbolism of a Buddhist saint and the origin of a modern prophecy of apocalypse. In the Hotsuma Tsutaye manuscript he reveals the exploits of a noble tribe who defeated a million-strong army without violence. In the Takenouchi manuscripts he shows us how the first Japanese emperor came from another world and ruled at a time when Atlantis and Mu still existed. And in the Katakamuna manuscripts the author unveils the sacred geometries of the universe from the symbolic songs of the 10,000-year-old Ashiya tribe. He also discusses the lost scripts known as the Kamiyo Moji and the magic spiritual science that underlies all of these texts, which enabled initiates to ascend to higher emotional states and increase their life force. Taking a spiritual approach à la Julius Evola to these “parahistorical” chronicles, Morrow shows how they access a higher order of knowledge and demonstrate direct parallels to many ancient texts of India, Europe, and Egypt.

    Born in 1941, Ito is one of the world's most innovative architects. The texts in this collection cover almost exactly 40 years of writing and feature famous essays as well as previously untranslated writings that shed new light on Ito’s relationship to evolving patterns of architectural thinking and design. Architecture Words is a series of texts and important essays on architecture written by architects, critics and scholars. Like many aspects of everyday life, contemporary architectural culture is dominated by an endless production and consumption of images, graphics and information. Rather than mirror this larger force, this series of small books seeks to deflect it by means of direct language, concise editing and beautiful, legible graphic design. Each volume in the series offers the reader texts that distil important larger issues and problems, and communicate architectural ideas; not only the ideas contained within each volume, but also the enduring power of written ideas more generally to challenge and change the way all architects think.

    Mighty Ontake is like that. The mountain's inexhaustible treasury of riches is like some endless storybook with its pages uncut. As one follows the rambling plot along, one is always looking forward to reading more. Every page yields things never found in other books. Ontake is that kind of mountain."One Hundred Mountains is that kind of book. "Nowhere in the world do people hold mountains in so much regard as in Japan," observed the author, Kyūya Fukada, in the afterword to his most famous work. "Mountains have played a part in Japanese history since the country's beginnings, and they manifest themselves in every form of art. For mountains have always formed the bedrock of the Japanese soul."In One Hundred Mountains, Fukada pays tribute to his favorite summits. Published in 1964, the book became an instant classic. Consisting of one hundred short essays, each celebrating one notable mountain and its place in Japan's traditions, the book is an elegantly written eulogy to the landscape, literature, and history that define a people. More recently, Japan's national broadcasting company has turned it into a memorable TV series.Fukada himself was bemused by his book's success: "In the end, the one hundred mountains represent my personal choice and I make no claims for them beyond that." Yet, half a century after he set down those words, his mountains have become a cultural institution. Marked on every hiking map and enshrined in scores of spin-off books, his One Hundred Mountains are today firmly embedded in the mountain traditions they grew out of.Now available in English for the first time, One Hundred Mountains of Japan will serve as a vade mecum to the Japanese mountains for a new cohort of hikers and mountaineers. It will also open up novel territories for students of Japan's literature, folklore, religions, and mountaineering history--in short, for mountain-lovers everywhere.

    For me, this book is not just an investigation into the Chinese education system: it is personal."Gaokao" (pronounced “gow cow”) otherwise known as the National College Entrance Examination, is the modern Chinese version of an examination system that has flourished since the days of Imperial China, when the only way to social advancement in the civil service system depended on the results of rigorous national examinations.Today, the meaning of “gaokao” has extended to describe the feverish excitement and trepidation engulfing Asian and non-Asian students and parents alike as they prepare for a potentially life-changing examination. Readers in the United States will see the resemblance to our own gaokaos, whether it be AP, SAT, GRE, Med School, Law School, etc., where success in the test is seen as the key to success in life.Growing up in both Chinese and American cultures, Yanna Gong brings a unique perspective to her experience of educational values in both countries. Instances from her own life show how the often-relentless drive toward academic excellence is an unquestioned imperative for many Asian and Asian-American kids, as well as entire families, whose collective devotion (and neurosis) is fast becoming a global phenomenon. What, however, is the cost, both physically and psychologically? Is there a darker side to producing super students? Anyone who has admired or been appalled by the Tiger Mom or Wolf Dad will find Gaokao a must-read book.Yanna Gong is a high school senior in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. This is her first book.

    Unexceptional in his IT job, he works in the shadow of his boss’s charisma. His children are embarrassed by his mediocrity and his wife rarely thinks of him as an individual. He has nothing to show for decades of conformity and doing the right thing.Shiro needs purpose in his life, so he begins to plot the murder of a neglected housewife on his street. He takes trips to scout places to dispose of a body, researches knives and arteries, and buys a neurotoxin while on a business trip in Thailand. His plans transform his personality – he can stand up to his boss, keep his children in line, wear the trousers in the marriage – but as he gets ever closer to doing the deed, it becomes clear there is more going on than he suspected.Salaryman Unbound is a taut, literary crime novel set in contemporary Japan.

    combines political history, military biography, and business management to tell the story of General Douglas MacArthur's tremendous success in rebuilding Japan after World War II in Supreme Commander, a lively, in-depth work of biographical history complementary to The Generals, The Storm of War, and Truman.He is the most decorated general in American history—and the only five five-star general to receive the Medal of Honor. Yet Douglas MacArthur's greatest victory was not in war but in peace.As the uniquely titled Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, he was charged with transforming a defeated, militarist empire into a beacon of peace and democracy—“the greatest gamble ever attempted,” he called it. A career military man, MacArthur had no experience in politics, diplomacy, or economics. A vain, reclusive, and self-centered man, his many enemies in Washington thought he was a flaming peacock, and few, including President Harry Truman's closest advisors, gave him a chance of succeeding. Yet MacArthur did so brilliantly, defying timetables and expectations.Supreme Commander tells for the first time, the story of how MacArthur's leadership achieved a nation-building success that had never been attempted before—and never replicated since. Seymour Morris Jr. reveals this flawed man at his best who treated a defeated enemy with respect; who made informed and thoughtful decisions yet could be brash and stubborn when necessary, and who lead the Occupation with intelligence, class, and compassion.Morris analyzes MacArthur's key tactical choices, explaining how each contributed to his accomplishment, and paints a detailed picture of a true patriot—a man of conviction who proved to be an outstanding and effective leader in the most extraordinary circumstances.

    No other book or website presents such a knowledgeable, practical, and concise yet complete guide to sake idiosyncrasies, misperceptions, and controversies.Sake Confidential is the perfect FAQ for beginners, experts, and sommeliers. Indexed for easy reference with suggested brands and label photos. Includes:Sake Secrets: junmai vs. non-junmai, namazake, aging, dry vs. sweet, ginjo, warm vs. chilled, nigori, water, yeast, rice, regionality How the Industry Really Works: pricing, contests, distribution, glassware, milling, food pairing The Brewer’s Art Revealed: koji-making, brewers’ guilds, gradingJohn Gauntner John Gauntner is the only non-Japanese certified Master of Sake Tasting. A resident of Japan since 1988, he has worked in the sake industry promoting and educating since 1994. Each year he conducts Sake Professional Courses for sake professionals and aficionados, and several of his students have gone on to open thriving sake shops, breweries, and izakaya in the United States.

