. . and his voice. The entire village is silenced by grief, and the young child's anger at the ocean grows. Then one day his neighbor, Mr. Hirota, begins a mysterious project—building a phone booth in his garden. At first Makio is puzzled; the phone isn't connected to anything. It just sits there, unable to ring. But as more and more villagers are drawn to the phone booth, its purpose becomes clear to Makio: the disconnected phone is connecting people to their lost loved ones. Makio calls to the sea to return what it has taken from him and ultimately finds his voice and solace in a phone that carries words on the wind.The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden is inspired by the true story of the wind phone in Otsuchi, Japan, which was created by artist Itaru Sasaki. He built the phone booth so he could speak to his cousin who had passed, saying, "My thoughts couldn't be relayed over a regular phone line, I wanted them to be carried on the wind." The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the town of Otsuchi, claiming 10 percent of the population. Residents of Otsuchi and pilgrims from other affected communities have been traveling to the wind phone since the tsunami.

    Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man—an American sailor, a gaijin—and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.America, present day. Tori Kovač, caring for her dying father, finds a letter containing a shocking revelation—one that calls into question everything she understood about him, her family and herself. Setting out to learn the truth behind the letter, Tori’s journey leads her halfway around the world to a remote seaside village in Japan, where she must confront the demons of the past to pave a way for redemption.In breathtaking prose and inspired by true stories from a devastating and little-known era in Japanese and American history, The Woman in the White Kimono illuminates a searing portrait of one woman torn between her culture and her heart, and another woman on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.

    

    Magic Ramen tells the true story behind the creation of one of the world's most popular foods.Every day, Momofuku Ando would retire to his lab—a little shed in his backyard. For years, he'd dreamed about making a new kind of ramen noodle soup that was quick, convenient, and tasty for the hungry people he'd seen in line for a bowl on the black market following World War II. Peace follows from a full stomach, he believed.Day after day, Ando experimented. Night after night, he failed. But Ando kept experimenting.With persistence, creativity, and a little inspiration, Ando succeeded. This is the true story behind one of the world's most popular foods.

    When a detective calls in 2002 hoping to solve the case with new information, Kenji takes immediate action to keep the truth from becoming public.In 1967, Kenji’s father, a former general in the Imperial Japanese Army, had more than his fair share of enemies. When a burglar stole his war sword and left a threatening note, it became clear that someone held a nasty grudge. And when the general was found murdered with Kenji holding the same sword over his dead body, Kenji became the prime suspect.Kenji learned who killed his father and knew why, but no one was ever arrested. In 2002, the statute of limitations has already run out. No charges can be brought regardless of the new evidence.

    It also involves a Japanese society that’s been called one of the most distinctive on Earth. If there were a Japanese version of Captain America, this would be his origin story.

    Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, Wong studied computer arts in college and, by the time he was twenty-five, was living in Canada and working as a director at one of the world’s leading video game companies. His job took him to Tokyo for the first time, where he discovered the ethereality of floating worlds and the lurid allure of Tokyo’s nocturnal scenes. “I got lost in the beauty of Tokyo at night,” he explains.A testament to the deep art of color composition, this publication brings together a refined body of images that are evocative, timeless, and completely transporting. This volume also features Wong’s creative and technical processes, including identifying the right scene, capturing the essence of a moment, and methods to enhance color values—insights that are invaluable to admirers and photography students alike.

    Beginning with the pantry, the flavors of this cuisine are explored alongside fundamental recipes, such as dashi and pickles, and traditional techniques, like making noodles and properly cooking rice. Use these building blocks to cook an abundance of everyday recipes with dishes like Grilled Onigiri (rice balls) and Japanese Chicken Curry.From there, the book expands into an exploration of dishes organized by breakfast; vegetables and grains; meat; fish; noodles, dumplings, and savory pancakes; and sweets and beverages. With classic dishes like Kenchin-jiru (Hearty Vegetable Soup with Sobagaki Buckwheat Dumplings), Temaki Zushi (Sushi Hand Rolls), and Oden (Vegetable, Seafood, and Meat Hot Pot) to more inventive dishes like Mochi Waffles with Tatsuta (Fried Chicken) and Maple Yuzu Kosho, First Garden Soba Salad with Lemon-White Miso Vinaigrette, and Amazake (Fermented Rice Drink) Ice Pops with Pickled Cherry Blossoms this is a rich guide to Japanese home cooking. Featuring stunning photographs by Rick Poon, the book also includes stories of food purveyors in California and Japan. This is a generous and authoritative book that will appeal to home cooks of all levels.

    It was unlike any other garden she knew. It had no flowers or vegetables. Instead, Ojiichan made it out of stones: “big ones, little ones and ones in-between.” Every summer, Mayumi visits her grandfather in Japan, and they tend the garden together. Raking the gravel is her favorite part. Afterward, the two of them sit on a bench and enjoy the results of their efforts in happy silence. But then one summer, everything changes. Ojiichan has grown too old to care for his home and the garden. He has to move. Will Mayumi find a way to keep the memory of the garden alive for both of them? This gentle picture book story will warm children's hearts as it explores a deep intergenerational bond and the passing of knowledge from grandparent to grandchild over time. The lyrical text by Chieri Uegaki and luminous watercolor illustrations by Genevieve Simms beautifully capture the emotional arc of the story, from Mayumi's contentment through her anger and disappointment to, finally, her acceptance. The story focuses on an important connection to nature, particularly as a place for quiet reflection. It contains character education lessons on caring, responsibility, perseverance and initiative. It's also a wonderful way to introduce social studies conversations about family, aging and multiculturalism. Mayumi lives in North America with her Japanese mother and Dutch father, and visits her grandfather in Japan. Some Japanese words are included.

    military bases. A legacy of World War II, these bases have been a fraught issue in Japan for decades—with tensions exacerbated by the often volatile relationship between islanders and the military, especially after the brutal rape of a twelve-year-old girl by three servicemen in the 1990s.But the situation is more complex than it seems. In Night in the American Village, journalist Akemi Johnson takes readers deep into the “border towns” surrounding the bases—a world where cultural and political fault lines compel individuals, both Japanese and American, to continually renegotiate their own identities. Focusing on the women there, she follows the complex fallout of the murder of an Okinawan woman by an ex–U.S. serviceman in 2016 and speaks to protesters, to women who date and marry American men and groups that help them when problems arise, and to Okinawans whose family members survived World War II.Thought-provoking and timely, Night in the American Village is a vivid look at the enduring wounds of U.S.-Japanese history and the cultural and sexual politics of the American military empire.

    Those who stayed at the plant to stabilize the reactors, willing to sacrifice their lives, became known internationally as the Fukushima 50.In tsunami vs. the fukushima 50, Lee Ann Roripaugh takes a piercing, witty, and ferocious look into the heart of the disaster. Here we meet its survivors and victims, from a pearl-catcher to a mild-mannered father to a drove of mindless pink robots. And then there is Roripaugh's unforgettable Tsunami: a force of nature, femme fatale, and "annihilatrix." Tsunami is part hero and part supervillain--angry, loud, forcefully defending her rights as a living being in contemporary industrialized society. As humanity rebuilds in disaster's wake, Tsunami continues to wreak her own havoc, battling humans' self-appointed role as colonizer of Earth and its life-forms."She's an unsubtle thief / a giver of gifts," Roripaugh writes of Tsunami, who spits garbage from the Pacific back into now-pulverized Fukushima. As Tsunami makes visible her suffering, the wrath of nature scorned, humanity has the opportunity to reconsider the trauma they cause Earth and each other. But will they look?

    But today their relationship is strained. China's military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan's brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound. In recent years less than ten percent of each population had positive feelings toward the other, and both countries insist that the other side must deal openly with its history before relations can improve.From the sixth century, when the Japanese adopted core elements of Chinese civilization, to the late twentieth century, when China looked to Japan for a path to capitalism, Ezra Vogel's China and Japan examines key turning points in Sino-Japanese history. Throughout much of their past, the two countries maintained deep cultural ties, but China, with its great civilization and resources, had the upper hand. Japan's success in modernizing in the nineteenth century and its victory in the 1895 Sino-Japanese War changed the dynamic, putting Japan in the dominant position. The bitter legacy of World War II has made cooperation difficult, despite efforts to promote trade and, more recently, tourism.Vogel underscores the need for Japan to offer a thorough apology for the war, but he also urges China to recognize Japan as a potential vital partner in the region. He argues that for the sake of a stable world order, these two Asian giants must reset their relationship, starting with their common interests in environmental protection, disaster relief, global economic development, and scientific research.

    Bonsai artist Shiori Ametsuchi never knows where the door will lead her next. All she is sure of is that whoever she finds in these rooms will be dead before she leaves. Since she woke up without any memory of her past, Shiori has been thrust into a life of walking through a mysterious door and visiting people in their last moments. The door takes Shiori and the souls to rooms containing the present, past, and possibility, experiences the souls need to finally move on. Shiori is resigned to a life without a past, until she learns that like the people she visits, she is dying too. And Shiori knows too well what happens to people who die without knowing who they are. They get lost. Shiori races to discover her past, accompanied by Aiden, a man who will be dead by morning. While Shiori remembers nothing, Aiden cannot forget a single moment of his life, no matter how hard he tries. Together, they journey through burning rooms, dark rooms, rooms with monsters and angels, and rooms that aren’t rooms at all. As they piece together Shiori’s past, they learn the truth that lives between the border of loneliness and living, forgiveness and freedom, and death and dreams.

    Part comparative cultural study, part mother-and-daughter travel memoir, multi-cultural and multi-lingual (Japanese, English, French, and Sign Language) adventures with her teen — a dual-citizenship artist, who happens to be deaf, with cerebral palsy — through subterranean Tennessee, to the islands of Japan, to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and ultimately to independence.

    money management firm researching, analyzing, and investing in Chinese and Japanese equities. Richard is fluent in Chinese and Japanese and continues to live in Asia with his family.

    But they are wrong.Keiko was born the daughter of a samurai. But as a mere younger sister, her future was to run errands for her lovely elder sister and obey her father. Until the day her brother thought it would be amusing to teach Keiko the way of an onna-bugeisha—a warrior woman of the samurai. As a samurai, Keiko finds a new place in the world. One where it suddenly falls on her to defend the honor of her family. After her sister is disgraced, Keiko travels to the Floating World, Edo’s pleasure district, not only for vengeance, but for her first taste of the world outside her home.

    Even though devoid of human presence these striking images carry a lot of emotions that will surely touch you!Information: This book will contain both English and Japanese text.

    But when eating like a sumo wrestler slows our feline hero down, he realizes he must train like a wrestler, too. Through hard work and perseverance--and with a little help from a big buddy--SumoKitty is born!

     Free BONUS Inside! The Battle of Okinawa was the deadliest campaign of the Pacific during World War II. The Americans had come back from the demoralizing defeat at Pearl Harbor to mount a ferocious attack against the Japanese. To be able to invade Japan, the Americans had to take Okinawa. But the Japanese, determined to defend their homeland and preserve their way of life, would fight to the death against the invaders. As the Army and Marines fought bloody battles to gain Okinawa inch by inch, the Navy was subjected to kamikaze attacks. For almost three months, the Americans and the Japanese contested one another in a battle of endurance that highlighted the courage of the fighting men of both nations. Ultimately, the Japanese lacked the resources of the Americans, and the Americans claimed the island. But the Americans had learned a deadly lesson from the Battle of Okinawa; if the Japanese fought this hard to protect one island, how much harder would they fight to preserve Japan itself, the last vestige of their empire? To save American lives, military leaders decided that they would utilize another, deadlier weapon to bring the Japanese to their knees. The atom bomb and the nuclear age rose from the ashes of the Japanese defeat at Okinawa. Discover a plethora of topics such as Revenge for Pearl Harbor Kamikaze: The Divine Wind Hell’s Own Cesspool Fight to the Last Man Ernie Pyle And much more! So if you want a quick and easy to read book on the Battle of Okinawa, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access!

    In the back of his mind is the question, first and foremost, of whether God exists at all. God is such an elusive concept to a humanist, who, from his earliest years, was made to question God’s very existence—he suffered in the concentration camps for the duration of WWII—and he doubts his efforts will ever come to fruition. In Westward Lies the Sun, Greg’s search for truth is given voice during the frequent debates with his poker foursome, although the late-night discussions produce more questions than answers. But they do serve to articulate thoughts and feelings about sundry issues such as the search for Greg’s family heirloom: a samurai sword stolen during Greg’s incarceration in the camps. More significantly, Greg is forced to ponder God’s hand in his family’s survival after being shipwrecked on a small, uninhabited Micronesian island. Greg and his family make several discoveries on the island that lead to financial success and miraculous physical healing. But will the island also heal Greg spiritually? The family sword—Onimaru—is ultimately used in a showdown on the island with Greg’s quest for God, together with his mental and physical survival, hanging in the balance.

     In this second book Lily is excited to join her new friends for Golden Week, but soon after her arrival disaster strikes when a magical dragon statue is broken. The wind is angry, Windsocks won t fly and Children s Day may be ruined! Will Lily be able to say GOODBYE to the belly bobbles, find the pieces and restore the wind? Plenty of friends help to guide her through this Japanese hullabaloo! Kids love learning the way of the ninja at ninja camp, and helping Lily find the dragon pieces. Parents love the subtle underlying message: what makes us different makes us beautiful. Get it NOW and share the magical hullabaloo with your child! No sticks in the mud allowed! The Adventures of Lily Huckleberry is a travel series for kids that aims to: 1) show kids the beauty + diversity of this world 2) give them a brave female role model to look up to 3) foster children's imaginations 4) create a society of little explorers who are curious about the world and always ready for adventure

    

    A Vietnam vet still reeling from war, John Frazier finds himself an unwitting witness to a confrontation, decades in the making, between two steely matriarchs: his aunt, Evelyn Wilson, and her former neighbor, Kimiko Takahashi. John comes to learn that in the onslaught of World War II, the Takahashis had been displaced as once-beloved tenants of the Wilson orchard and sent to an internment camp. One question has always plagued both families: What happened to the Takahashi son, Ray, when he returned from service and found that Placer County was no longer home—that nowhere was home for a Japanese American? As layers of family secrets unravel, the harrowing truth forces John to examine his own guilt.In prose recalling Thomas Wolfe, Phantoms is a stunning exploration of the ghosts of American exceptionalism that haunt us today.

    Even after living in Tokyo for decades and running two ramen shops that earned him international renown, he remained a gaijin.Fortunately, being a lifelong outsider has made Orkin a more curious, open, and studious chef. In The Gaijin Cookbook, he condenses his experiences into approachable recipes for every occasion, including weeknights with picky kids, boozy weekends, and celebrations. Everyday dishes like Pork and Miso-Ginger Stew, Stir-Fried Udon, and Japanese Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce are what keep the Orkin family connected to Japan. For more festive dinners, he suggests a Temaki Party, where guests assemble their own sushi from cooked and fresh fillings. And recipes for Bagels with Shiso Gravlax and Tofu Coney Island (fried tofu with mushroom chili) reveal the eclectic spirit of Ivan's cooking.

    Though his writings and life-story continue to fascinate readers around the world, Mishima has often been scorned by scholars, who view him as a frivolous figure whose work expresses little more than his own morbid personality.In Mishima, Aesthetic Terrorist, Andrew Rankin sets out to challenge this perception by demonstrating the intelligence and seriousness of Mishima's work and thought. Each chapter of the book examines one of the central ideas that Mishima develops in his writings: life as art, beauty as evil, culture as myth, eroticism as transgression, the artist as tragic hero, narcissism as the death drive. Along with fresh readings of major works of fiction such as The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and "Patriotism," the book introduces less familiar works in different genres. Special prominence is given to Mishima's essays, which contain some of his most brilliant writing. Mishima is concerned with such problems as the loss of certainties and absolute values that characterizes modernity, and the decline of strong identities in a world of increasing uniformity and globalization. In his cultural criticism Mishima makes an impassioned defense of free speech, and he rails against all forms of authoritarianism and censorship.Rankin reads Mishima's artistic project, up to and including his spectacular death, as a single, sustained lyric, an aggressive piece of performance art unfolding in multiple media. For all his rebellious energies, Mishima's work is suffused with a sense of ending--the end of art, the end of eroticism, the end of culture, the end of the world--and it is governed by a decadent aestheticism which holds that beautiful things radiate their most intense beauty on the cusp of their destruction. Erudite and authoritative, yet written in clear, accessible prose, Mishima, Aesthetic Terrorist is essential reading for all those who seek a deeper understanding of this radical and provocative figure.

