Fuji in view. Nadeshiko rides her bike to see Mt. Fuji, too. As the two eat cup noodles together, what scenery will they behold? This series will make readers fall in love with camping!

    Think again. Tokyo: A Certain Style, the mini-sized decor book with a difference, shows how, for those living in one of the worlds most expensive and densely packed metropolises, closet-sized apartments stacked to the ceiling with gadgetry and CDs are the norm. Photographer Kyoichi Tsuzuki rode his scooter all over Tokyo snapping shots of how urban Japanese really live. Hundreds of photographs reveal the real Tokyo style: microapartments, mini and modular everything, rooms filled to the rafters with electronics, piles of books and clothes, clans of remote controls, collections of sundry objects all crammed into a space where every inch counts. Tsuzuki introduces each tiny crash pad with a brief text about who lives there, from artists and students to professionals and couples with children. His captions to the hundreds of photographs capture the spirit and ingenuity required to live in such small quarters. This fascinating, voyeuristic look at modern life comes in a chunky, pocket-sized format-the perfect coffee table book for people with really small apartments.

    A provocative, picaresque spin on a coming-of-age story, the novel tells of a young Japanese woman who wakes up one afternoon to discover that her big toe has turned into a penis. In learning to adjust to her new sexual organ, the heroine is forced to reconsider her body, her sexuality and her life. After fleeing from her homophobic fiance, she falls in love with a bisexual blind pianist who accepts her for whom she is, and together they join a troupe of performers--all sexually deformed and emotionally twisted men and women. Thus begins her apprenticeship.There are few novels that are equally praised by literary critics and scholars alike, and fewer yet that actually go on to become bestsellers, but The Apprenticeship of Big Toe P is both. It is a highly imaginative, intelligent work--first-rate as literature, as entertainment, and as a love story.

    The hero of this novel is the young and idealistic Nobuo Nagano, who finds himself forced to make a heart-rending decision, when he must choose between his childhood sweetheart, Fujiko, and his newly found Christian faith. Set in Hokkaido at the turn of the nineteenth century, when for the first time Western culture and ideas were beginning to challenge Japan's long-held traditions, Shiokari Pass takes an intriguing look at Japanese life and thought of a hundred years ago. Filled with drama and featuring a spectacular climax amidst the snows of Hokkaido, the book was a bestseller in Japanese and a successful motion picture as well. Based on the life of a high-ranking railway employee who was revered for his humanitarian deeds, Shiokari Pass offers a revealing glimpse of the long, hard road traveled by Japanese Christians.

    He has no experience, no talent, and no band. After finding a charismatic guitarist and getting a gig, he's ready to show the world what a genius he is with his powerful lyrics. However, Eiri Yuki overhears his amateurish verse and puts the young musician in his place. Unable to get the harsh criticism out of his mind Shuichi forces himself into Yuki's life and the two find their futures inexorably linked. The force that brings them together is like gravity and there is nothing they can do to stop it.