The Soil: A Portrait of Rural Life in Meiji Japan


Takashi Nagatsuka - 1910
    The community described is the author's native place, and the characters whose lives are described in vivid detail over a period of years are drawn from life.

Eight Million Gods and Demons


Hiroko Sherwin - 2001
    Emi, a gifted koto player, cherishes Taku's doting love. But the couple can't conceive, and Taku's work takes him away more and more often. When she finally gives birth to a healthy son, Emi dares hope that the preternaturally intelligent Jun will help mend the rift in her marriage. That is, until she meets Hana, an extraordinarily beautiful and wicked geisha, and discovers a betrayal so devastating it would take the aid of eight million gods and demons-the number of deities in the Japanese pantheon-to overcome.

I Want To Go Home


Wesley Leon Aroozoo - 2017
    Since that fateful day, he has been diving in the sea every week in search for her.Compelled and inspired to share his story, I Want To Go Home is a journey from Singapore to Onagawa through the lens of the intrigued to meet him. Of unlikely friendships across borders and languages; to share a man’s loss, recovery and determination to reunite with his wife.The novel's feature film (also titled I Want To Go Home) has also been selected for the 2017 부산국제영화제 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). This book also includes a Japanese translation by Miki Hawkinson.

Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, Vol. 1


Kasumi Morino - 2019
    Yunyun's begun learning advanced magic, but Megumin has gone down a different path-the path of explosion magic! Despite being warned of its limited usefulness, Megumin believes explosion magic is the way for her to become a great, voluptuous wizard, and she won't be convinced otherwise!

Pay the Devil in Bitcoin: The Creation of a Cryptocurrency and How Half a Billion Dollars of It Vanished from Japan (Kindle Single)


Jake Adelstein - 2017
     Even in hell, bitcoin talks. This modern take on an old Japanese saying still holds true. The cryptocurrency was supposed to do for money what the Internet did for information, but it didn’t work out that way. Its virtual existence unleashed real-world chaos—especially in the homeland of its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Tokyo was the center of the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, until that company collapsed with nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of bitcoin gone missing. It might be the greatest heist in history. If it was a heist. So what really happened? Here’s the true story of the humble-to-hot commodity, from the former geek website that launched the boom to an inside world of absent-minded CEOs, hucksters, hackers, cybercrooks, drug dealers, corrupt federal agents, evangelical libertarians, and clueless techies. You’ll discover bitcoin’s connection to the infamous Silk Road, learn why hell has nothing on Japan’s criminal justice system, and get the lowdown on the high cost of betting with the devil’s dollars. All of this for less than the price of a single bitcoin. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Jake Adelstein has been an investigative journalist in Japan since 1993. Considered one of the foremost experts on organized crime in that country, he works as a writer and consultant in Japan and the United States, writing for the Daily Beast, the Japanese economic monthly ZAITEN, and other publications. He has served as a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and is the author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan (Vintage), which has been translated into twelve languages, and Operation Tropical Storm (Kindle Single). Nathalie Stucky is a freelance journalist in Tokyo and Europe. She was an assistant correspondent for the Japanese news agency Jiji Press in Geneva and contributed to the book Reconstructing 3/11. She has written for the Daily Beast, the Los Angeles Times, and several French publications.

Haiku Love


Alan Cummings - 2013
    Poems from the 1600s to the present day are beautifully illustrated with images from the unrivaled collection of Japanese paintings and prints in the British Museum. The majority of the poems come from the Tokugawa period (early seventeenth to mid nineteenth centuries) and include works from the best-known Japanese classical authors, female poets and a number of contemporary writers. Nearly all are newly translated by Alan Cummings.From the tender and the melancholy to the witty and the ribald, the poems and images in Haiku Love comment on the most universal of human emotions.

After Ikkyu & Other Poems


Jim Harrison - 1996
    After Ikkyu is the first collection of Harrison's poems that are directly inspired by his many years of Zen practice.

The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler


Lisa Barnes - 2005
    In The Petit Appetit Cookbook, mother and professional cook Lisa Barnes offers a healthy all-organic alternative to commercially processed, preservative-filled foods to help create delicious menus, nurture adventurous palates, and begin a lifetime of positive eating habits for children.Includes:150+ easy, fast, child-tested recipes for ages 4 months to 4 yearsMealtime solutions for even the most finicky eatersNutritional information for each recipeTime-saving cooking techniquesThe right age- and stage-appropriate food choicesHow and when to introduce solids to baby's dietAdapting family recipes for young childrenRecognizing signs of food allergies and intolerances

Love Poems from the Japanese


Kenneth Rexroth - 1994
    The poems range in tone from the spiritual longing of an isolated monk to the erotic ecstasy of a court princess—but share the extraordinary simplicity and luminosity of language that marks Kenneth Rexroth's verse style. An introduction by the poet and translator Sam Hamill, the editor of this collection, and short biographies of the poets are included. The Shambhala Library is a series of exquisitely designed and produced cloth editions of the world's spiritual and literary classics, both ancient and modern. Perfect for collecting or as gifts, each volume features a sewn binding, decorative endsheets, and a ribbon marker—a delightful-to-hold 4 ¼ x 6 ¾ trim size.