    As well as covering all 714 officially licensed NES games, the book also includes more than 160 unlicensed games released during its lifespan, giving for the first time a definitive history of this important console's full library. Written by a retro gaming expert with 30 years of gaming experience and a penchant for bad jokes, the NES Encyclopedia promises to be both informative and entertaining.The NES continues to enjoy a strong cult following among Nintendo fans and gamers in general with wide varieties of officially licensed merchandise proving ever popular: both for older fans who remember it the first time around, and younger gamers discovering the system for the first time through Nintendo’s regular re-releases of its older games.Nintendo’s most recent console, the Switch, is the fastest selling video game console of all time in the United States and Japan. Nintendo will be launching a variety of classic NES games for download on the system later in 2018, meaning a new audience of gamers is due to discover the NES for the first time.

    Yet his most famous works--the color woodblock landscape prints issued in series--were produced within a relatively short time, in an amazing burst of creative energy that lasted from about 1830 to 1836.Hokusai's landscapes revolutionized Japanese printmaking and became icons of world art within a few decades of the artist's death. Hokusai's Landscapes focuses exclusively on this pivotal body of the artist's work, the first book to do so. Featuring stunning color reproductions of works from the incomparable Japanese art collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (the largest collection of Japanese prints outside Japan), Hokusai's Landscapes examines the magnetic appeal of Hokusai's designs and the circumstances of their creation.The book includes all published prints of the artist's eight major landscape series: Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (1830-32), A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (1833-34), Snow, Moon and Flowers (1833), Eight Views of the Ryukyu Islands (1832-33), One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean (1832-33), Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (1834), A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poetry (1833) and One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (1835).Working prolifically in the years just before Japan opened to the West in 1853, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was the first Japanese artist to be internationally recognized. His cleverly composed ukiyo-e prints of everyday life and the landscapes of Edo Japan arrived in a 19th-century Europe gripped by Japonisme-mania, where they influenced artists such as Degas, Gauguin, Manet and Van Gogh.

    

    20 poems in bilingual Japanese and English text; watercolor illustrations

    Striking photos fill each page, while special gatefolds open to reveal magnificent panoramas. If you've been, retrace your steps and relive the time you spent there. If you haven't, this book is the perfect way to start planning an adventure.We've divided the contents into states and territories. Begin your journey in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island, a place of hot springs, wilderness, forests and volcanoes, before moving through the country to the southern island of Okinawa, home to amazing cuisine, unique traditions and turquoise waters.On this journey you'll find powdered ski resorts, snow-covered national parks, indigenous animals and birds, gorges and dramatic waterfalls. You'll then discover sprawling neon jungles, Tokyo in cherry blossom season, ancient temples of Kyoto, powerful memorials, lush rice fields and delectable cuisine.About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more.

    Smaller earthquakes and tsunamis have killed far more people in nearby China and India. What accounts for the exceptionally high survival rate? And why is it that some towns and cities in the Tōhoku region have built back more quickly than others?            Black Wave illuminates two critical factors that had a direct influence on why survival rates varied so much across the Tōhoku region following the 3/11 disasters and why the rebuilding process has also not moved in lockstep across the region. Individuals and communities with stronger networks and better governance, Daniel P. Aldrich shows, had higher survival rates and accelerated recoveries. Less-connected communities with fewer such ties faced harder recovery processes and lower survival rates. Beyond the individual and neighborhood levels of survival and recovery, the rebuilding process has varied greatly, as some towns and cities have sought to work independently on rebuilding plans, ignoring recommendations from the national government and moving quickly to institute their own visions, while others have followed the guidelines offered by Tokyo-based bureaucrats for economic development and rebuilding.

    

    The traditional clothing and fabrics featured in this book were made and used in the islands of the Japanese archipelago between the late 18th and the mid 20th century. The Thomas Murray collection featured in this book includes daily dress, work-wear, and festival garb and follows the Arts and Crafts philosophy of the Mingei Movement, which saw that modernization would leave behind traditional art forms such as the hand-made textiles used by country people, farmers, and fisherman. It presents subtly patterned cotton fabrics, often indigo dyed from the main islands of Honshu and Kyushu, along with garments of the more remote islands: the graphic bark cloth, nettle fiber, and fish skin robes of the aboriginal Ainu in Hokkaido and Sakhalin to the north, and the brilliantly colored cotton kimonos of Okinawa to the far south. Numerous examples of these fabrics, photographed in exquisite detail, offer insight into Japan's complex textile history as well as inspiration for today's designers and artists. This volume explores the range and artistry of the country's tradition of fiber arts and is an essential resource for anyone captivated by the Japanese aesthetic.

    The yakuza. He’d die for them, and they’d die for him. But a job gone wrong might finally spell the end for all of them. An innocent woman is dead, leaving her young son an orphan and throwing their well-laid plans into chaos. It’s not long until those present at the scene of the crime start showing up dead, and Yotchan realises that the danger is far from over. A mother’s vengeance knows no bounds, and this one is now striking at them from beyond the grave.Can Yotchan and his brothers escape from her ghostly grasp, or will she drag them all down with her? And what will Yotchan’s boss, the only father figure he’s ever known, do when he realises that Yotchan has been lying to him all this time? Click the buy button right now to step back into Rakucho’s dark, seedy streets, and uncover the deadly truth that lurks in the shadows. The Torihada Files is a series of stand-alone Japanese horror novels set within the same universe. Featuring ghosts, curses, and other supernatural horrors you’ll find only in Japan, each story in The Torihada Files can be read independently of the rest.Featuring illustrations by Emiru the Yurei.

    He bought over six hundred Japanese prints and displayed them in his studio as inspiration.Van Gogh admired the prints’ mastery of strong colors, everyday subjects, unusual spatial effects, and delicate details from nature. When Van Gogh purchased the prints, he was just beginning to develop his own style as a painter, trying to find a modern yet also more primitive kind of painting that engaged directly with the viewer. These Japanese prints helped him find his now legendary style, with nature as a mutual starting point.Presented here, in association with the Van Gogh Museum, is a beautiful exploration of Van Gogh’s fascination with Japan and Japanese artwork. This volume reveals a selection of prints, all from the museum’s collection, that Van Gogh owned during his lifetime and presents them with the works they inspired. This opportunity to share Van Gogh’s vision gives a compelling glimpse into one of the most powerful creative influences behind his art.

    

    His friends struggle to fill in, with Yahiko taking on the criminal powerhouse Kujiranami and Sanosuke defending the city from yakuza. But without Kenshin, the dream of a new Japan founded on peace will never be realized. In the misery of the Fallen Village, Kenshin must somehow find hope…and lift his sakabatō for the final time!

    New monsters - "Kaiju" - confront him at every turn; on land, in the sea and even underground! He fights the beasts with every last fiber of his being, innovating and reimagining his attacks and weaponry to ensure his victory. What forces have brought him to this place and continue to pit the Kaiju against him? It's a mystery he is determined to confront... And soon.Produced by Phase6 and published in the U.S. by Night Shining, Inc.

    A Japanese garden is the natural world made miniature: rocks represent mountains, ponds represent seas.In this personal and lyrical exploration of both the traditional and the modern aspects of Japanese gardening, Monty Don takes a look at at the traditions and culture which inform some of the most beautiful and famous gardens from all over Japan, from Kenroku-en to the Zen gardens of Tokyo and the historic beauty of Kyoto.Monty Don and Derry Moore travelled to Japan in spring and autumn, and this book guides us through the history and beauty of Japanese gardens in these spectacular seasons - from the famous cherry blossom celebration hanami to the autumnal crimson magnificence of momijigari. Monty Don also explores the creative forms uniquely associated with Japanese gardens, from stonemasonry and ikebana to the intricate skill of bonsai. Stunningly photographed by Derry Moore, Japanese Gardens is a fascinating exploration of a unique relationship with gardens.PRAISE FOR PARADISE GARDENS'Sun-filled escapism' Country Life 'Simply breathtaking' Love it!

    has been reliving the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.More than 110,000 ethnic Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes at the start of World War II and transported to desolate detention centers after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in early 1942.Paul Kitagaki's parents and grandparents were part of that group, but they never talked about their experience. To better understand, Kitagaki tracked down the subjects of more than sixty photographs taken by Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams and other photographers.This book is a result of that work, which took Kitagaki on a ten-year pilgrimage around the country photographing survivors of camps.Using black-and-white film and a large-format camera similar to the equipment of photographers in the 1940s, Kitagaki sought to mirror and complement photographs taken during World War II--while revealing the strength and perseverance of the subjects.He photographed and interviewed the subjects or their children to discover who was in the pictures. Some wanted to forget; some wanted to remember. Some lost everything; some found new direction. He heard stories about heroic soldiers and those unwilling to fight for a country that put them behind barbed wire. Each person has something to say. Each adds their unique personal history. They all are determined to make sure it never happens again.

