Beginning with early agricultural and religious practices, Professor Itoh describes how the major garden types-from microcosmic stone-and-gravel compositions and tea-ceremony settings to spacious landscapes for strolling-evolved from a rich mingling of native and foreign influences. While never totally rejecting outside influence, the Japanese nevertheless willfully misinterpreted rigid Chinese models to suit their own tastes and infused Zen gardens with a sensitivity to material born of their native Shinto animist faith. Even today, garden designers responding to new building styles and ways of living still preserve the impeccable sense of design and intimacy with nature that are the hallmark of the Japanese tradition. Each page is packed with information, anecdote, and every kind of illustration-maps, plans, sketches, reproductions from ancient books, and photographs of great gardens and historical figures. One chapter is wholly devoted to Kyoto's famous Moss Temple, while another visits modern-day temple, tea, and country gardens to offer a rare look beyond the private gates and into the hearts of people who actually enjoy these gardens in their daily lives. There is an examination of the important elements-stones, lanterns, pathways, basins, plantings, fences-and at the end a special appendix gives Teiji Itoh's personal choice of gardens to visit in Japan, including addresses, descriptions, and hints on when to go and what to look for. The Gardens of Japan is by far the most delightful and informative volume in the field. With 96 pages of superb color, it is in every detail a fitting celebration of nature's beauty, joy, and meaning.

    While sensitive to the specific events they describe, the authors provide analyses of broader contemporary issues--the sources of violence in an orderly society and the problems of democratic theory in an institutional setting.Narita Airport, the largest single government project in Japan, has been the scene of intense conflict over what might be called the unfinished business of Japan as number one. Since 1965, small groups of farmers have been fighting to protect their land, first from the bulldozers, then from the environmental damage of a modern airport. They were joined in the battle by militants from New Left sects, students, and other protesters representing peace, antinuclear, and antipollution issues. Using field observation, in-depth interviewing, and firsthand experience drawn from living in the "fortresses" surrounding the airport, the authors examine the conflict and violence that ensued. They describe the confrontations from the point of view of each group of participants, pinpointing weaknesses in the Japanese political and bureaucratic systems that prolonged and heightened the struggle: the lack of effective due process, inadequate consultative mechanisms outside elite circles, and the failure of local government to represent local issues.In a broad adaptation of their findings, David Apter and Nagayo Sawa show that the problems of the Narita situation are also endemic to other industrialized countries. Their discussion of violent protest in advanced societies explores how it evolves, who is caught up in it, and the ways that governments respond. Finally, they identify the limitations of contemporary social science theories in addressing in human terms such volcanic eruptions. To overcome these shortcomings they combine several approaches--structural, experiential, and functional--and devise alternative ways to enter the day-to-day lives of the people studied.Against the State in no way diminishes the magnitude of Japan's accomplishments. However, the authors find in the Narita protest evidence of that country's still unfelt need to address its most abstract and pressing moral concerns. Their book raises important questions about the nature of extra-institutional protest and authority in modern states.

    

    This was the beginning of a significant period of growth of militarism, the Pacific war and the phenomenal post-war economic expansion of Japan.The first book to present modern Japanese history through the eyes of individuals, Showa presents the experiences of three individuals born at the beginning of this age, giving a unique inside view of Japan's recent history. Their experiences include training as a suicide pilot, being a draft evader during the Pacific War, a leader in the Communist Party, and a colonist in Korea, turned overnight in August 1945 from a member of the ruling elite into a refugee.First published in 1984