    The legend begins here with The Sky Book One, containing Amano's sketches and paintings for the first three Final Fantasy games; I (1987), II (1988) and III (1990). Introduced are characters such as Princess Sarah, Firion, Cid, Maria, Sara Altney, Alus Restor, Ricard Highwind, and many others, as well as the creatures that challenge them: beholders, hydrae, dragons, manticores, chimerae, and liches! Bonuses include illustrations done for the 1989 Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite CD Oath of Dawn, promotional art for the French release of the Final Fantasy anime, and drawings from the 1989 Final Fantasy novel Labyrinth of the Incubus!Don't miss your chance to return to the strange and beautiful realms of Yoshitaka Amano with The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy Book One!

    Explore the code of the Samurai and discover the virtues that governed their lives. Loyalty, Respect, Honor and Compassion are just a few of the virtues laid out in Bushido, The Way of the Warrior. In Japanese Spirituality you will learn the virtues of Bushido, discover the religion suited perfectly for the Samurai ethic and uncover the mysterious Tea Ceremony. Japanese Spirituality contains the following books as well as illustrations, pictures interactive table of contents and more.Bushido, Inazo Nitobe:Nitobé eloquently explains the persistence of feudal Japan's morals, ethics, and etiquette into modern times. He takes a far-reaching approach, drawing examples from indigenous traditions — Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, and the philosophies of samurai and sages — as well as from ancient and modern Western thinkers. Religion of the Samurai, Kaiten Nukariya:Zen was uniquely suited to the Samurai of Japan. The high moral principles of Buddhism, when adopted and adapted by the Japanese warriors who became the Samurai, created an austere philosophy of singular beauty and depth. Its characteristic requirements of strict control over body and mind was exemplified by ancient warrior monks whose serene countenance, even in the face of certain death, made them much admired even by their foes. The Book of Tea, Kakuzo Okakura:Japanese scholar, writer and art curator Kakuzo Okakura (1862-1913), who spent years writing about Japanese art and culture, was one of the principal founders of the first Japanese fine arts academy. He traveled to Boston in the early 1900's, where he became the first head of the Asian Arts Division at the Museum of Fine Arts. He was friends with influential figures of the day, including art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner, poet Ezra Pound, and philosopher Martin Heidegger. Religion in Japan, George A. Cobbold:Religion in Japan: Shintoism-Buddhism- Christianity was written by the Reverend George Augustus Cobbold (1857-? ). "It may well be questioned whether, in the course of a like period of time, any country has ever undergone greater transitions, or made more rapid strides along the path of civilization than has Japan during the last quarter of a century. A group of numerous islands, situated on the high-road and thoroughfare of maritime traffic across the Pacific, between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and in area considerably exceeding Great Britain and Ireland, -Japan, until thirty years ago, was a terra incognita to the rest of the world; exceeding even China in its conservatism and exclusiveness. "

    Before World War II, China had suffered through five wars with European powers as well as American imperial policies resulting in economic, military, and political domination. This shifted dramatically during WWII, when alliances needed to be realigned, resulting in the evolution of China's relationships with the USSR, the U.S., Britain, France, India, and Japan. Based on key historical archives, memoirs, and periodicals from across East Asia and the West, this book explains how China was able to become one of the Allies with a seat on the Security Council, thus changing the course of its future.Breaking with U.S.-centered analyses which stressed the incompetence of Chinese Nationalist diplomacy, Negotiating China's Destiny makes the first sustained use of the diaries of Chiang Kai-shek (which have only become available in the last few years) and who is revealed as instrumental in asserting China's claims at this pivotal point. Negotiating China's Destiny demonstrates that China's concerns were far broader than previously acknowledged and that despite the country's military weakness, it pursued its policy of enhancing its international stature, recovering control over borderlands it had lost to European imperialism in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and becoming recognized as an important allied power with determination and success.

    Even the popular definitions of Japanese masculinity are interwoven with accounts of personal alcohol consumption in public settings; gender norms that exclude and marginalize the alcoholic. And yet the alcoholic also exists in Japan, and exists in a manner revealing of the dominant processes by which alcoholism and addiction are globally influenced, understood, and classified. As such, this book examines the ways in which alcoholism is understood, accepted, and taken on as an influential and lived aspect of identity among Japanese men. At the most general level, it explores how a subjective idea comes to be regarded as an objective and unassailable fact. Here such a process concerns how the culturally and temporally specific treatment methodology of Alcoholics Anonymous, upon which much of Japan's other major sobriety association, Danshūkai, is also based, has come to be the approach in Japan to diagnosing, treating, and structuring alcoholism as an aspect of individual identity. In particular, the gendered consequences, how this process transpires or is resisted by Japanese men, are considered, as they offer substantial insight into how categories of illness and disease are created, particularly the ramifications of dominant forms of such categorizations across increasingly porous cultural borders. Ramifications that become starkly obvious when Japan's persistent connection between notions of masculinity and alcohol consumption are considered from the perspective of the sober alcoholic and sobriety group member.

    However, few scholars identify the role played by large, family-owned conglomerates known as zaibatsu. I analyze the nature and structure of these firms and how their business strategies, capital accumulations and organizational structure impacted their development. These features of zaibatsu are used as a lens to identify their specific impact on Japanese industrialization during the Meiji period. I use research from historians, economists and zaibatsu corporate records to complete my analysis. I argue that characteristics associated with zaibatsu were instrumental in the nature and speed of Japanese industrialization and were responsible for Japan’s ascent to great power status by 1922, as represented by the Washington Naval Treaty.

    When the Chinese emerged victorious with the Allies at the end of World War II, many seemed ready to exact retribution for these crimes. Rather than resort to violence, however, they chose to deal with their former enemy through legal and diplomatic means. Focusing on the trials of, and policies toward, Japanese war criminals in the postwar period, Men to Devils, Devils to Men analyzes the complex political maneuvering between China and Japan that shaped East Asian realpolitik during the Cold War.Barak Kushner examines how factions of Nationalists and Communists within China structured the war crimes trials in ways meant to strengthen their competing claims to political rule. On the international stage, both China and Japan propagandized the tribunals, promoting or blocking them for their own advantage. Both nations vied to prove their justness to the world: competing groups in China by emphasizing their magnanimous policy toward the Japanese; Japan by openly cooperating with postwar democratization initiatives. At home, however, Japan allowed the legitimacy of the war crimes trials to be questioned in intense debates that became a formidable force in postwar Japanese politics.In uncovering the different ways the pursuit of justice for Japanese war crimes influenced Sino-Japanese relations in the postwar years, Men to Devils, Devils to Men reveals a Cold War dynamic that still roils East Asian relations today.

    Both moving and mesmerising, this medium captures scenes with considerable atmosphere and vibrancy whether it be crashing waves, autumn leaves or serene waterfalls. Beginning with a fresh and thoughtful introduction to Japanese woodblock art, Japanese Woodblocks Masterpieces of Art goes on to showcase key works by artists such as Katsuhika Hokusai and Ando Hiroshige.

    Beginning with his meditation on the devastation caused by the atomic bombs in 11:02 Nagasaki, Tomatsu focused on the tensions between traditional Japanese culture and the nation's growing Westernization, most notably in his seminal book Nihon. Beginning in the late 1950s, Tomatsu photographed as many of the American military bases as possible--beginning with those on the main island of Japan and ending in Okinawa, a much-contested archipelago off the southernmost tip of the country. Tomatsu's photographs focused on the seismic impact of the American victory and occupation: uniformed American soldiers carousing in red-light districts with Japanese women; foreign children at play in the seedy landscape of cities like Yokosuka and Atsugi; and the emerging protest- and counter-culture formed in response to the ongoing American military presence. He originally named this series Occupation, but later retitled it Chewing Gum and Chocolate to reflect the handouts given to Japanese kids by the soldiers--sugary and addictive, but lacking in nutritional value. And although many of his most iconic images are from this series, the best of this work has never before been gathered together in a single volume. Leo Rubinfien, co-curator of the photographer's survey Skin of the Nation, contributes an essay that engages with Tomatsu's ambivalence toward the American occupation and the shifting national identity of Japan. Also included in this volume are never-before-translated writings by Tomatsu from the 1960s and 70s, providing context for both the artist's original intentions and the sociopolitical thinking of the time.Shomei Tomatsu (1930-2012) played a central role in Vivo, a self-managed photography agency, and founded the publishing house Shaken and the quarterly journal Ken. He participated in the groundbreaking New Japanese Photography exhibition in 1974 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and, in 2011, the Nagoya City Art Museum featured Tomatsu Shomei: Photographs, a comprehensive survey of his work.

    1300–1600) by shifting the conventional land-based analytical framework to one centered on the perspectives of seafarers who, though usually dismissed as "pirates," thought of themselves as sea lords. Over the course of these centuries, Japan's sea lords became maritime magnates who wielded increasing amounts of political and economic authority by developing autonomous maritime domains that operated outside the auspices of state authority. They played key roles in the operation of networks linking Japan to the rest of the world, and their protection businesses, shipping organizations, and sea tenure practices spread their influence across the waves to the continent, shaping commercial and diplomatic relations with Korea and China.Japan's land-based authorities during this time not only came to accept the autonomy of "pirates" but also competed to sponsor sea-lord bands who could administer littoral estates, fight sea battles, protect shipping, and carry trade. In turn, prominent sea-lord families expanded their dominion by shifting their locus of service among several patrons and by appropriating land-based rhetorics of lordship, which forced authorities to recognize them as legitimate lords over sea-based domains.By the end of the late medieval period, the ambitions, tactics, and technologies of sea-lord mercenary bands proved integral to the naval dimensions of Japan's sixteenth-century military revolution. Sea lords translated their late medieval autonomy into positions of influence in early modern Japan and helped make control of the seas part of the ideological foundations of the state.

    In the 1960s to 1980s, his illustrations of young girls with big eyes were very popular among young girls in Japan and he keeps working actively despite his age. The style of his illustrations is obviously influenced by Art Deco, and they are typical of Japanese manga drawings that are popular today. His illustration s characteristics are his decorative and precise depiction as well as his gorgeous and naive coloring. This book is to celebrate his 60th anniversary since his debut. As it compiles his work thoroughly, it will be a treasured book for not only fans of his romantic and girly artworks but also for illustrators and manga artist as a great reference.

    The 75 profiles include 60 sake breweries, 10 shochu distilleries and 5 awamori distilleries from Okinawa all the way to Hokkaido for geographic and stylistic diversity. For over 2000 years, sake has been a uniquely Japanese product in some shape or form. Today, Japan even hosts a National Sake Day. However, despite 21st century globalization, it remains an industry that is little understood by outsiders, regardless of the fact that there is growing interest. In addition to the colorful, deeply personal stories behind the owners and brewers, the book will serve as a guide to Japan's most unique generational sake, helping to enlighten a new drinking audience on artisanal alternatives to the popular mainstream offerings. To ensure a well-rounded approach, the book will also provide an introduction to unique shochu and awamori distilleries, two close relatives of sake. Beautifully illustrated with full color photography by one of the world's top travel photographers (Jason Lang), the book will appeal to a broad audience but is intended for readers outside of Japan. For novices, it will open a window to the world of sake and the stories of the passionate people who make it. Well initiated enthusiasts will benefit from a curated list of sake, shochu and awamori breweries and distilleries they can further research, buy and taste. Because many of these breweries and distilleries do not actively export their products outside Japan, beverage professionals will discover many brands that they wish to contact and consider importing for their menus.

    These are some of the most stunningly beautiful islands in the world!Trek up active volcanoes, soak in nature hot springs, enjoy pristine white sand beaches, and sample Okinawa's superb homegrown cuisine. Experienced author Robert Walker tells you how to get there, where to go, where to stay and what to do, including:Ferry schedules and flightsLodgings on all inhabited islandsBest beaches and surf spotsHikes and nature walksSights suitable for families with childrenHistorical and cultural landmarksIllustrated with over 200 color photographs and 40 maps, this book provides essential travel tips to help tourists avoid costly mistakes. It also includes a large fold-out map of Okinawa and the Ryukyu chain with insets for the major islands and cities.

    Stressing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach, Brian McVeigh lays out practical and understandable research approaches in a systematic fashion to demonstrate how, with the right conceptual tools and enough bibliographical sources, Japanese society can be productively analyzed from a distance.In concise chapters, these approaches are applied to a whole range of topics: from the aesthetics of street culture; the philosophical import of sci-fi anime; how the state distributes wealth; welfare policies; the impact of official policies on gender relations; updated spiritual traditions; why manners are so important; kinship structures; corporate culture; class; schooling; self-presentation; visual culture; to the subtleties of Japanese grammar.　 Examples from popular culture, daily life, and historical events are used to illustrate and highlight the color, dynamism, and diversity of Japanese society.　 Designed for both beginning and more advanced students, this book is intended not just for Japanese studies but for cross-cultural comparison and to demonstrate how social scientists craft their scholarship.

    As many as 5,000 such stamps are in use today. Each one is unique, bearing the station name along with specially designed patterns that convey the uniqueness of the locality via images of sightseeing spots, specialty products and other aspects of the region. Just looking through these stamps makes one feel like going on a trip. This volume contains approximately 380 imprints of such stamps selected from all over the country and representing various periods, drawing from the compilers collection of around 70,000.

    It contains 429,500 translations. With this dictionary, all English speakers are able to easily read Japanese books on a Kindle without leaving them in order to find translations for Japanese vocabulary. The dictionary is also a very useful tool for Japanese speakers. They can actively learn English vocabulary by tapping any Japanese word. Before you make a conclusive decision about this dictionary, please read the sections Installation which shows the dictionary compatibility and How to use that provides you with some general information on how the dictionary is structured and how to use it. Installation ========== This dictionary can be used with the Kindle Touch, Kindle Paperwhite, iPad and Ipod Kindle Apps. Unfortunately it will not function with the Kindle Fire, on a PC or Android Apps. Amazon is working on the Kindle software which will fix these problems. Follow the instructions below to install the dictionary Kindle Touch: ============ Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Dictionaries -> 日本語 -> Advanced Japanese-English dictionary 2014 babelpoint Kindle Paperwhite: ============ Home -> Menu -> Settings -> Device Options -> Language and Dictionaries -> Dictionaries -> 日本語 -> Advanced Japanese-English dictionary 2014 - babelpoint iPad / iPod: ============ Click the (i) button and choose the dictionary Further devices: ============== Unfortunately Amazon has not updated the Kindle software for computers, android devices, Windows phones and Kindle Fire. Do not buy the dictionary if you intend to use it on these devices. How to use it ============ This dictionary offers a wide range of features that cannot be found anywhere else. It offers you a lot more than just translations. Here is a list of features you will find in this dictionary: Easy navigation of the dictionary via the Go to menu on Kindle devices. Recognition of Japanese word forms. Tagging of Japanese entries according to the Jim Breen's dictionary. Tagging of English entries. IPA transliteration for thousands of English entries. List of Japanese priority words marked by (P). This helps you recognise the key words of the Japanese language. Clear indication of Japanese readings for words with multiple pronunciations. Indication on number of translations if there are more than 5 of them. Indication of how many meanings a word has. Tips for better results: =================== The dictionary understands the morphology of the Japanese language. This means that it can recognise Japanese word forms. Depending on the portion of the words that you mark, different results will be displayed. It is important that you understand the way how the dictionary takes in consideration the different parts of speech, specially for adjectives and verbs which have many different forms. Follow the recommendations below: Stylus pen: =========== Use a stylus pen to make sure that you can properly mark multiple Japanese characters. The lack of space in Japanese sentences make it difficult to mark the words.

    Animals work like people, play like people, sing, dance, make love, start families, and participate in seasonal celebrations from New Year's Day to end-of-year drinking parties--as portrayed in the haiku of Issa. They can also, according to the Pure Land Buddhism to which Issa subscribed, attain enlightenment in a future life. Recognizing animals, as Issa does, as fellow travelers in a shared world is a first step toward their ethical treatment.

    These graphic and colorful 48-page books meet Common Core genre requirements and feature a fictional story, two pages of nonfiction, and two pages of activities, giving students some background knowledge necessary to understanding historical events. Using fiction to amplify history also allows students to think critically about the past--and piques curiosity, leading to further exploration and discovery.

    As Cor van den Heuvel writes, “[So Happy to See Cherry Blossoms] is a tribute to their indomitable spirit and to the powers of poetry.”

     shards of glass can easily penetrate skin and tissue. sex, lust, love and hatred . . . a small town in japan holds these secrets. an inspector, a mother, a father, a client and a body that fell from nowhere . . . sometimes there is no logic to life. nine stories - or one tale? WARNING: Graphic sexual content. This book is for adults only.

    Its chapters collectively reveal a questioning of middle-class ideals once considered the essence of Japaneseness. In the postwar model household a man was expected to obtain a job at a major firm that offered life-long employment; his counterpart, the "professional" housewife, managed the domestic sphere and the children, who were educated in a system that provided a path to mainstream success. In the past twenty years, however, Japanese society has seen a sharp increase in precarious forms of employment, higher divorce rates, and a widening gap between haves and have-nots.Contributors draw on rich, nuanced fieldwork data collected during the 2000s to examine work, schooling, family and marital relations, child rearing, entertainment, lifestyle choices, community support, consumption and waste, material culture, well-being, aging, death and memorial rites, and sexuality. The voices in these pages vary widely: They include schoolchildren, teenagers, career women, unmarried women, young mothers, people with disabilities, small business owners, organic farmers, retirees, and the elderly.

    Based on images from nature, the poems address the themes of joy, temporality, beauty, wonder, loneliness, and loss. Haiku may be the most popular and widely recognizable poetic form in the world. In just three lines a great haiku presents a crystalline moment of image, emotion, and awareness. Elements of compassion, silence, and a sense of temporality often combine to reveal a quality of mystery. Just as often, haiku may bring a startling insight into the ordinary, or a flash of humor. Collected here are over two hundred of the best haiku of Japanese literature--written by the great masters of the genre.The featured poets are Bashō, Buson, Issa, Moritake, Sōin, Sanpū, Kikaku, Ransetsu, Kyorai, Raizan, Kakei, Onitsura, Taigi, Chiyo, Sogetsuni, Sogi, Fuhaku, Teiga, Kikusha-ni, Tayo-jo, Sōchō, Shōha, and Shiki.     This is a pocket-size reissue of The Sound of Water (Shambhala, 1995).

    Aspects of our modern life, such as migration, economic globalization, multicultural policies, and cross-border travel and communication have made intercultural contacts inevitable. High numbers of multicultural individuals (23-43%of the population by some estimates) can be found in many nations where migration has been strong (e.g., Australia, U.S., Western Europe, Singapore) or where there is a history of colonization (e.g., Hong Kong). Many multicultural individuals are also ethnic and cultural minorities who aredescendants of immigrants, majority individuals with extensive multicultural experiences, or people with culturally mixed families; all people for whom identification and/or involvement with multiple cultures is the norm.Despite the prevalence of multicultural identity and experiences, until the publication of this volume, there has not yet been a comprehensive review of scholarly research on the psychological underpinning of multiculturalism. The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity fills this void. It reviewscutting-edge empirical and theoretical work on the psychology of multicultural identities and experiences. As a whole, the volume addresses some important basic issues, such as measurement of multicultural identity, links between multilingualism and multiculturalism, the social psychology ofmulticulturalism and globalization, as well as applied issues such as multiculturalism in counseling, education, policy, marketing and organizational science, to mention a few.This handbook will be useful for students, researchers, and teachers in cultural, social, personality, developmental, acculturation, and ethnic psychology. It can also be used as a source book in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on identity and multiculturalism, and a reference forapplied psychologists and researchers in the domains of education, management, and marketing.

    Leading artists, including Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, were inspired by Japanese art and culture to create works of singular beauty. This lavishly illustrated publication explores an extraordinary moment of cross-cultural exchange by presenting a selection of major paintings, prints, drawings and decorative arts from the renowned collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Masterpieces by European and American artists are shown along with rare objects, paintings and prints from the Museum's Japanese collection, which is one of the finest in the world. Among the Western artists influenced by Japonisme, and included here, are Henry Roderick Newman, Frank Weston Benson, Alfred Stevens, John La Farge, Arthur Wesley Dow, Margaret Jordan Patterson, James McNeill Whistler, Edvard Munch, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, James Ensor, Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, Henri Rivière and Frederick Elkington. Their works are juxtaposed with works by Japanese artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai, Okumura Masanobu, Maruyama Okyo, Kubo Shunman, Isoda Koryusai and Kikugawa Eizan, among many others. With its two introductory essays, emphasizing first Western and then Eastern perspectives, and its four thematically organized chapters, "Looking East" imparts the sense of discovery and excitement that characterized the development of Japonisme in Europe and North America.

    The patterns are classified into two groups; one of them is the figures inspired from nature such as plants, animals and phenomena; the other is abstract patterns such as geometry and auspicious omens. Ukiyo-e, Kimono and craft products will also be introduced in this book.

    It features a wealth of artifacts, including paintings and ceramics, metal objects and weaponry, screens, masks, cloisonné enamel, lacquer ware, ivory carvings, kimonos, and dolls, the majority dating from the Edo period (1615–1868) to the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.In addition to an important introduction by Hou-mei Sung, curator of Asian art, there are contributions by two leading guest authors from Japan, professor Keiko Nakamachi and professor Masahiko Aizawa, who study the painted screens in the collection.

