His poems combine 'karumi', or lightness of touch, with the Zen ideal of oneness with creation. Each poem evokes the natural world - the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the summer moon or the winter snow - suggesting the smallness of human life in comparison to the vastness and drama of nature. Basho himself enjoyed solitude and a life free from possessions, and his haiku are the work of an observant eye and a meditative mind, uncluttered by materialism and alive to the beauty of the world around him.

    Asian & Asian American Studies. Translated from the Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu. The first comprehensive collection of one of Japan's foremost modernists to appear in English translation, THE COLLECTED POEMS OF CHIKA SAGAWA is an essential book. The project received a grant from the Japan Foundation, and poems from it have appeared in Poetry, Asymptote, Fascicle, and elsewhere.

    Classical Bujutsu emphasizes the intensely practical nature of these martial arts. The author describes sixteen major forms of bujutsu, employing a variety of weapons and techniques.

    The large scale imprisonment and rape of thousands of women, who were euphemistically called "comfort women" by the Japanese military, first seized public attention in 1991 when three Korean women filed suit in a Toyko District Court stating that they had been forced into sexual servitude and demanding compensation. Since then the comfort stations and their significance have been the subject of ongoing debate and intense activism in Japan, much if it inspired by Yoshimi's investigations. How large a role did the military, and by extension the government, play in setting up and administering these camps? What type of compensation, if any, are the victimized women due? These issues figure prominently in the current Japanese focus on public memory and arguments about the teaching and writing of history and are central to efforts to transform Japanese ways of remembering the war.Yoshimi Yoshiaki provides a wealth of documentation and testimony to prove the existence of some 2,000 centers where as many as 200,000 Korean, Filipina, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Burmese, Dutch, Australian, and some Japanese women were restrained for months and forced to engage in sexual activity with Japanese military personnel. Many of the women were teenagers, some as young as fourteen. To date, the Japanese government has neither admitted responsibility for creating the comfort station system nor given compensation directly to former comfort women.This English edition updates the Japanese edition originally published in 1995 and includes introductions by both the author and the translator placing the story in context for American readers.

    He is shocked to find his new classmates and teacher under the spell of the class monitor. As the narrator sets out to overthrow the bully, he is threatened, teased -- and finally broken.

    It is an honest account of one man’s journey to complete abandonment of ‘the self’ and the Western principles that we use to define ourselves. Professor Herrigel imparts knowledge from his experiences and guides the reader through physical and spiritual lessons in a clear and insightful way.Mastering archery is not the key to achieving Zen, and this is not a practical guide to archery. It is more a guide to Zen principles and learning and perfect for practitioners and non-practitioners alike.

    Japan's achievement is explained not merely in economic terms, but at a more fundamental level, as a product of historical patterns of response to circumstance. Japan is shown to be a nation historically impelled by a pragmatic determination to succeed. The book also highlights unresolved questions and little-known facts.

    Lowry's account reveals a Japan unlikely to be witnessed by the average Westerner. Drawing on his deep knowledge of the martial arts, Lowry acts as an interpreter of sorts, deftly describing for the reader the myriad ways in which Japan's subtle, yet rich customs and rituals inform and enrich the seemingly mundane practices of life. On his journey, he interweaves musings from his daily encounters--his introduction to an old ryokan-keeper; a contemplative visit to Kyoto's Daitokuji, "Temple of Great Virtue"; he even spots a ghost or two--with reflections on local history and the philosophies and origins of the Shinkage-ryu, one of Japan's oldest schools of classical swordsmanship.At the same time, Lowry's experiences in Japan serve as an unexpected opportunity bringing him to terms with the extraordinary relationship that exists between teacher and student, with his own past, his place in the long line of swordsmen from whom he has come, and with the challenge he faces in integrating the cultural streams of East and West. One of America's foremost writers on the Japanese martial arts, Dave Lowry has authored more than one hundred articles on the topic for the most popular English-language magazines, including Black Belt, Fighting Arts International, Furyu: The Budo Journal, Karate Illustrated, and Inside Karate. He has also contributed articles on traditional Japanese culture to Winds, the in-flight magazine of Japan Air Lines. Lowry is the author of nine books on budo, including Persimmon Wind's prequel, Autumn Lightning: The Education of an American Samurai. He is the food critic for St. Louis Magazine and has recently completed work on The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi. Lowry lives, with his wife and son, in front of a bamboo grove near St. Louis, Missouri.

