A Collectors Guide To Books On Japan In English

Provides an invaluable and very accessible addition to existing biographic sources and references, not least because of the supporting biographies of major writers and the historical and cultural notes provided.

For 700 years Japanese civilization was dominated by a single warrior caste. This project looks at the weaponry of Samurai men and women over the centuries with specifically commissioned photography of reenactors wearing and museum-quality clothing and weaponry.

“Arguably the greatest living travel writer” (Outside magazine), Pico Iyer has called Japan home for more than three decades. But, as he is the first to admit, the country remains an enigma even to its long-term residents. In A Beginner’s Guide to Japan, Iyer draws on his years of experience—his travels, conversations, readings, and reflections—to craft a playful and profound book of surprising, brief, incisive glimpses into Japanese culture. He recounts his adventures and observations as he travels from a meditation hall to a love hotel, from West Point to Kyoto Station, and from dinner with Meryl Streep to an ill-fated call to the Apple service center in a series of provocations guaranteed to pique the interest and curiosity of those who don’t know Japan—and to remind those who do of its myriad fascinations.

Connoisseur's Book Japanese Swords is a Kodansha International publication.

イラストと簡潔な文章で、日本のすべてを紹介する小事典の決定版!自然、地理、衣・食・住、文化、風俗・習慣から政治、経済、社会、産業、歴史まで、日本をまるごと英語で説明できるようになります。さらに、外国の人との交流を深められるように、手巻き寿司の作り方、浴衣の着方、花の生け方、習字、俳句、折り紙、じゃんけん遊びなど、日本文化の教授法をわかりやすく図解しました。ホームステイや海外留学をするときに頼りになる1冊です。

Explains the basic terminology and concepts of English grammar, focusing on material which will most benefit students of Japanese.

Tuberculosis ran rampant in Japan during the late Meiji and Taisho years (1880s–1920s). Many of the victims of the then incurable disease were young female workers from the rural areas, who were trying to support their families by working in the new textile factories. The Japanese government of the time, however, seemed unprepared to tackle the epidemic. Elisheva A. Perelman argues that pragmatism and utilitarianism dominated the thinking of the administration, which saw little point in providing health services to a group of politically insignificant patients. This created a space for American evangelical organizations to offer their services. Perelman sees the relationship between the Japanese government and the evangelists as one of moral entrepreneurship on both sides. All the parties involved were trying to occupy the moral high ground. In the end, an uneasy but mutually beneficial arrangement was reached: the government accepted the evangelists’ assistance in providing relief to some tuberculosis patients, and the evangelists gained an opportunity to spread Christianity further in the country. Nonetheless, the patients remained a marginalized group as they possessed little agency over how they were treated. “Perelman captures the strategies that enabled Protestant missionaries to become a central force in treating tuberculosis and providing social services in prewar Japan. Acting as ‘moral entrepreneurs,’ the medical missionaries deftly raised funds abroad, gained support from the Japanese state, gained converts, and cultivated a corps of Japanese medical practitioners.” —Sheldon Garon, Princeton University; author of Molding Japanese Minds: The State in Everyday Life “Based on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, this groundbreaking book traces evangelical Christianity and the work of medical missions in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japan. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Christianity, disease, medicine, or public health in modern Japan.” —William Johnston, Wesleyan University; author of The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan