The story begins in the years before WWII when a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a servant in a geisha house. Despite a treacherous rival who nearly breaks her spirit, the girl blossoms into the legendary geisha Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang). Beautiful and accomplished, Sayuri captivates the most powerful men of her day, but is haunted by her secret love for the one man who is out of her reach (Ken Watanabe).The Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook explores the intricate process of re-creating the period and world of the geisha. Special sections showcase production design, makeup, choreography, and costumes, featuring kimonos created especially for the movie by five-time Oscar®-nominated costume designer Colleen Atwood. Sidebars throughout also provide fascinating historical background on the geisha culture.

    To the Western mind these fearsome warriors-samurai, the masterless ronin, and the assassin ninja-have always been a source of mystery and wonder, combining the idealism of chivalry with military fanaticism. The Ways Of The Samurai digs beneath the myth and reveals a truth even more amazing about the men who practiced a discipline drawn from Zen and Confucian ethics-bushido, the way of the warrior.

    (And don’t miss the manga adaptation, also from Seven Seas!)One by one, the mercenaries who raised Loren fell in a terrible, bloody battle. The lone survivor in a hard world with only his wits and his sword to his name, Loren hires himself out as an adventurer. His new party, however, proves all too willing to run headlong into danger using him as their meat shield. Only Lapis, the party’s sly priest, sees his true worth, just as Loren sees hers. They must rely on each other, or else neither of them will live to see the end of their first adventure.

    

    She likes boys, especially one called Wataru, but he hardly notices her even though she watches him like a crazy gal. "Tough girls aren't my type," he once said, and now even three street guys call her a tough chick?! Nothing too good to say to the wrestling Princess. Being this kind of princess is nothing to be proud of for Matsuri so it's a secret that she keeps from her school mates, because it's her father who wants to make her a wrestler...but what will happen when she's discovered fighting those three guys by Arata, the bad boy who can even "fight cows"? Discover it and keep track of Matsuri Special!

    But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Equally as troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of "parasite singles," the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children. In "Shutting Out the Sun," Michael Zielenziger argues that Japan's rigid, tradition-steeped society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of individuality and the expression of self are stifling economic revival, political reform, and social evolution. Giving a human face to the country's malaise, Zielenziger explains how these constraints have driven intelligent, creative young men to become modern-day hermits. At the same time, young women, better educated than their mothers and earning high salaries, are rejecting the traditional path to marriage and motherhood, preferring to spend their money on luxury goods and travel. Smart, unconventional, and politically controversial, "Shutting Out the Sun" is a bold explanation of Japan's stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.

    The co mpanion will interest tourists, students and business travel lers to Japan. '