    An earthquake occurring off the north-eastern coast of Japan - magnitude 9.0, duration six minutes - unleashed a 50-foot tsunami that within fifteen minutes had slammed its way ashore, rushing inland six miles, crushing all in its path - roads, airports, villages, trains, and buses - and triggering the slow, inexorable leak of radiation from five nuclear plants. This was just the beginning. The waves did not stop; nor did the aftershocks, which were themselves rolling earthquakes of terrifying magnitude, nor did the danger from radiation, which was controlled incrementally, until the meltdown began. One year on, the overwhelming sense of loss endures. Life goes on, but life is not the same. The writers in this collection seeks to explore the impact of this catastrophe through a variety of different means. The pieces - fiction and non-fiction, poetry and manage - reconceive the events of that day, imagine a future and a past, interpret dreams, impel purpose, pray for hope. Specific in reference, universal in scope, these singular, heartfelt contributions - by Yoko Ogawa, Ryu Murakami, Yoko Tawada, Kazumi Saeki and David Peace, among others - comprise an artistic record of a disaster which raises questions for all of us who live in the modern world.

    What ended in one atrocity began with another: the savage military takeover of China's capital city, which quickly became known as the Rape of Nanking. The Japanese Army's conduct from December 1937 to February 1938 constitutes one of the most barbarous events not just of the war but of the century. The violence was documented at the time and then redocumented during the war crimes trial in Tokyo after the war. This book brings together materials from both moments to provide the first comprehensive dossier of primary sources on the Rape.Part 1, "The Records," includes two sources written as the Rape was underway. The first is a long set of documents produced by the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, a group of foreigners who strove to protect the Chinese residents. The second is a series of letters that American surgeon Dr. Robert Wilson wrote for his family during the same period. These letters are published here for the first time.The evidence compiled by the International Committee and its members would be decisive for the indictments against Japanese leaders at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. Part 2, "The Judgments," reprints portions of the tribunal's 1948 judgment dealing with the Rape of Nanking, its judicial consequences, and sections of the dissenting judgment of Justice Radhabinod Pal.These contemporary records and judgments create an intimate firsthand account of the Rape of Nanking. Together they are intended to stimulate deeper reflection than previously possible on how and why we assess and assign the burden of war guilt.Timothy Brook is Professor of Chinese History and Associate Director of the Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, University of Toronto, and is coeditor of Nation Work: Asian Elites and National Identities and Cultureand Economy: The Shaping of Capitalism in Eastern Asia, both published by the University of Michigan Press.

    The small country, overshadowed in the imperial era, crammed against great powers during the Cold War, and divided and decimated by the Korean War, has recently seen the first real hints of reunification. But positive movements forward are tempered by frustrating steps backward. In the late 1990s South Korea survived its most severe economic crisis since the Korean War, forcing a successful restructuring of its political economy. Suffering through floods, droughts, and a famine that cost the lives of millions of people, North Korea has been labeled part of an "axis of evil" by the George W. Bush administration and has renewed its nuclear threats. On both sides Korea seems poised to continue its fractured existence on into the new century, with potential ramifications for the rest of the world.

    Donovan arrives at the gates of Haven to learn to control his magic.A heinous symbol carved into his chest and no memory of who he is.He soon realizes that his magic is different than his classmates.Will he discover the nature of his magic and heritage before his past catches up to him?

    Kim Il Sung wasted little time before plunging the country into a futile war which cost more than two million people their lives. His son, Kim Jong Il, would wallow in obscene luxury as North Korea suffered one of the Twentieth Century’s most terrible famines. Kim Jong Un has only recently ascended to power. However, he has already ordered his own uncle’s execution by antiaircraft gun. The North Korean people are told that they are the most fortunate in the world. In reality they are the most oppressed. North Korea is a country where criticising the government, or even watching a foreign film, can lead to imprisonment and death.North Korea: A Bare Bones History tells the story of one of the world’s most enigmatic nations. It’s an extraordinary history of war, assassination, kidnapping, terrorism, and an attempt to decapitate a rival head of state.

    Praised as "a miracle of readability and scholarly authority," (Jonathan Mirsky) The Search for Modern China offers a matchless introduction to China's history.

    The stories vary in time, dating back to the 16th century to the present day, but each story has a way of getting under your skin. You will be thinking about these stories long after you have put the book down.Most of the stories are set in Okinawa, Japan's southern tropical islands, where the bloodiest battles of World War II were fought. As you might imagine, several stories focus on the war, the soldiers who fought and the civilians who endured.Some of the stories included are:The Grim ReaperThe truth behind the train responsible for the most suicides in Japan.The Nago NightwalkerSomething dark is lurking along highway 505.Haunting at Bise.What did Company H of the 6th Marines find on their recon mission in 1945? The Wreck of the Indian OakWhat really came ashore during that 1840 Typhoon?And nine more chilling stories."A very good read." Anne Poe Lehr, late cousin of Edgar Allen Poe