    In The Limits of Okinawa, Wendy Matsumura traces the emergence of this sense of Okinawan difference, showing how local and mainland capitalists, intellectuals, and politicians attempted to resolve clashes with labor by appealing to the idea of a unified Okinawan community. Their numerous confrontations with small producers and cultivators who refused to be exploited for the sake of this ideal produced and reproduced “Okinawa” as an organic, transhistorical entity. Informed by recent Marxist attempts to expand the understanding of the capitalist mode of production to include the production of subjectivity, Matsumura provides a new understanding of Okinawa's place in Japanese and world history, and it establishes a new locus for considering the relationships between empire, capital, nation, and identity.

    Each project will include simple, step-by-step instructions for creating designs and/or applying decals and will be accompanied by four-color photographs illustrating the process as well as finished shots. Includes more than 50 design decals. A must-have for any Hello Kitty fan!

    Follow the events of the attack on Pearl Harbor in graphic novel format.

    Japan's iconic zen gardens are revealed in Alex Ramsay's specially commissioned photographs and their history and meaning is explored in Yoko Kawaguchi's learned text. The austere, enigmatic rock gardens of Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital, have never ceased to fascinate garden lovers. Weather-­â?beaten rocks set in an expanse of white sand raked into geometric patterns challenge the idea of a garden as a space chiefly dedicated to the cultivation and appreciation of plants. How did the taste for this kind of garden arise? What do the stones represent? Why aren’t there more flowers?This book sets out to answer questions such as these. It explores the Zen characteristics of these gardens, and discusses the impact Zen Buddhism has had on the Japanese way of looking at the natural world. This book also shows how key traditional concepts, such as that of using the confined space of a garden to create a landscape in miniature, were reinterpreted in Zen temple gardens. It explores how they make use of traditional imagery, such as those of mountain and sea, and how they reflect that acute sensitivity to the passage of time and the changing of the seasons which characterizes so many other Japanese garden styles. Yoko Kawaguchi’s thoughtful and learned book illustrated with commissioned photography by Alex Ramsay, this book covers important examples of Japanese Zen temple gardens from the fourteenth century through to the twentieth century. It appeals to readers who are interested in gardens, garden design and garden history, as well as in Zen Buddhism and Zen aesthetics. It also serves as a useful reference book for travellers planning a trip to Japan to visit the country’s temples.

    This biography attempts to set the record straight about Itō’s thought and vision for Japan’s modernisation based on research in primary sources. It outlines Itō’s life: the son of a poor farmer, he showed exceptional talent as a boy and was sent to study in Europe and the United States. He returned home convinced that Western civilisation was the only viable path for Japan. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Itō became a powerful intellectual and political force behind reforms of Japanese laws and institutions aimed to shape a modern government based on informed leadership and a knowledeable populace. Among his many achievements were the establishment of Japan’s first constitution—the Meiji Constitution of 1889, and the founding in 1900 of a new type of constitutional party, the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government), which, reformulated after 1945, became the Liberal Democratic Party that has dominated Japanese politics in the postwar period. Concerning Itō’s role as Japanese Resident-General in Korea from 1905, the author argues that Itō’s aim, not understood by either the Japanese home government or Koreans themselves, was not to colonize Korea. He was determined to modernise Korea and consolidate further constitutional reforms in Japan. This aim was not shared by others, and Itō resigned in 1909. He was assassinated the same year in Manchuria by a Korean nationalist. The Japanese language edition of this book is a bestseller in Japan, and it received the Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities, one of Japan's most prestigious publishing awards.

    Emerging from Japan s cities in the late 1920s, kamishibai rapidly transformed from a cheap amusement associated with poverty into the most popular form of juvenile entertainment, eclipsing even film and manga. By the time kamishibai died as a living medium in the 1970s it had left behind indelible influences on popular culture forms such as manga and anime, as well as on avant-garde cinema, theater, and art. From 1932 to 1945, however, kamishibai also became a vehicle for propaganda messages aimed not primarily at children, but at adults. A mixture of script, image, and performance, the medium was particularly suited to conveying populist, emotionally compelling messages to audiences of all classes, ages, and literacy levels, making it a crucial tool in the government s efforts to mobilize the domestic populace in Japan and to pacify the inhabitants of the empire s colonies and occupied territories. With seven complete translations of wartime plays, over 300 color illustrations from hard-to-access kamishibai play cards, and photographs of prewar performances, this study constitutes an archive of wartime history in addition to providing a detailed analysis of the rhetoric of political persuasion."

    They belonged to a militaristic regime and embraced the importance of their role in it. Takashi Nishiyama examines the impact of war and peace on technological transformation during the twentieth century. He is the first to study the paradoxical and transformative power of Japan’s defeat in World War II through the lens of engineering.Nishiyama asks: How did authorities select and prepare young men to be engineers? How did Japan develop curricula adequate to the task (and from whom did the country borrow)? Under what conditions? What did the engineers think of the planes they built to support Kamikaze suicide missions? But his study ultimately concerns the remarkable transition these trained engineers made after total defeat in 1945. How could the engineers of war machines so quickly turn to peaceful construction projects such as designing the equipment necessary to manufacture consumer products? Most important, they developed new high-speed rail services, including the Shinkansen Bullet Train. What does this change tell us not only about Japan at war and then in peacetime but also about the malleability of engineering cultures?Nishiyama aims to counterbalance prevalent Eurocentric/Americentric views in the history of technology. Engineering War and Peace in Modern Japan, 1868–1964 sets the historical experience of one country’s technological transformation in a larger international framework by studying sources in six different languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. The result is a fascinating read for those interested in technology, East Asia, and international studies. Nishiyama's work offers lessons to policymakers interested in how a country can recover successfully after defeat.

    Inspired by these practices, Traditions Transfigured examines fourteen contemporary works by Noh mask-maker and artist Bidou Yamaguchi. These apply the forms, techniques, transformative spirit, and mysterious elegance of Noh masks to iconic female portraits from the European art historical canon, and to Kabuki actor prints by Sharaku, Japan's 18th century portrait master.This book explores these masks in the context of Noh through essays by art historians, a Noh specialist, and an award-winning novelist.

    In Japan, however, mining women witnessed no significant changes in working practices over this period. The availability of the cheap and abundant labor of these women allowed the captains of the coal industry in Japan to avoid expensive investments in new machinery and sophisticated mining methods;, instead, they continued to intensely exploit workers and markets intensively, making substantial profits without the burdens of extensive mechanization.This unique book explores the lives of the thousands of women who labored underground in Japan's coal mines in the years 1868 to 1930. It examines their working lives, their family lives, their aspirations, achievements and disappointments. Drawing heavily on interview material with the miners themselves, W. Donald Burton combines translations of their stories with features of Japanese society at the time and coal mining technology. In doing so, he presents a complex account of the women's lives, as well as providing a keen insight intoon gender relations and the industrial and labor history of Japan.Coal Mining Women in Japan will be welcomed by students and scholars of Japanese history, gender studies and industrial history.

    This book unravels some of the roots and routes connected with the shakuhachi, and discusses instrument types, construction process, social transmission, and performance practice. From the use of the instrument in court music from at least the eighth century, to the modern era that sees international shakuhachi festivals and workshops the world over, the instrument has been recontextualized in various social and cultural spheres. This book depicts and explains some of these contexts and transformations, and documents some of the many ways the shakuhachi has traveled to, within, and beyond its traditional cultural home.