     Recently wed—and quickly divorced—twenty-four-year-old Sarah Coomber escapes the disappointments of her Minnesota life for a job teaching English in Japan. Her plan is to use the year to reflect, heal and figure out what to do with her wrecked life while enjoying the culture of the country where she had previously spent a life-changing summer that included a romance with a young baseball player. The reality? Sarah finds herself the lone English speaker in an isolated rural area, where she is drawn into serving tea to her male coworkers, performing with a koto (zither) group, advocating for her female students and colleagues, and embarking on a controversial romance with a local salaryman. This isn’t the Japan Sarah was seeking, but it just might be the Japan she needs. “... an entertaining and honest account of a young woman’s self-discovery in a foreign land.” LAURA KRISKA, AUTHOR OF THE ACCIDENTAL OFFICE LADY: AN AMERICAN WOMAN IN CORPORATE JAPAN “...Coomber addresses the question of this American hour: how to honor even cherish fellow humans regardless of divergent cultural, political or spiritual convictions. The Same Moon injects hope into the current American climate of intolerance.” NATALIE KUSZ, AWARD-WINNING MEMOIRIST AND AUTHOR OF ROAD SONG “Sarah captures in great detail many things unique to Japan in nature, daily life and relationships.” YUKARI SAKAMOTO, AUTHOR OF FOOD SAKE TOKYO

    But to Ando, true architecture is not expressed in metaphysics or beauty, but rather through space that embodies physical wisdom.This thoroughly updated 2018 edition spans the breadth of his entire career, including such stunning new projects as the Shanghai Poly Theater and the Clark Center at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Each project is profiled through photographs and architectural drawings to explore Ando's unprecedented use of concrete, wood, water, light, space, and natural forms. Featuring designs from award-winning private homes, churches, museums, and apartment complexes to cultural spaces throughout Japan, Korea, France, Italy, Spain, and the USA, this XXL-sized tribute is the definitive overview of this Modernist master.Also available as an Art Edition accompanied by an original sketch signed by Tadao Ando and limited to 100 copies.

    2 is back with over 70 brand new urban legends straight out of Japan, all painstakingly researched and—for many—translated into English for the first time. From supernatural creatures to medical mishaps, horrific crimes to chilling secrets of the entertainment industry, nobody does horror quite like Japan.Click the BUY NOW button to discover the hidden secrets behind these legends. After all, the truth is often stranger than fiction.

    Japanese From Zero! is an innovative and integrated approach to learning Japanese that was developed by professional Japanese interpreter George Trombley, Yukari Takenaka and has been refined for over fifteen years in the classroom by native Japanese professors.Using up-to-date and easy-to-grasp grammar, Japanese From Zero! is the perfect course for current students of Japanese as well as absolute beginners.Volume four of the Japanese From Zero! series teaches:*advanced Japanese grammar concepts*over 110 new grammar and usage*all new verbs explained*new Kanji words and characters.

    Starting with the capital city Tokyo, the book shows the reader where the best neighborhoods are to feel like a local, with recommendations on affordable sushi spots to cool coffee stands, flea market selling vintage kimonos to secret open-air sentos to bath in after a long day. A quick hop on the shinkansen bullet train whisks travelers away to polar opposite scenes. Try skiing in Hakuba, or onsen hopping in Hakone. Explore the rich heritage of Kyoto, or stay in a monastery in Mount Koya. Fall in love with Mount Fuji before heading back to the city for late night karaoke. Designed to be practical and useful as well as beautiful, this book is organised into neighborhoods, with maps and original photography to give the reader all the information that they need to plan the perfect trip to Tokyo.

    Not only are the results truly impressive, but this calm and meditative practice, a traditional Japanese playground activity for children, has been rediscovered as a peaceful pastime for people of all ages.Known for inducing flow, the ultimate state of happiness, this simple art is perfect for those who enjoy practicing mindfulness, spending time in nature, and working with their hands. It's also a lovely way to preserve soil that is special to you, whether it reminds you of home or a place you've traveled. As your collection of dorodango grows, you'll find that earth from different locations each have their own unique properties and finishes.With beautiful photography and straight forward instructions, this handy guide will teach you everything you need to know to make your own mud balls at home with easily sourced materials.In addition to dirt and a copy of the book, you will need the following materials to make your own dorodango: • Shovel • Bucket • Sandbags for storing soil • Screens (a regular window screen will work) • Paint Straining Nets • Mixing Tub • Flat knife • Containers (shoe boxes, etc.) • Plastic bags • Clips or clothespins • Dust Masks • Mason Jar lid • A smooth piece of wood • Scale • Mortar and PestleA wonderful gift book for fans of pottery and ceramic arts.

    From top 10 restaurants to the top 10 gardens and parks - discover the best of Tokyo with this easy-to-use travel guide.Inside Top 10 Tokyo:- Nine easy-to-follow itineraries, perfect for a day trip, a weekend or a week- Top 10 lists showcase Tokyo's best attractions, covering Edo-Tokyo Museum, Tokyo Skytree, Senso-ji Temple, Koishikawa Korakuen Garden and more- Free laminated pull-out map of Tokyo, plus seven full-colour area maps- In-depth neighbourhood guides explore Tokyo's most interesting areas, with the best places for shopping, going out and sightseeing - Colour-coded chapters divided by area make it easy to find information quickly and plan your day - Essential travel tips include our expert choices of where to stay, eat, shop and sightsee, plus useful transport, visa and health information- Colour maps help you navigate with ease- Covers Central Tokyo; Ginza; Ueno, Asakusa and Oshiage; Roppongi and Akasaka; Aoyama, Harajuku and Shibuya; Shinjuku and moreStaying for longer and looking for a more comprehensive guide to the city? Try our DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Tokyo.About DK Eyewitness Travel: DK's Top 10 guides take the work out of planning a short trip, with easy-to-read maps, tips and tours to inform and enrich your weekend trip or cultural break. DK is the world's leading illustrated reference publisher, producing beautifully designed books for adults and children in over 120 countries.

    Perfect for beginners, it offers a menu of charming projects, including a plate of pancakes served with strips of bacon, a sandwich (with your filling of choice), and a full dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, a freshly crocheted salad, and a slice of pie. There are even patterns for kitchen accessories, from a lunch box that opens and closes to a miniature pot with a removable lid. Every project features instructions for adding scent using wax melts or common household items like herbs and coffee beans, and there's plenty of guidance on creating fun variations and customizing your creations. Crochet novices will be able to tackle these super-cute items in no time with the help of the “Getting Started” section, illustrated with step-by-step photos.

    When World War II ended, the three numbered air forces (the Fifth, Thirteenth and Seventh) under his command possessed 4,004 combat aircraft, 433 reconnaissance aircraft and 922 transports. After being humbled by the Japanese in the Philippines in 1942, MacArthur and his air chief General George Kenney rebuilt the US aerial presence in the Pacific, helping Allied naval and ground forces to push back the Japanese Air Force, re-take the Philippines, and carry the war north towards the Home Islands. Following the end of World War II MacArthur was the highest military and political authority in Japan, and at the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 he was named as Commander in Chief, United Nations Command. In the ten months of his command his Far East Air Forces increased dramatically and saw the first aerial combat between jet fighters. Written by award-winning aviation historian Bill Yenne, this engrossing book traces the journey of American air forces in the Pacific under General MacArthur's command, from their lowly beginnings to their eventual triumph over Imperial Japan, followed by their entry into the jet age in the skies over Korea.

