Now, as an adult returning from Oahu to visit his ailing mother, Spencer is rediscovering what it means to be a middle son in a world where duty shapes destiny -- and where the ghosts of those long gone can haunt a man no matter how far from home he travels.

    Drawing from street culture, high art, and traditional Japanese painting, Murakami takes the contemporary art trend of mixing high and low to an unprecedented level (critics call him the new Warhol), producing original paintings and sculptures as well as mass-produced consumer objects such as toys, books, and most famously, a line of handbags for Louis Vuitton. A committed supporter and spokesperson for Japanese artists and a powerful commentator on postwar culture and society, Murakami has organized influential exhibitions of Japanese art as well as a biannual art fair in Tokyo. Murakami has positioned himself as a new type of artist for the twenty-first century: a hybrid of creator, entrepreneur, and cultural ambassador.In conjunction with the first major retrospective of his work, Murakami traces Murakami’s global impact socially, culturally, and art historically. Essays focus on Murakami’s early works, which were based on a social critique of Japan’s rampant consumerism; the development of his characters; his work with anime, fantasy; otaku culture; and his engagement with global pop culture. Representing output from original works of art to mass-produced multiples, the catalogue also considers the implications of Murakami’s working methods within the tradition of the Western avant-garde.

    The memories were triggered in the following settings. On an ordinary day as she walked into her living room, a program was playing on the television where survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima were being interviewed. There were no scenes of the bombing, simply the interviewer discussing the event with the guests. As she viewed the images of the survivors describing their experiences, without explanation, she suddenly began experienced scenes flashing through her mind of the actual bombing as it occurred in real time. As well as experiencing visual images of the event, additional senses were stimulated as she could also hear the screams of people and feel the deep pain of the experience. Intuitively, she knew she had been present when the event occurred. In the days and weeks that followed after watching the program, the horrific scenes of the explosion itself and the resulting aftermath continued to persistently flood her mind. She was able to push them to the back of her mind for a brief period of time so she could function in everyday life, however, this became too exhausting a process which provided no explanation to what was happening to her or why. At this point, she contacted Dolores and she sought her help via a session. This book is the story of how Dolores carefully traced these experiences back to her life as a Japanese man named Nogorigatu living in Hiroshima during WWII. It tells the story of what the Japanese people experienced during the war and is a side of history that has neither been fully explored nor written about. At the time, it was Dolores most challenging case because she was unsure of how the young lady would react to reliving dying in an atomic explosion. It had to be handled with extreme care. The resulting story cries out to our time, "Do not let this horror happen again!"

    Set in July 1853, this tale of the first clash between the fledgling modern nations of America and Japan illustrates the civilian hysteria provoked by the arrival of the Americans on steam-driven warships, and the mutual fears this set in place. A fleet of ships billowing black smoke steam past Japan’s tributary islands in July 1853, setting off panic among a people who have been sealed off from the rest of the world for over two hundred years. Commodore Matthew Perry has arrived, sent by the US president to open Japan to American ships and trade—by force, if necessary. Navy lieutenant Robert Eden, an idealistic New Englander, immediately recognizes that the colonial intentions of his countrymen will ignite a violent conflict with the feudal, sword-wielding samurai. Inspired to pursue peace, he jumps ship and finds himself plunged into a world of frightful and noble warriors, artfully exotic geishas, and a distraught populace who view the Americans as monsters. Eden tries to bridge the divide between two proud, unyielding cultures in the name of morality, but he may not survive to see the lasting harmony he hopes to create.

    Readers of this book will gain a clear understanding of what really makes the Japanese, and their society, tick. Among the topics explored: aimai (ambiguity), amae (dependence upon others' benevolence), amakudari (the nation's descent from heaven), chinmoku (silence in communication), gambari (perseverence), giri (social obligation), haragei (literally, "belly art"; implicit, unspoken communication), kenkyo (the appearance of modesty), sempai-kohai (seniority), wabi-sabi (simplicity and elegance), and zoto (gift giving), as well as discussions of childrearing, personal space, and the roles of women in Japanese society. Includes discussion topics and questions after each chapter.

    But time continues to unfurl, whether we like it or not. Now, ten years later…

     One November, two friends left their families at home and set out on an epic food crawl that found them ogling robots, eating just-dispatched eel, drinking whisky chilled with hand-carved ice balls, consuming fish sperm on purpose, and getting kicked out of public baths. An all-new illustrated book from Seattle food writers Matthew Amster-Burton (Pretty Good Number One) and Becky Selengut (Good Fish, Shroom), with manga-inspired illustrations by Denise Sakaki.

    It is packed full of illustrations and maps that capture the spirit of the city and its environs.