    Long the object of titillation and a favorite subject for off-the-wall fantasy in historical TV and film dramas, the actual daily life, practices, cultural roles, and ultimate missions of these women have remained largely in the dark, except for occasional explosions of scandal. In crystal-clear prose that is a pleasure to read, this new book, however, presents the Ooku in a whole new down-to-earth, practical light. After many years of perusing unexamined Ooku documents generated by these women and their associates, the authors have provided not only an overview of the fifteen generations of Shoguns whose lives were lived in residence with this institution, but how shoguns interacted differently with it. Much like recent research on imperial convents, they find not a huddled herd of oppressed women, but on the contrary, women highly motivated to the preservation of their own particular cultural institution. Most important, they have been able to identify "the culture of secrecy" within the Ooku itself to be an important mechanism for preserving the highest value, 'loyalty, ' that essential value to their overall self-interested mission dedicated to the survival of the Shogunate itself." - Barbara Ruch, Columbia University "The aura of power and prestige of the institution known as the ooku-the complex network of women related to the shogun and their living quarters deep within Edo castle-has been a popular subject of Japanese television dramas and movies. Brushing aside myths and fallacies that have long obscured our understanding, this thoroughly researched book provides an intimate look at the lives of the elite female residents of the shogun's elaborate compound. Drawing information from contemporary diaries and other private memoirs, as well as official records, the book gives detailed descriptions of the physical layout of their living quarters, regulations, customs, and even clothing, enabling us to actually visualize this walled-in world that was off limits for most of Japanese society. It also outlines the complex hierarchy of positions, and by shining a light on specific women, gives readers insight into the various factions within the ooku and the scandals that occasionally occurred. Both positive and negative aspects of life in the "great interior" are represented, and one learns how some of these high-ranking women wielded tremendous social as well as political power, at times influencing the decision-making of the ruling shoguns. In sum, this book is the most accurate overview and characterization of the ooku to date, revealing how it developed and changed during the two and a half centuries of Tokugawa rule. A treasure trove of information, it will be a vital source for scholars and students of Japan studies, as well as women's studies, and for general readers who are interested in learning more about this fascinating women's institution and its significance in Japanese history and culture." - Patricia Fister, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto

    But why is his noble audience so violently moved by his tales of long-dead heroes? For ages 10 and up. Not illustrated! ///////////////////////////////////////////////// Aaron Shepard is the award-winning author of "The Baker's Dozen," "The Sea King's Daughter," "Lady White Snake," and many more children's books. His stories have appeared often in Cricket magazine, while his Web site is known internationally as a prime resource for folktales, storytelling, and reader's theater. Once a professional storyteller, Aaron specializes in lively retellings of folktales and other traditional literature, which have won him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. ///////////////////////////////////////////////// SAMPLE Hearing something, Hoichi stopped his playing and listened. Through the night came footsteps, measured by a steady CLANK, CLANK -- the sound of armor. A samurai coming to the temple, thought Hoichi. What could he want at this hour? The footsteps moved through the back gate of the temple and across the garden. CLANK, CLANK. They were coming straight toward him! As the young man's heart beat faster, the footsteps halted before the veranda. "Hoichi!" "Sir!" replied the young man. Then he added, "Please, sir, I am blind. I cannot see who you are." "You have nothing to fear," said the voice. "My master, a lord of high rank, is lodging nearby. He came to visit Dan-no-ura, the scene of the famous battle. Now he hears of your talent in reciting the tale of the Heike. He wishes you to come at once to perform for himself and his attendants." "I am most honored," said Hoichi. The young man slung his biwa on his back and slipped into his straw sandals. Then his arm was clasped in a grip of iron, and he was led rapidly away.

    Rich in social detail and profound in its psychology, it follows the political and sentimental evolution of the protagonist Kanno Shōzō from a humiliating recantation of his socialist creed to a problematic participation in Japan's war against China. Nogami Yaeko (1885-1985) was Japan's longest-lived woman writer and has an assured place in the history of Japanese fiction. Winner of the prestigious Nomiuri prize, The Labyrinth was immediately recognized as a major critical contribution to the understanding of Japanese political and intellectual history.

    Known for his controversial teachings and writings, Sengai tried to make the difficult lessons of the Renzai sect accessible to the public. He was also an artist, creating ink paintings that have kept their modern, humorous character even though they were created two hundred years ago. Sengai’s work represents Zen Buddhist wisdom, with motifs completed by calligraphic inscriptions—his most famous work, often called “The Universe,” shows only a circle, square, and triangle. But despite Sengai’s almost graphic novel–like style, which would appeal to people today, the paintings’ extreme sensitivity to light exposure makes them difficult to display and prevents them from being known to the wider public. Offering a rare glimpse into the work of this fascinating artist, Zen Master Sengai (1750–1837) presents in full color forty-two of the best works from the collection of Sengai’s art in Tokyo’s Idemitsu Museum of Art. As Sengai’s aphorisms are key to understanding the motifs and wisdom they illustrate, the calligraphic inscriptions are translated into English. Essays by eminent scholars Katharina Epprecht, Taizô Kuroda, Michel Mohr, and Hirokazu Yatsunami look at selected works, telling the story of Sengai’s career transformation from Buddhist monk to painter and contextualizing his work from historical and religious perspectives.

    Kathryn Meyer draws us into the perilous world of the Garden of Grand Vision, a ramshackle structure where a floating population of thousands found shelter from the freezing Siberian winter. They had come to the northern city of Harbin to find opportunity or to escape the turmoil of China in civil war. Instead they found despair. As the author vividly describes, corpses littered the halls waiting for the daily offal truck to cart the bodies away, vermin infested the walls, and relief came in the form of addiction. Yet the Garden also supported a vibrant informal economy. Rag pickers and thieves recycled everything from rat pelts to cigarette butts. Prostitutes entertained clients in the building's halls and back alleys. These people lived at the very bottom of Chinese society, yet rumors that Chinese spies hid among the residents concerned the Japanese authorities. For this population lived in Manchukuo, the first Japanese conquest in what became the Second World War. Thus, three Japanese police officers were dispatched into the underworld of occupied China to investigate crime and vice in the Harbin slums while their military leaders dragged Japan deeper into the Pacific War. While following these policemen, the reader discovers a remarkable and unexpected view of World War II in East Asia. Instead of recounting battles and military strategy, this book explores the margins of a violent and entrepreneurial society, the struggles of an occupying police force to maintain order, and the underbelly of Japanese espionage. Drawing on the author's years of rediscovering the historical trail in Manchuria and research based on top-secret Japanese military documents and Chinese memoirs, this book offers a unique and powerful social and cultural history of a forgotten world.

    Broughton offers an annotated translation of the Whip for Spurring Students Onward Through the Chan Barrier Checkpoints (Changuan cejin), which he abbreviates to Chan Whip. This anthology, compiled by Yunqi Zhuhong (1535-1615), has served as a Chan handbook in both China and Japansince its publication in 1600. To characterize the Chan Whip as late Ming Chan is inaccurate-in fact, it is a survey of virtually the entirety of Chan literature, running from the late 800s (Tang dynasty) to about 1600 (late Ming). The Chan extracts, the bulk of the book, are followed by a shortsection of extracts from Buddhist canonical works (showing Zhuhong's adherence to the convergence of Chan and the teachings). The Chan extracts deliberately eschew abstract discussions of theory in favor of autobiographical narratives, anecdotal sketches, exhortations, sermons, sayings, andletters that deal very frankly-sometimes humorously-with the concrete ups and downs of lived practice.Recent decades have seen the publication in English of a number of handbooks on Zen practice by contemporary East Asian masters. The Chan Whip, though 400 years old, is as invaluable to today's practitioners as these modern works. The scholarly literature on Chan until now has focused on the Tangand Song dynasties-by giving us in addition the sayings of Yuan- and Ming-dynasty masters this translation fills a gap in that literature.