    

    Its roots are international, but the form as we know it today developed in Japan between the late 19th and early 20th centuries and has recently achieved global reach. Originally confined to comics, prints and graphic novels, manga has expanded to influence animation, fashion, gaming, street art and new media. It is a multi-billion pound industry, popular with people of all ages in Japan and increasingly all over the world, encompassing hundreds of genres, from sports, love, horror and ageing to global threats and sexual identity. There is a manga for everyone. For manga fans, this book celebrates the excitement of manga's cross-cultural appeal and its long history of breaking barriers. For those new to manga, it offers the chance to become literate in what is fast becoming a universal visual grammar of our globalized age. Arranged into six thematic chapters, with essays by leading scholars, this volume showcases the work of Japan's most influential manga-ka (manga creators) past and present, with printed manga extracts, original drawings, manga magazines, theatre, film, digital technologies and exclusive interviews with artists, editors and publishers. The first chapter focuses on understanding how manga is read, drawn and produced. The second explores its power of storytelling, and presentation of reality; the third, the power of manga to depict many different worlds, both seen and unseen. The fourth shifts the attention from the art form to its role in society, including fan groups, grassroots manga, Comiket events and the importance of cosplay. The penultimate chapter discusses the roots of modern manga in the work of 19th-century artists such as Hokusai and Kyosai, while the final chapter examines manga's expansion into the avant-garde, its crossover into other media and its growing international reach and influence. Published in conjunction with a landmark, cutting-edge exhibition at the British Museum, this is manga as Western audiences have never before seen it: diverse yet universally familiar, traditional yet intensely modern, rooted in the 2D printed page but effortlessly leaping out of it.

    This collection book also includes some of Ilya’s commercial works adding extra variety to this second book.After the success of Momentary, Ilya has gained popularity and has had some exhibitions and created commercial works. One of the most prestigious jobs Ilya was offered was as the character and visual designer for the anime The Wonderland, directed by Keiichi Hara; Crayon Shin-chan series and Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. This talented illustrator, who was influenced by many Japanese artists, now has 1.y million followers on Instagram, and is established as an influencer of other illustrators around the world.Because Momentary was solely focused on collecting artwork presented on Ilya’s social media, the book was in a square format. But this time, we have produced this book in a larger format to include some of Ilya’s commercial works adding extra value and quality into this book.

    Author Jonas Cramby says, 'Writing a restaurant guide to Tokyo seems close to an impossible task. Tokyo, as it happens, is not simply the best food city in the world, it is also the largest. The city is thought to contain more than 150,000 restaurants, which makes even the 10,000 catering establishments of New York by comparison seem like the regional center of a small and sleepy town. It has the best raw produce, the most brilliant chefs and the highest number of Michelin stars in the world. Tokyo is a city in which extreme care and concern for detail is not the sole preserve of fine dining – it exists everywhere. The city is packed with simple, fun, cheap and, above all, fabulously good eateries and this book is my highly personal guide to these places.' Organised into chapters for different types of food experiences, this guide includes many great photos and interviews with local chefs. It will help you to locate the finest kitchens and food stores on offer, decipher menus and rules of etiquette, and advise you on first-class dining close to wherever you are in the city.

    After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Janet’s life in California was uprooted when thousands of Japanese Americans on the West Coast—including Janet’s family—were forced into internment camps. Because of her brilliant command of English and Japanese, she was assigned the job of block manager. Janet was shuffled between three camps, got married, and had a child while the war raged on. After enduring the psychological strain of forced incarceration, her very survival was threatened when she joined her husband in post-war Japan as famine gripped the country. Janet remained an American patriot through all her ordeals, holding on to the dream of reuniting with her family in the US. The Block Manager beautifully captures the uncertainty surrounding the internment camps and the gaman—patience with dignity—of the detainees.

    You can almost feel the wind and mist as you flip each page. Enjoy this tribute to Japanese Artist Mori Yuzan who created each illustration in the Nihonga style.

    It would be some years later before he started making a living as a magazine photographer and many years after that before he started to consider his early, mostly unpublished, work from Japan as significant. These photographs are the result of the decision made by a then 20-year-old Girard and the momentum from that first impression which turned him loose in a city that he never tired of photographing, both during the years he lived there and on subsequent visits.

    Hungry for more adventures and travels, he was determined to pursue a career abroad.From feeling illiterate and enduring awkward moments with colleagues to surviving a near-death experience climbing Mt Fuji, expat life after landing his dream job in Tokyo wasn't all glamorous. Finding ways to deal with the adversities, he embraced the beauty that Japan has to offer, built meaningful friendships, and found new purpose in life.Perfect for fans of Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries by Tim Anderson, Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo by Matthew Amster-Burton, and 21 Years of Wisdom: One Man's Extraordinary Odyssey in Japan by Darrell Gartrell.

    The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Philosophy is a foundation-laying reference workthat covers, in detail and depth, the entire span of this philosophical tradition, from ancient times to the present. It introduces and examines the most important topics, figures, schools, and texts from the history of philosophical thinking in premodern and modern Japan. Each chapter, written by aleading scholar in the field, clearly elucidates and critically engages with its topic in a manner that demonstrates its contemporary philosophical relevance.The Handbook opens with an extensive introductory chapter that addresses the multifaceted question, What is Japanese Philosophy? The first fourteen chapters cover the premodern history of Japanese philosophy, with sections dedicated to Shinto and the Synthetic Nature of Japanese PhilosophicalThought, Philosophies of Japanese Buddhism, and Philosophies of Japanese Confucianism and Bushido. Next, seventeen chapters are devoted to Modern Japanese Philosophies. After a chapter on the initial encounter with and appropriation of Western philosophy in the late nineteenth-century, this largesection is divided into one subsection on the most well-known group of twentieth-century Japanese philosophers, The Kyoto School, and a second subsection on the no less significant array of Other Modern Japanese Philosophies. Rounding out the volume is a section on Pervasive Topics in JapanesePhilosophical Thought, which covers areas such as philosophy of language, philosophy of nature, ethics, and aesthetics, spanning a range of schools and time periods. This volume will be an invaluable resource specifically to students and scholars of Japanese philosophy, as well as more generally tothose interested in Asian and comparative philosophy and East Asian studies.

    Chinese logographs writing are records of divinations performed in communication with ancestral spirits.The reading for Kanji is split into two major categories called kun-yomi and on-yomi. Kun-yomi is the Japanese reading of the character while on-yomi is based on the original Chinese pronunciation.Traditionally, East Asian script are written vertically in columns going from top to bottom and ordered from right to left.Today, a well-educated Japanese person may know upwards of 6,000 kanji.though in practice few people need to attain this level.In Japan.Elementary school children spend a large share of their time in school learning how to write and read 1006 Chinese characters.All Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese.The handy book author teaches you a mnemonic-based method to read and write the highest-frequency kanji characters.

    This series—mainly illustrating stories from history and legend, unified by the motif of the moon—is charged with paradox. In order to carry forward the tradition of ukiyo-e, Yoshitoshi drew stylistic inspiration from the very forces that were rendering it obsolete—namely, Western art and mass media like photography and lithography. As if they realized they were witnessing the end of an era, the artist's public responded enthusiastically to his innovative series—many of the individual prints were sold out on the morning of their publication. This magnificent facsimile of One Hundred Aspects of the Moon reproduces each print at its original size, facing an explanation of the subject. A thorough introductory text, augmented with many comparative illustrations, traces Yoshitoshi's career and the genesis of this series. Printed and bound to the most exacting specifications, this volume will be a must for aficionados of Japanese prints.

    In the richly illustrated Seeking Śākyamuni, Richard M. Jaffe reveals the experiences of the first Japanese Buddhists who traveled to South Asia in search of Buddhist knowledge beginning in 1873. Analyzing the impact of these voyages on Japanese conceptions of Buddhism, he argues that South Asia developed into a pivotal nexus for the development of twentieth-century Japanese Buddhism. Jaffe shows that Japan’s growing economic ties to the subcontinent following World War I fostered even more Japanese pilgrimage and study at Buddhism’s foundational sites. Tracking the Japanese travelers who returned home, as well as South Asians who visited Japan, Jaffe describes how the resulting flows of knowledge, personal connections, linguistic expertise, and material artifacts of South and Southeast Asian Buddhism instantiated the growing popular consciousness of Buddhism as a pan-Asian tradition—in the heart of Japan.

    From gardens to gangsters, temples to tourism, ceramics to Casablanca, the diverse writings of 22 authors will capture your imagination. Fresh new authors place their work alongside established and respected writers already known for their insights into Japan. All find inspiration from the muse of Kyoto city. The works include dreamy fiction, memorable non-fiction as well as remarkable poetry on the city that’s inspired a million poems. New works by Alex Kerr and Simon Rowe bookend the newest winners of the annual Writers in Kyoto Competition and much more. A captivating thread running through the anthology is the invitation to encounter and reflect on the splendour of the ancient city yourself. For those who are still to visit Kyoto, and those who have already been, what will your story be?