    Stoically poised for battle in the spring of 1945—when even Japan’s last desperate technique of arms, the kamikaze, was running short—Yamato arose as the last magnificent arrow in the imperial quiver of Emperor Hirohito. Here, Jan Morris not only tells the dramatic story of the magnificent ship itself—from secret wartime launch to futile sacrifice at Okinawa — but, more fundamentally, interprets the ship as an allegorical figure of war itself, in its splendor and its squalor, its heroism and its waste. Drawing on rich naval history and rhapsodic metaphors from international music and art, Battleship Yamato is a work of grand ironic elegy.

    Get ready for hundreds of pages filled with surprising revelations, inside information, obscure trivia, and universal cosmic destruction. This legend of localization doesn’t stink!

    From bewildered and befuddled (and back again) to (somewhat) wise, these narratives recount a journey of cultural discoveries, experiences and the follies of a newcomer to Japan; including (mis)identifying food, (mis)pronouncing Japanese, (mis)pantomiming for necessities, and finally figuring out how to flush the Japanese toilet!

     The 1st Marines stormed the Pacific island of Peleliu. Captain Hunt and his company of two hundred and thirty-five men were among some of the first to land; forty-eight hours later, only seventy-eight of them were alive. Outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy, they beat off all attacks with a courage which is at the same time matter-of-fact and superhuman individual, yet collective and drawn from the real comradeship of men who cannot let each other down. Here are dramatic accounts of wounded men miraculously still fighting, of two men seen in silhouette at night against the flashes of guns in a death struggle atop a cliff, of the flame-scarred bodies of Japanese in caves and pillboxes, of a nervous and badly scared youngster shooting one of his own comrades. When, at last, relief came and Captain Hunt and his handful of men staggered back to the beach, they had withstood three terrible counterattacks and killed more than five hundred enemy soldiers. “Coral Comes High is an unpretentious, stark, blow-by-blow story of a terrible action, well told in the fewest possible words” Time Magazine “This is a story of fighting men told by a fighting man.” General Alexander Vandegrift, United States Marine Corps. Captain Hunt served in the 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division in the South Pacific and was decorated with the Silver Star medal and the Navy Cross. He received the Navy Cross for his part in the action described in this book. The citation for this decoration relates how Captain Hunt's company of riflemen was reduced to thirty-four men; how these survivors defended an isolated position "against three counterattacks killing four hundred and twenty-two Japanese.” After the war he worked as a writer and editor for Fortune and Life magazines. Coral Comes High was first published in 1946 and Hunt passed away in 1991.

    • The Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z series combined have sold through more than one million GNs in the U.S. to date (BookScan). • Over 11.7million Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z videos & DVDs have sold through in the U.S. to date (VideoScan). • Every volume of the Dragon Ball series is still selling to this day.  There are 42 volumes total and they debuted in the U.S. in 2000! • Toriyama has a strong fan base in the U.S. • Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z have also spawned numerous video games, which consistently rank in the top ten in national sales. • A live action Dragon Ball Z movie is currently in production to be released theatrically in Spring 2009.Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations   A seminal series from a legendary creator. Dragon Ball, a wry update on the Chinese "Monkey King" myth, introduces us to Son Goku, a young monkey-tailed boy whose quiet life is turned upside-down when he meets Bulma, a girl determined to collect the seven "Dragon Balls." If she gathers them all, an incredibly powerful dragon will appear and grant her one wish. But the precious orbs are scattered all over the world, and to get them she needs the help of a certain super-strong boy...

    In the years that followed, she published other notable monographs, including "Aila" (2004), "The Eyes, the Ear" (2005) and "Semear" (2007). And now, ten years after her precipitous entry onto the international stage, Aperture has published "Illuminance," the latest volume of Kawauchi's work and the first to be published outside of Japan. Kawauchi's photography has frequently been lauded for its nuanced palette and offhand compositional mastery, as well as its ability to incite wonder via careful attention to tiny gestures and the incidental details of her everyday environment. As Sean O'Hagan, writing in "The Guardian" in 2006, noted, "there is always some glimmer of hope and humanity, some sense of wonder at work in the rendering of the intimate and fragile." In "Illuminance," Kawauchi continues her exploration of the extraordinary in the mundane, drawn to the fundamental cycles of life and the seemingly inadvertent, fractal-like organization of the natural world into formal patterns. Gorgeously produced as a clothbound volume with Japanese binding, this impressive compilation of previously unpublished images is proof of Kawauchi's unique sensibility and her ongoing appeal to lovers of photography.

    Ten years in the future, he is *gasp* married to the cutest girl in school, Wagatsuma-san! In the present, they are only classmates, so how in the world does he end up with the unobtainable Wagatsuma-san?! A time-slipping Romcom coming at you from a brand spanking new duo!