    In other words, nothing like the catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station was possible--no tsunami of 45 feet could swamp a nuclear power station and knock out its emergency systems. No blackout could last for days. No triple meltdown could occur. Nothing like this could ever happen. Until it did--over the course of a week in March 2011.In this volume and in gripping detail, the Independent Investigation Commission on the Fukushima Nuclear Accident, a civilian-led group, presents a thorough and powerful account of what happened within hours and days after this nuclear disaster, the second worst in history. It documents the findings of a working group of more than thirty people, including natural scientists and engineers, social scientists and researchers, business people, lawyers, and journalists, who researched this crisis involving multiple simultaneous dangers. They conducted over 300 investigative interviews to collect testimony from relevant individuals. The responsibility of this committee was to act as an external ombudsman, summarizing its conclusions in the form of an original report, published in Japanese in February 2012. This has now been substantially rewritten and revised for this English-language edition.The work reveals the truth behind the tragic saga of the multiple catastrophic accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.It serves as a valuable and essential historical reference, which will help to inform and guide future nuclear safety and policy in both Japan and internationally.

    It is said that Kōbō Daishi created Jitsugokyo in late Heian (794-1185). Since then, Jitsugokyo has continued to be used for the teaching of children for a thousand years, from Heian to the Meiji period (1868-1912). It was required reading for children who studied at terakoya, schooling at Buddhist temples. Publishers in Osaka and Edo made many versions of this primer, and children throughout Japan began their education with Jitsugokyo. The well-known Ninomiya Kinjirō and Fukuzawa Yukichi, among others, all learned the Jitsugokyo. This English translation, one of the first English translations of Jitsugokyo, was made from Bunsei shinpan Jitsugokyo kaishō, [文政新版 實語教繪鈔] published by Kyosaka Shorin in 1820. This text may be viewed at Aozora Bunko: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xn2m-fjst....

    

    Aizu, a star-crossed region in present-day Fukushima prefecture, becomes a case study for how one locale was estranged from nationhood for its treasonous blunder in the Meiji Restoration, yet eventually found a useful place within the imperial landscape. Local mythmakers--historians, memoirists, war veterans, and others--harmonized their rebel homeland with imperial Japan so as to affirm, ironically, the ultimate integrity of the Japanese polity. What was once lost and then found again was not simply Aizu's sense of place and identity, but the larger value of regionalism in a rapidly modernizing society. In this study, Hiraku Shimoda suggests that region, which is often regarded as a hard, natural place that impedes national unity, is in fact a supple and contingent spatial category that can be made to reinforce nationalist sensibilities just as much as internal diversity.

    Through an analysis of the experience of rapid social change in Japan's modernization, it argues that fads (ryūkō) and the desires they express are central to understanding Japanese modernity, conceptions of gender, and discourses of nationalism. In doing so, the author uncovers the myth of eternal return that lurks below the surface of Japanese history as an expression of the desire to find meaning amid the chaos and alienation of modern times. The Meiji period (1868-1912) was one of rapid change that hastened the process of forgetting: The state's aggressive program of modernization required the repression of history and memory. However, repression merely produced new forms of desire seeking a return to the past, with the result that competing or alternative conceptions of the nation haunted the history of modern Japan. Rooted in the belief that the nation was a natural and organic entity that predated the rational, modern state, such conceptions often were responses to modernity that envisioned the nation in opposition to the modern state. What these visions of the nation shared was the ironic desire to overcome the modern condition by seeking the timeless past. While the condition of their repression was often linked to the modernizing policies of the Meiji state, the means for imagining the nation in opposition to the state required the construction of new symbols that claimed the authority of history and appealed to a rearticulated tradition. Through the idiom of gender and nation, new reified representations of continuity, timelessness, and history were fashioned to compensate for the unmooring of inherited practices from the shared locales of everyday life.This book examines the intellectual, social, and cultural factors that contributed to the rapid spread of Western tastes and styles, along with the backlash against Westernization that was expressed as a longing for the past. By focusing on the expressions of these desires in popular culture and media texts, it reveals how the conflation of mother, countryside, everyday life, and history structured representations to naturalize ideologies of gender and nationalism.

    You can see example designs from this ebook cover.

     What can we learn from a study of the aging population of Japan and how can these findings inform a path forward for the elderly, their families, and for policy makers? Based on nearly a decade of research, Aging and Loss examines how the landscape of aging is felt, understood, and embodied by older adults themselves. In detailed portraits, anthropologist Jason Danely delves into the everyday lives of older Japanese adults as they construct narratives through acts of reminiscence, social engagement and ritual practice, and reveals the pervasive cultural aesthetic of loss and of being a burden. Through first-hand accounts of rituals in homes, cemeteries, and religious centers, Danely argues that what he calls the self-in-suspense can lead to the emergence of creative participation in an economy of care. In everyday rituals for the spirits, older adults exercise agency and reinterpret concerns of social abandonment within a meaningful cultural narrative and, by reimagining themselves and their place in the family through these rituals, older adults in Japan challenge popular attitudes about eldercare. Danely’s discussion of health and long-term care policy, and community welfare organizations, reveal a complex picture of Japan’s aging society.

    The book is written in a lively and interesting style that makes Japan come alive. The title contains Japan's history, geography, conflicts, culture, religions, politics, economy, and most importantly contemporary life in the country today. The country's vital statistics, timeline, place in the world, and a native recipe and craft are included. The book has been developed to address many of the Common Core specific goals, higher level thinking skills, and progressive learning strategies from informational texts for middle grade and junior high level students.

    Yet his life and work, it is argued here, sheds light on a significant moment in Japanese history and, ultimately, adds to our understanding of how modern Japanese identity developed. By the time Kajii began to write in the mid-1920s there was heated debate among his peers over "legitimate" forms of literary expression: Japanese Romantics questioned the value of a western-inspired version of modernity; others were influenced by Marxist proletarian literature or modernist experimentation; still others tried to create a distinctly Japanese fictional style that concentrated on first-person perspective, the so-called "I-novel." There was a general sense that Japan needed to reinvent itself, but writers and artists were at odds over what form this reinvention should take. Throughout his career, Kajii drew from these various camps but belonged to none of them, making his work an invaluable indicator of a culture in crisis and transition.The Youth of Things is the first full-length book devoted to Kajii Motojirō. It brings together English translations of nearly all his completed stories with an analysis of his literature in the context of several major themes that locate him in 1920s Japan. In particular, Dodd links the writer's work with the physical body: Kajii's subjective literary presence was grounded first and foremost in his TB-stricken physical body, hence one cannot be studied without the other. His concerns with health and mortality drove him to play a central role in constructing a language for modern literature and to offer new insights into ideas that intrigued so many other Taishō intellectuals and writers. In addition, Kajii's early years as a writer were strongly influenced by the cosmopolitan humanism of the White Birch (Shirakaba) school, but by the time his final work was published in the early 1930s, an environment of greater cultural introspection was beginning to take root, encapsulated in the expression "return to Japan" (nihon kaiki). Only a few years separate these two moments in time, but they represent a profound shift in the aspirations and expectations of a whole generation of writers. Through a study of Kajii's writing, this book offers some sense of the demise of one cultural moment and the creation of another.