    As African-Americans, they were relegated to second-class citizenship in the U.S., but abroad they were treated like kings. Unlike the previous tours of major league stars who ridiculed their opponents through embarrassing defeats, the Royal Giants made the games competitive, dignified and enjoyable for opposing players. In Gentle Black Giants: A History of Negro Leaguers in Japan, Kazuo Sayama and Bill Staples, Jr. chronicle the tours of the Royal Giants and demonstrate that without the skill and humanity displayed by the Negro Leaguers, Japanese ballplayers might have become discouraged and lost their love for the game. Instead, the experience of sharing the field with these "gentle, black giants" kept their spirits high and nurtured the seeds for professional baseball to flourish in Japan.

    

    Born out of an explosion, its roots twist and turn, the dense trees seeming to swallow anything that enters it whole. In recent years it has gained renown as a “suicide forest,” but it wasn’t always this way.Aokigahara: The Truth Behind Japan’s Suicide Forest is fully researched from Japanese sources and looks at the history of the Sea of Trees, how it came to be, and why it became known worldwide as a popular suicide spot. It looks at why people choose the forest, the procedures the police follow when a body is discovered, and how the government is trying to turn its current image on its head.Delve into the truth behind many of the forests terrifying legends, and discover why Aokigahara isn't just a “suicide forest,” but an important part of Japan’s spiritual and cultural history.Get ready to enter the Sea of Trees and uncover the real truth hiding in its dark depths.

    Ancestor cults have played a central role in Japanese culture and religion for many centuries; in recent decades, however, other phenomena have expanded and diversified the realm of Japanese animism. For example, many manga, anime, TV shows, literature, and art works deal with spirits, ghosts, or with an invisible dimension of reality. International contributors ask to what extent these are cultural forms created by the media for consumption, rather than manifestations of “traditional” ancestral spirituality in their adaptations to contemporary society. Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan considers the modes of representations and the possible cultural meanings of spirits, as well as the metaphysical implications of contemporary Japanese ideas about spirits. The chapters offer analyses of specific cases of “animistic attitudes” in which the presence of spirits and spiritual forces is alleged, and attempt to trace cultural genealogies of those attitudes. In particular, they present various modes of representation of spirits (in contemporary art, architecture, visual culture, cinema, literature, diffuse spirituality) while at the same time addressing their underlying intellectual and religious assumptions.

    Containing over 150 illustrations, each work is displayed at 16% of the original to show the whole artwork, along with the original size (real size) showing part of the artwork but revealing the detail and sensitivity of Terada’s work. The variety and the scale of these works are overwhelming. One illustration was so huge it had to be put in a gate fold page in order to make sense of what the drawing might be showing. All the artworks were drawn with a black marker and in one shot without any rough drafts, an unbelievable fact that proves Terada’s exceptional talent. Detailed information for each illustration (artwork title, size, exhibition name, etc.) is listed at the back. The cover illustration was newly drawn for this book.This book uses a binding called "Codex Binding" in which the book is sewed together enabling the page spreads to be opened flat enabling Katsuya Terada's work to be seen in a complete form.

    However, in contemporary English haiku, the 5-7-5 is no longer observed and any syllable count is acceptable so long as it does not exceed 17. This anthology has a select collection with some of the best of modern haiku. The World Haiku Review is an online magazine which was a pioneer in the field of haiku - one of the first and most prominent magazines to take the Japanese poetic form and put it online for a wider audience. WHR set the stage for the worldwide expansion of the three-line, highly imagistic verse form. This is the Tenth Anniversary Anthology collecting only the top ten haiku from twenty-five issues of the World Haiku Review from 2008 to 2017. Here are some of the best haiku by some of the biggest names in the field, from countries all over the world. The poems are collected by subject, such as Morning Frost, A Cloud’s Drift, the Flower Moon, the Dream of You and so on. Also included are the Editor’s Choice haiku from each issue, complete with the notes of the editor-in-chief, Susumu Takiguchi, explaining why that verse was chosen. A fascinating journey into a beautiful form of poetry with several hundred of the best international haiku for your reading delight.

    

    From subterranean department store food halls to luxurious top-floor hotel restaurants, and all the noodle shops, sushi bars, and yakitori shacks in between, there may be no other city so thoroughly saturated with delicious food.    Tokyo Stories is a journey through the boulevards and backstreets of Tokyo via recipes both iconic and unexpected. Chef Tim Anderson takes inspiration from the chefs, shopkeepers, and home cooks of Tokyo to showcase both traditional and cutting-edge takes on classic dishes like sushi, ramen, yakitori, and tempura. Also included are dishes that Tokyoites love to eat with origins from abroad, like Japanese interpretations of Korean barbecue, Italian pizza and pasta, American burgers and more. Tim tackles his food tour of Tokyo from the ground up, with chapters broken down into: LOWER GROUND FLOOR: Tokyo on the Go (Department Store Basements, Subway Stations, and Convenience Stores); FIRST FLOOR: Tokyo Local (food traditional to Tokyo); SECOND FLOOR: Tokyo National (food traditional to Japan); THIRD FLOOR: Tokyo Global (Japanese food with an international twist) FOURTH FLOOR: Tokyo at Home (Japanese home cooking); and, FIFTH FLOOR: Tokyo Modern (experimental Japanese food found in high-end hotel bars). With Tim’s easy-to-follow recipes, this is make-at-home Japanese food, authentic yet achievable for the home chef – without cutting corners.   The real thrill of eating in Tokyo is in the sense of discovery – of adventurous curiosity rewarded. And that may come in the form of an unexpectedly good convenience store sandwich, an ‘oh my god’ sushi moment, or just the best damn bowl of ramen you’ve ever had. With Tokyo Stories you can explore Tokyo and discover its incredible food without leaving your home kitchen. Featuring over 90 recipes, all set to the backdrop of Tokyo location shots, this is essential for the Japanophile in your life.

    The trajectories of Japanese transpacific migrants exemplified a prevalent national structure of thought and practice that not only functioned to shore up the backbone of Japan's empire building but also promoted the borderless quest for Japanese overseas development. Eiichiro Azuma offers new interpretive perspectives that will allow readers to understand Japanese settler colonialism's capacity to operate outside the aegis of the home empire.

    It follows Gauntlet Knights – young people trained to use a new military technology called the Gauntlet, which allows its user to fly, fight, and repel attacks – who have become friends and aim to prevent the outbreak of a fourth world war.

    Sample the finest sushi or most satisfying bowl of noodles you'll ever taste, explore the neon nightlife of Shinjuku, and find the best view of Mt Fuji (or climb it and wait for sunrise) - all with your trusted travel companion. Discover the best of Tokyo and begin your journey now!Inside Lonely Planet's Best of Tokyo:Full-colour maps and images throughoutHighlightsand itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interestsInsider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spotsEssential infoat your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, pricesHonest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks missCultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, art, food, wine, sport, landscapes, wildlifeCovers Harajuku, Aoyama, Shibuya & Ebisu, Marunouchi, Nihombashi, Ginza & Tsukiji, Roppongi & Akasaka, Shinjuku, Ueno, Yanaka & Asakusa.The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Best of Tokyo is filled with inspiring and colourful photos, and focuses on Tokyo's most popular attractions for those wanting to experience the best of the best.Looking for a comprehensive guide that recommends both popular and offbeat experiences, and extensively covers all the country? Check out Lonely Planet's Japan guide.About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more.'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)*Source: Nielsen BookScan: Australia, UK, USA, 5/2016-4/2017

    Due to Japan's rich tradition of ghost stories, heroic legends and folkloric hierarchy of demonic yokai, an unusually large percentage of films made in the country's early years of film production were based on phantastic myths and supernaturally-driven narratives. By 1915, a new genre of ninjutsu ("secret combat techniques") films emerged, with many narratives involving shape-shifting and magic, giving rise to Japanese cinema's first wave of special-effects technicians. In the 1930s, low-budget exploitation companies such as Kyokuto and Zensho produced dozens of pulp horror movies, including a startling hybrid genre from Kyokuto which mixed samurai and robots. Zombies, vampires, mechanical men, mad scientists, monsters, killer apes, living statues, ghosts, demons - all the iconic figures of bizarre cinema can be found in Japan's early film output, filtered through that country's unique lens of culture and myth. Carnal Curses, Disfigured Dreams lists over 500 films in a detailed, chronological filmography, includes over 30 woodblock print illustrations, reproduces 65 extremely rare film production photographs and posters - most of which have never been published before, even in Japan - and concludes with an index of all films referenced in the text. Japanese Film Perspectives is a new series of historical studies based on new and original research, and anchored around never-before-seen photographic images.