Losing Kei


Suzanne Kamata - 2008
    Far from the trendy gaijin neighborhoods of downtown Tokyo, she’s settled in a remote seaside village where she makes ends meet as a bar hostess. Her world appears to open when she meets Yusuke, a savvy and sensitive art gallery owner who believes in her talent. But their love affair, and subsequent marriage, is doomed to a life of domestic hell, for Yusuke is the chonan, the eldest son, who assumes the role of rigid patriarch in his traditional family while Jill’s duty is that of a servile Japanese wife. A daily battle of wills ensues as Jill resists instruction in the proper womanly arts. Even the long-anticipated birth of a son, Kei, fails to unite them. Divorce is the only way out, but in Japan a foreigner has no rights to custody, and Jill must choose between freedom and abandoning her child.Told with tenderness, humor, and an insider’s knowledge of contemporary Japan, Losing Kei is the debut novel of an exceptional expatriate voice.Suzanne Kamata's work has appeared in over one hundred publications. She is the editor of The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan and a forthcoming anthology from Beacon Press on parenting children with disabilities. A five-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, she has twice won the Nippon Airways/Wingspan Fiction Contest.

The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War (General Military)


Mark Stille - 2014
    The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War pulls from many of Osprey's bestselling books on the subject in addition to the most recent research on the subject, including many sources from Japan, and is the most recent and accurate book on this fascinating force.Even after its setback at midway, the IJN remained a powerful force and inflicted sever setbacks on the US Navy at Guadalcanal and elsewhere. The Imperial Japanese Navy focuses on the Japanese ships which fought the battles in the Pacific including design details, where and when they were engaged and their ultimate effectiveness. In addition, the construction, design and service history of each ship from destroyer size on up is included. A comprehensive survey of the submarine force is also included. Modifications of each ship are covered making this a valuable reference source for Pacific War enthusiasts and historians, as well as ship modelers.A short history of the IJN during the Pacific War places all warship design and history in proper context. Finally, a chapter discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the IJN is included ultimately asking the question of whether the IJN really was a modern Navy which was fully prepared for the rigors of combat in the Pacific.

A Passion for Success


Kazuo Inamori - 1995
    Topics include: making the right decisions; how to enhance work; and managing a meaningful business. It aims to identify key principles for business success.

A Traveller's History of Japan


Richard L. Tames - 1993
    This clearly written history explains how a country embedded in the traditions of Shinto, Shoguns and Samurai has achieved stupendous economic growth and dominance in this century.

The Hedgehog Handbook


Sally Coulthard - 2018
    This shy, snuffling, enigmatic animal has captured the imagination of children and adults for centuries – from Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggywinkle to Sonic the Hedgehog.Full to the brim with fascinating insights and countryside lore, The Hedgehog Handbook explores different facets of this much-admired mammal – from its wildlife habits to its literary heritage, how different cultures have viewed the hedgehog and what we can do to help preserve this icon of rural life. Fun, sweet and warm hearted, The Hedgehog Handbook is a month by month celebration of one of the countryside’s best-loved creatures. Packed with inspirational quotes, entertaining facts, folklore and literary references, it’s the perfect gift for anyone with a penchant for prickles.

A Year in the Woods: The Diary of a Forest Ranger


Colin Elford - 2010
    Colin Elford spends his days alone - alone but for the deer, the squirrels, the rabbits, the birds, and the many other creatures inhabiting the woods. From the crisp cold of January, through the promise of spring and the heat of summer, and then into damp autumn and the chill winds of winter, we accompany the forest-ranger as he goes about his work - stalking in the early morning darkness, putting an injured fallow buck out of its misery, watching stoats kill a hare, observing owls, and simply being a part of the outdoors. Colin Elford immerses himself in the richly diverse and unique landscapes of Britain, existing in rhythm with natural environments. For fans of Robert Macfarlane's Landmarks, Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk orJames Rebanks' A Shepherd's Life, Colin's rare and uplifiting journey will unveil the true nature and beauty of Britain's countryside. 'This is nature for real . . . Elford describes woodland wonders in short paragraphs of luminous intensity' Daily Mail 'A poetic insight in the world of hidden Nature' Countryman 'Stalking sharpens the senses and there is an almost hallucinatory clarity to Elford's writing' Observer 'Refreshingly unsentimental. Contains some wonderful descriptions and sentences which are so profound they demand a second reading' Sunday Express Colin Elford is a forest ranger on the Dorset/Wiltshire border. Craig Taylor is the author of Return to Akenfield and One Million Tiny Plays About Britain and the editor of the magazine Five Dials.