    The manga also details how Shishio formed the Juppongatana, his organization of warriors and assassins that he recruits in an attempt to overthrow the Japanese government in the original Rurouni Kenshin manga.

    This symbolic encounter, in which the dead were literally conscripted in the service of the politics of the living, serves as a cornerstone of this volume, capturing how memory was utilized to rebuild and redefine a shattered world. This is a powerful study of the contentious history of remembrance and the commemoration of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in the context of the global development of Holocaust and World War II memory. Emphasizing the importance of nuclear issues in the 1950s and 1960s, Zwigenberg traces the rise of global commemoration culture through the reconstruction of Hiroshima as a 'City of Bright Peace', memorials and museums, global tourism, developments in psychiatry, and the emergence of the figure of the survivor-witness and its consequences for global memory practices.

    This fascinating interpretation of the film explores how Kurosawa draws key philosophical and psychological arguments from Shakespeare, translates them into strong visual metaphors, and inflects them through the cultural history of Japan.

    From strolling the winding alleys of the city's traditional neighborhoods to exploring its ultra-modern,neon-soaked streets, this comprehensive Tokyo guide delivers it all. Readers will learn where to enjoy the finest Japanese cuisine and cutting-edge contemporary art, centuries-old temples and gleaming modern architecture, and all of the other wonderful elements that make Tokyo the world's most mesmerizing city.If visitors want to leave behind the urban sprawl, travel writer Rob Goss points them toward the ancient seaside capital of Kamakura and the gilded mausoleums at Nikko. Ambitious hikers can climb Mount Fuji—or just enjoy it from a distance while soaking in one of the natural hot spring baths in nearby Hakone. Easy to use and easy to carry, Tuttle Travel Pack Tokyo provides a useful pull-out map of Tokyo and is organized into four simple chapters:Tokyo's Best Sights highlights thirteen not-to-be-missed experiencesExploring Tokyo guides readers to the top attractions in each districtAuthor's Recommendations details the best hotels and restaurants, night spots, kid-friendly activities, shopping areas, and moreTravel Facts provides essential information from useful Japanese phrases to money, transports, visas, and much more.

    This archival-based history of Asia's most advanced navy, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), looks beyond the traditional perspective of viewing the modern Japanese military in light of the country's alliance with the US. The book places the institution in a historical context, analysing its imperial legacy and the role of Japan's shattering defeat in WWII in the post-war emergence of Japan as East Asia's 'sea power'.

    

    The structure of apocalyptic science fiction reveals what is at stake in Japanese society - cultural continuity, tradition, politics, ideology, reality, communities, and interpersonal relationships - and suggests ways to cope with these crises and visions for the future, both positive and negative. By looking at the postwar period, Motoko Tanaka observes how Japanese apocalyptic discourse has changed in its role as a tool according to the zeitgeists of various decades.

    Gradually the Europeans' positive impressions faded away and Japanese were seen as yellow-skinned and relatively inferior. Accounting for this dramatic transformation, From White to Yellow is a groundbreaking study of the evolution of European interpretations of the Japanese and the emergence of discourses about race in early modern Europe. Transcending the conventional focus on Africans and Jews within the rise of modern racism, Rotem Kowner demonstrates that the invention of race did not emerge in a vacuum in eighteenth-century Europe, but rather was a direct product of earlier discourses of the "Other." This compelling study indicates that the racial discourse on the Japanese, alongside the Chinese, played a major role in the rise of the modern concept of race. While challenging Europe's self-possession and sense of centrality, the discourse delayed the eventual consolidation of a hierarchical worldview in which Europeans stood immutably at the apex. Drawing from a vast array of primary sources, From White to Yellow traces the racial roots of the modern clash between Japan and the West.

    Equal to other famous stories such as Arabian Nights or Grimm's tall tales, Uji-shui Monogatari kept clear and vivid images of Japanese medieval era when the nobles had powers and samurais were just attendants for them. For this book, 10 most important stories were chosen by the translater, including funny, silly, depthful and mystical stories which show us colourful spirits of Japanese medieval time. Exposition were added for English readers, including a brief hisotry of Japanese medieval time. For the learners of Japanese language, this book contains modern Japanese translation and original old Japanese after each story. So this can be used as a text book for Japanese learning which can widen the knowledge of Japanese historical era.

    This was a diverse, cosmopolitan, and highly contested moment in Japanese history when notions of political egalitarianism were being translated into cultural practices specific to the Japanese experience. Both a political and historiographical intervention, the book offers a fascinating account of the passions--and antinomies--that animated one of the most admirable intellectual and cultural movements of Japan's twentieth century, and argues that proletarian literature, cultural workers, and institutions fundamentally enrich our understanding of Japanese culture.What sustained the proletarian movement's faith in the idea that art and literature were indispensable to the task of revolution? How did the movement manage to enlist artists, teachers, and scientist into its ranks, and what sorts of contradictions arose in the merging of working-class and bourgeois cultures? Recasting Red Culture asks these and other questions as it historicizes proletarian Japan at the intersection of bourgeois aesthetics, radical politics, and a flourishing modern print culture. Drawing parallels with the experiences of European revolutionaries, the book vividly details how cultural activists "recast" forms of modern culture into practices commensurate with the goals of revolution.Weaving over a dozen translated fairytales, poems, and short stories into his narrative, Samuel Perry offers a fundamentally new approach to studying revolutionary culture. By examining the margins of the proletarian cultural movement, Perry effectively redefines its center as he closely reads and historicizes proletarian children's culture, avant-garde "wall fiction," and a literature that bears witness to Japan's fraught relationship with its Korean colony. Along the way, he shows how proletarian culture opened up new critical spaces in the intersections of class, popular culture, childhood, gender, and ethnicity.

    "Religious Discourse in Modern Japan" explores the transportation of the Western concept of religion in in the modern era; the emergence of discourse on Shinto, philosophy, and Buddhism; and the evolution of the academic discipline of religious studies in Japan.

    From the early days of occupation political censorship to the social and cultural freedoms of the 1960s and beyond, the book examines how images of the nuclear event appear in post-war Japanese cinema.Each chapter begins by focusing upon one or more of three key Deleuzian themes – image, history and thought – before going on to look at a selection of films from 1945 to the present day. These include movies by well-known directors Kurosawa Akira, Shindo Kaneto, Oshima Nagisa and Imamura Shohei; popular and cult classics – Godzilla (1954), Akira (1988) and Tetsuo (1989); contemporary genre flicks – Ring (1998), Dead or Alive (1999) and Casshern (2004); the avant-garde and rarely seen documentaries. The author provides a series of tables to clarify the conceptual components deployed within the text, establishing a unique addition to Deleuze and cinema studies.

    Here are all the spectacular sights of the great big Japanese capital, made tiny enough to fit in a pocket! This teeny tome collects incredible bird's-eye views of the bustling cityscape, all shot using a distinctive photographic technique known as "tilt-shift" that has the effect of seeming to shrink its subjects— making one of the vastest cities in the world look like a miniature model. Epic skyscrapers, crowded city streets, and even sumo wrestling matches resemble tiny plastic toys in this one-of-a-kind little book.