    Its history goes back more than 7,000 years, and it is still vibrantly alive today. It is practiced by craftsmen working in time-honored techniques and by modern artists forging the future. Valued for its utilitarian durability, urushi developed into an incomparable art, adorning a multitude of objects from luxurious palaces to lavish murals and exquisitely crafted fountain pens. The present book, written more than fifty years ago by the Living National Treasure Matsuda Gonroku, has long been a must-read for collectors, researchers, and laypeople. It is the “bible” of urushi, covering every conceivable aspect of the subject. It includes some fifty full-color illustrations of masterpieces honored by history and masterworks by Matsuda himself. The present edition has been supervised by Murose Kazumi, a disciple of Matsuda’s and a Living National Treasure in his own right. His foreword enables the reader to acquire a broader understanding of the contents of the book and gain a deeper appreciation of its value and impact on the world of urushi.

    The author, who at fourteen was seriously injured by the A-bomb, skilfully combines tender lyricism and stark realism to recount her own experiences and those of other members of her immediate and extended family in the aftermath of the bombing, and decades later. Not only a harrowing depiction of tragic historical events, nor just a remarkable story of survival, The Day the Sun Fell reveals aspects of the bombing never aired openly before, forcing the reader to pause to reflect on these haunting events and their continuing legacy seventy years on. It also makes for inspiring reading, for Hashizume never fails to discover hope and joy in living even in the darkest of moments.

    The FBI arrested Mako's father and two months later Mako, her mother, and three sisters were forced from their Seattle home and imprisoned in U.S. concentration camps for people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. In her memoir, Mako recalls with a child's innocence stories from her four years in the concentration camps along with the insights she gained as an adult looking back on this grave injustice. Her memoir is illustrated with original, 4-color artwork by Mits Katayama. Includes 24 illustrations and 21 photographs.--Mako Nakagawa

    Author, playwright, translator, journalist, theater and film director Roger Pulvers explores the nature of memory through life connections created from people and places, both past and present.Born into a Jewish American family in New York and raised in Los Angeles, Roger Pulvers journeyed outside the U.S. for the first time in 1964, when he visited the Soviet Union, returning there the following year and heading to Poland in 1966. In 1967, he moved to Japan, forming a tie to that country that has lasted more than half a century. Pulvers became an Australian citizen in 1976 and has chronicled life—political, social and cultural—in those countries in hundreds of articles and essays, as well as works of fiction.“No memory, however trivial and banal, is unimportant if it remains with you; no feeling that was once felt cannot be retrieved when you feel the absolute need to access it. And it is our memories that order the chaotic conglomeration of experience and sentiment that make up our selves.”“I drifted from the United States to Eastern Europe to Japan and then to Australia. This movement in itself was no different from that of hundreds of millions of people who have migrated from one country to another. The only anomalous feature of my choices is that not many people leave the “land of golden opportunity” for good; not many choose to opt out of their tie to “the home of the free.”“You are taking a step. But it is not leading you in a straight line. Each step reminds you that your life is taking a turn, however imperceptible, and each turn represents a moment in the present where the future can be glimpsed simultaneously. What is the direction of these stepping-stones? Where are they leading you? It is impossible to tell. They lead nowhere, and they seem to come back to the place you were before.”

    Kakinami Cloyd, the narrator of Dream of the Water Children, finds himself not only to be a marginalized person by virtue of his heritage, but often a cultural drifter, as well. Indeed, both his family and his society treat him as if he doesn’t entirely belong to any world. Tautly written in spare, clear poetic prose, this memoir explores the specific contours of Japanese and African American cultures, as well as the broader experience of biracial and multicultural identity. To tell his story, Cloyd incorporates photographs and Japanese writing, history, and memory to convey both rich personal experience and significant historical detail. Bringing together vivid memories with a perceptive cultural eye, Dream of the Water Children brings readers closer to a biracial experience, opening up our understanding of the cultural richness and social challenges people from diverse backgrounds face.

    In addition, for the past four years, the author has devoted his life to discovering the essence of tea through curating a special selection of tea, repeatedly talking to and interviewing tea manufacturers, gathering insider information about the industry, etc. in order to truthfully and openly make this information available internationally. The discoveries made, and the information gathered during such interactions is what constitutes the foundation for the material presented in this book, and it is with the wish to objectively portray what Japanese tea at its core and in essence is that this book has been brought to life.

    The author is no stranger to Japan either, having spent over 25 years visiting the country as a student, on work assignments and as a writer. He even lived in Tokyo for five years. Alongside all the main attractions, this guide takes you to places which don’t get a mention elsewhere. The information included in the guide is fully up to date. He returned from his most recent in-depth research trip in January 2019. Inside the guide:• 42 complete walking tours to 500 sights in and around Tokyo.• Each itinerary begins and ends at a railway or subway station.• Recommend lunch-break and coffee-stop for each walk.• 48 area maps reliably steer the visitor through the maze of Tokyo streets. • 108 photos offer first impressions.• Over 100 insider tips aid readers in their pre-trip preparations and during their stay. • 350 bookmarks enable travellers to access additional information on the Internet.• A calendar shows at a glance which festivals are taking place at any given time. • Personal Top 10 tips on architecture, observation points, parks and gardens, shopping streets and malls, boutiques, hotels, restaurants, fine arts and other museums, showrooms, theatres, temples and shrines. • Online maps are available for half of the tours, featuring additional tips on accommodation, shopping, and food and drink. Regardless of whether you come to Japan on a package holiday or under your own steam or if you’re even planning to live in Tokyo for a while, this guide will enrich your stay.

    I used to dream that I might one day play for them; I had never thought that I would end up playing against them. But I had no time to dwell on the unexpected journey that had led me here, their puller raised the disc: the next point was about to start.'If you thought being a missionary meant wearing socks and sandals, living in the jungle without a shower, and having no phone or Internet, then think again. This short book is going to blow away all your preconceptions. Levi Booth is not a stereotypical missionary. Not long out of uni, Levi headed to Japan with all his essentials: his Bible and Frisbee. He was just a normal bloke with a passion for Ultimate Frisbee who stepped out boldly to tell people about Jesus. This is his journey to Asia: the ups, the downs, the adventures and the Japanese national Ultimate Frisbee team.Levi’s story will challenge your idea of what a missionary is and it might just cause you to consider how God could use you and your gifts, talents and hobbies – however unusual – to serve him around the world.OMF teen bio

    Having originally recruited fans with photocopied fliers and daily performances in the Akihabara area of Tokyo, AKB48 now saturates Japan. Its members--nearly 800 of them, including five sister groups and four so-called "rival groups" across Japan, as well as six sister groups in other Asian cities--appear in print, broadcast, online, and social media; in advertisements and on products; at home and on the train; on- and off-screen.AKB48's multi-platform omnipresence is characteristic of "idols," whose intimate relationship to fans and appeals to them for support have made the group dominant on the Oricon Yearly Singles Chart in the 2010s; they hold several records, including most consecutive million-selling singles sold in Japan. A unique business model relentlessly monetizes fans' affections through meet-and-greet events and elections, which maximize CD sales, and their saturated presence in the media. At a time when affect is more important than ever in economic, political, and social theory, this book explores the intersection of idols and affect in contemporary Japan and beyond.

    It takes in songs, diaries, tales and poetry, and ranges from famous works including The Pillow Book and the works of Basho to pieces such as the diary of a young girl who longs to return to the capital and her beloved books, or the writings of travelling monks who sleep on pillows of grass. Together they illuminate a long literary tradition, with intense poetic experience at its heart.

    This handsomely designed and illustrated book explores the outstanding art associated with Genji through in-depth essays and discussions of nearly 120 works.   TheTale of Genji has influenced all forms of Japanese artistic expression, from intimately scaled albums and fans to boldly designed hanging scrolls and screen paintings by the most esteemed artists and calligraphers of every school and era. Scenes from the tale adorn decorative objects used in everyday life, including robes, lacquer boxes, containers for grooming tools and writing implements, incense burners, and even palanquins for transporting young brides to their new homes. The authors, both art historians and Genji scholars, discuss the tale’s transmission and reception over the centuries; illuminate its place within the history of Japanese literature and calligraphy; highlight its key episodes and characters; and explore its wide-ranging influence on Japanese culture, design, and aesthetics into the modern era.

    Using the art and thought of prominent Japanese modern artist Koga Harue (1895–1933) as a lens to understand this process, Chinghsin Wu explores how watercolor, cubism, expressionism, and surrealism emerged and developed in Japan in ways that paralleled similar trends in the west, but also rejected and diverged from them. In this first English-language book on Koga Harue, Wu provides close readings of virtually all of the artist’s major works and provides unprecedented access to the critical writing about modernism in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s through primary source documentation, including translations of period art criticism, artist statements, letters, and journals.

    With origins in the formative period of modern Japanese art and aesthetics, the figure of the bijin appeared across a broad range of visual and textual media: photographs, illustrations, prints, and literary works, as well as fictional, critical, and journalistic writing. It eventually constituted a genre of painting called bijinga (paintings of beauties).Aesthetic Life examines the contributions of writers, artists, scholars, critics, journalists, and politicians to the discussion of the bijin and to the production of a national discourse on standards of Japanese beauty and art. As Japan worked to establish its place in the world, it actively presented itself as an artistic nation based on these ideals of feminine beauty. The book explores this exemplary figure for modern Japanese aesthetics and analyzes how the deceptively ordinary image of the beautiful Japanese woman--an iconic image that persists to this day--was cultivated as a "national treasure," synonymous with Japanese culture.

    The three key buildings from 1966, 1976 and 1984 are comprehensively presented with newly produced plans, original interior and exterior photographs and previously unpublished sketches. Aside from Kenzo Tange, Kazuo Shinohara (1925-2006) was the most important Japanese architect of the second half of the 20th century. Text in English and Japanese.

    Johnson’s Watsuji on Nature reconstructs the astonishing philosophy of nature of Watsuji Tetsuro (1889–1960). Johnson situates Watsuji’s philosophy in relation to his reception of the thought of Heidegger and to his renewal of core ontological positions in classical Confucian and Buddhist philosophy. He shows that for Watsuji we have our being in the lived experience of nature, one in which nature and culture compose a tightly interwoven texture called fūdo(   In an engagingly lucid and deft analysis, Watsuji on Nature radically expands our appreciation of twentieth-century Japanese philosophy and shows what it has to offer to a global philosophical conversation.

    These magazines served to embed new instruments of mass communication and socialization within Japanese society and created mechanisms to facilitate the dissemination of hegemonic forms of discourse in the first half of the twentieth century. The amazing success of Kingu and Ie no hikari during the 1920s and 1930s not only established and normalized participation in a Japanese mass national audience - a community which had previously not existed - but also facilitated the rise of Japanese mass consumer culture in the postwar years.Amy Bliss Marshall argues that the postwar mass national consumer in Japan is foreshadowed by the mass national audience created by family magazines of the interwar era. This book narrates the development of such publications, one explicitly capitalist and one outwardly agrarian, based on missions with an overarching desire to create a mass audience. Magazines and the Making of Mass Culture in Japan highlights the importance of the seemingly innocuous acts of mass leisure consumption of magazines and the goods advertised therein, aiding our understanding of the creation and direction of a new form of social participation and understanding - an essential part of not only the culture but also the politics of the interwar period.

    

    Structured around the figures of five influential economists who shaped the German political landscape, Learning Empire explores how their overseas experiences shaped public perceptions of the world and Germany's place in it. These men helped define a German liberal imperialism that came to influence the 'world policy' (Weltpolitik) of Kaiser Wilhelm, Chancellor Bülow, and Admiral Tirpitz. They devised naval propaganda, reshaped Reichstag politics, were involved in colonial and financial reforms, and helped define the debate over war aims in the First World War. Looking closely at German worldwide entanglements, Learning Empire recasts how we interpret German imperialism, the origins of the First World War, and the rise of Nazism, inviting reflection on the challenges of globalization in the current century.

    For the next two decades, the Anglo-Japanese alliance would hold the balance of power in East Asia, shielding Japan as it cemented its regional position, and allowing Britain to concentrate on meeting the German challenge in Europe. Yet it was also a relationship shaped by its contradictions. Empire Ascendant examines how officials and commentators across the British imperial system wrestled with the implications of Japan's unique status as an Asian power in an international order dominated by European colonial empires. On the settlement frontiers of Australasia and North America, white colonial elites formulated their own responses to the growth of Japan's power, charged by the twinned forces of colonial nationalism and racial anxiety, as they designed immigration laws toexclude Japanese migrants, developed autonomous military and naval forces, and pressed Britain to rally behind their vision of a 'white empire'. Yet at the same time, the alliance legitimised Japan's participation in great-power diplomacy, and worked to counteract racist notions of a 'yellow peril'. By the late 1900s, Japan stood at the centre of a series of escalating inter-imperial disputes over foreign policy, defence, migration, and ultimately, over the future of the British imperial system itself. This account weaves together studies of diplomacy, strategy, and imperial relations to pose searching questions about how Japan's entry into the 'family of civilised nations' shaped, and was shaped by, ideologies of race.

    While they maintained a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, as a result of the peace the samurai themselves were transformed over time into an educated, cultured elite--one that remained fiercely proud of its military legacy and hyper-sensitive in defending their individual honor.This book provides detailed information about the samurai, beginning with a timeline and narrative historical overview of the samurai. This is followed by more than 100 alphabetically arranged entries on topics related to the samurai, such as ritual suicide, castles, weapons, housing, clothing, samurai women, and more. The entries cite works for further reading and often include sidebars linking the samurai to popular culture, tourist sites, and other information. A selection of primary source documents offers firsthand accounts from the era, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography.

    In these pages you’ll find the hauntingly beautiful Yuki-Onna looking for a new victim, the Rabbit God of the Moon helping a young boy and mysterious mermaid creatures inhabiting distant islands. Pour yourself a cup of tea and let us transport you to the Land of the Rising Sun.

    He plays a hero for the stage shows of Godragner Zeus as his part-time job. While at work, Kashiwara discovers Sakuma, another student at his high school, also loves Godranger Zeus. Out of fear of being bullied, Sakuma hides his true hero otaku self at school. Sakuma and Kashiwara strike a deal to keep each other's secret which only brings them closer.

    Steven D. Carter explains to Anglophone students the methods of composition and literary interpretation used by Japanese poets, scholars, and critics from ancient times to the present, and adds commentary that will assist the modern reader.How to Read a Japanese Poem presents readings of poems by major figures such as Saigyō and Bashō as well as lesser known poets, with nearly two hundred examples that encompass all genres of Japanese poetry. The book gives attention to well-known forms such as haikai or haiku, as well as ancient songs, comic poems, and linked verse. Each chapter provides examples of a genre in chronological order, followed by notes about authorship and other contextual details, including the time of composition, physical setting, and social occasion. The commentaries focus on a central feature of Japanese poetic discourse: that poems are often occasional, written in specific situations, and are best read in light of their milieu. Carter elucidates key concepts useful in examining Japanese poetics as well as the technical vocabulary of Japanese poetic discourse, familiarizing students with critical terms and concepts. An appendix offers succinct definitions of technical terms and essays on aesthetic ideals and devices.

    

    These days, however, people without faith visit holy places simply to experience something out of the ordinary. Furthermore, many places without any connection to religion are being called “sacred” and attracting people’s interest. What really drives people there, and what do people want to gain from the experience?In this informative book, the author discusses various pilgrimages in order to shed light on new types of religious views and faiths that have come into being in the twenty-first century. The book explores the Santiago pilgrimage in Spain; the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage in Shikoku, Japan; B-grade tourist spots; so-called “power spots”; sacred anime sites; and much more.Through examining these places and the people who visit them, the reader will experience a shift in perspective and discover that in this secular age, holy places are no longer supported by religions and doctrines alone. The interchanges between a place and its community of people are what make a place holy. People are placing more importance on the shared image and experience expected to be had there.This is a must-read for researchers investigating the link between tourism and religion and how the two influence each other.

    When the Council's enforcer, Bringer-of-Death, receives orders to go after a veteran who happens to be a Baku—dream eater— he is caught between the threat of punishment and his desire to help the Baku escape. Can Bringer-of-Death find a way to both protect his family and the Baku? Or will he be trapped as the Council's slave forever?Download this novelette, Bringer-of-Death, to experience Fujiwara Ken's very first meeting with the Baku Herai Akihito— way before he encounters Akihito's daughter, Koi Pierce, at the start of Dream Eater, the first book of K. Bird Lincoln's multi-cultural Portland Hafu Urban Fantasy Trilogy.