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Isabella Bird's 1878 expedition through Japan, chronicled in 'Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,' immerses readers in an extraordinary odyssey across the seldom-explored territories of Japan's remote northern and central regions. Breaking away from conventional travel narratives, Bird adopts an unconventional prose style, crafting a captivating tale of her off-the-beaten-path escapades.
Rather than confining herself to the urban bustle, Bird ventures deep...
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"Earns its place on the very short shelf of books on Japan that are of permanent value."—Times Literary Supplement.
"Richie is a stupendous travel writer; the book shines with bright witticisms, deft characterizations of fisherfolk, merchants, monks and wistful adolescents, and keen comparisons of Japanes and Western culture." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A learned, beautifully paced elegy."—London Review
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This is a complete, two-volume set of one of the greatest books on 19th century Japanese history and culture. Though Lafcadio Hearn went on to write a dozen more books on Japan, this collection of first impressions remains his most popular. Among the reasons is that here, more than anywhere else, the author most vividly captured a place that so affected him that he stayed for the rest of his life. The modern reader can still, through these pages,...
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An account of the author's stay in a monastery in Kyoto, Japan, in order to learn about Zen Buddhism, introduces readers to Sachiko--a well-educated, English-speaking, Japanese housewife locked in a traditional marriage but drawn to the author and to Western culture.
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Out of the East came wonderful tales by a Westerner who loved the old Japan-devotion, ancestor worship, courtesy, and kindness-and record his feelings for the rest of the world to read. This collection of "reveries and studies," as author and legendary Japanologist Lafcadio Hearn subtitled Out of the East, contains unforgettable tales like "The Red Bridal," in which the conflict between duty and human feelings leads to tragedy in classically Japanese...
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Award-winning poet David Mura's critically acclaimed memoir Turning Japanese chronicles how a year in Japan transformed his sense of self and pulled into sharp focus his complicated inheritance. Mura is a sansei, a third-generation Japanese-American who grew up on baseball and hot dogs in a Chicago suburb where he heard more Yiddish than Japanese. Turning Japanese chronicles his quest for identity with honesty, intelligence, and poetic vision, and...
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This prize-winning book is both an illustrated tour of a Tokyo rarely seen in Japan travel guides and an artist's warm, funny, visually rich, and always entertaining graphic memoir. Florent Chavouet, a young graphic artist, spent six months exploring Tokyo while his girlfriend interned at a company there. Each day he would set forth with a pouch full of color pencils and a sketchpad, and visit different neighborhoods. This stunning book records...
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Rose has turned 40, but has barely begun to live. When the Japanese father she never knew dies and she finds herself an orphan, she leaves France for Kyoto to hear the reading of his will. In the days before Haru's last wishes are revealed, his former assistant, Paul, takes Rose on a tour of the temples, gardens and eating places of this unfamiliar city. Initially a reluctant tourist and awkward guest in her late father's home, Rose gradually comes...
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This revised and updated edition of the Japan travel classic and cultural guide gets you wandering from downtown quarters to remote mountaintop temples and features expanded information on new museums and gardens now open year-round for viewing. Judith Clancy's expert research weaves a rich narrative of Kyoto's history, local lore, and artistic and religious background to guide you through your journey. Includes: 31 explorations including 5 mountain...
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Visit the most compelling cultural and nature sites in all of Japan! In Japan's World Heritage Sites, readers are introduced to the temples, gardens, castles and natural wonders for which Japan is so justly renowned-all of those now declared to be UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Author John Dougill describes each site in detail, stating why they were singled out by UNESCO, the current number and types of sites, the application process, how the sites...
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From Miyazaki to mountains, sake to sparking joy, find your Zen and make time to learn about how to live Japanese. Whether it's the cutting edge of film-making, revolutionizing the whisky market or competing with parents on lunchboxes, you'll be all the better for some time spent with How to Live Japanese.
With nearly 60 per cent of us living in cities, the mega-city of Tokyo, through centuries of raze and rebuild, is surely the guiding light for...
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Tsuneichi Miyamoto (1907–1981), a leading Japanese folklore scholar and rural advocate, walked 160, 000 kilometers to conduct interviews and capture a dying way of life. This collection of photos, vignettes, and life stories from pre- and postwar rural Japan is the first English translation of his modern Japanese classic. From blowfish to landslides, Miyamoto's stories come to life in Jeffrey Irish's fluid translation.
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This book provides readers with a unique vision of Japan's capital, as seen through the eyes of an artist. Arrazola immerses herself in the cult of Hello Kitty and the pop-eyed charms of "Kawaii" cute culture, while conveying the collision of traditional and modern Japanese culture in the female Samurais she meets and draws.
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This friendly guide offers concise but detailed demystifications of more than 85 aspects of ancient and modern Japan. It can be read in sequence, or just dipped into, depending on the moment's need. Explanations go much deeper than a typical travel guide and cover 1,500 years of history and culture, everything from geisha to gangsters, haiku to karaoke, the sun goddess to the shogunate ... and anime to Zen.
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"A call to preserve disappearing facets of Japan's rich and ancient culture, this book takes its inspiration from the 1960s classic, Hidden Hamlets by Shirasu Masako. Like Shirasu, Kerr travels to remote and lesser-known places around Japan where pockets of traditional culture can still be found. Some are faraway--like Aogashima Island, 200 miles south of Tokyo--while others are easy to reach, such as Mii-dera temple just east of Kyoto"--Publisher's...
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"Born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American father in 1997, Christine Mari Inzer spent her early years in Japan and relocated to the United States in 2003. The summer before she turned sixteen, she returned to Tokyo, making a solo journey to get reacquainted with her birthplace. Through illustrations, photos, and musings, Inzer documented her journey. In Diary of a Tokyo Teen, Inzer explores the cutting-edge fashions of Tokyo's trendy Harajuku...
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"The Little Book of Kyoto is a celebratory visual guide to one of the world's truly unique cities. Kyoto was Japan's imperial capital for one thousand years, as well as its cultural birthplace. A companion to the best-selling The Little Book of Japan, this captivating volume weaves words and images to form a rich tapestry of the fantastic sights of Kyoto, including dozens of World Heritage Sites, Zen gardens, temples, shrines, shopping areas, festivals,...
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