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Snow Monkeys and Cranes of Japan

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Essential Reading

Item EXJPN96. Buy these 5 items as a set for $88 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia

Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia

by Mark Brazil

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 520 PAGES

Brazil's comprehensive guide, featuring 234 color plates, includes Japan, Taiwan and the islands along with the adjacent areas of Asia from Kamchatka to Korea. (JPN332, $39.95)

Snow Monkeys

by Heather Angel

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 96 PAGES

Wildlife photographer Angel captures the behavior, habitats and charm of the Japanese Macaque in these enchanting photographs. (JPN371, $16.95)

Thousand Cranes

Thousand Cranes

by Yasunari Kawabata | Edward G. Seidensticker

  • LITERATURE
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 147 PAGES

This novella by the great Kawabata may be Japan's best-known literary work, a story of love, grief and redemption. Kawabata's prose is as economical as the tea ceremony itself, and very beautiful. (JPN34, $13.95)

About This Life, Journeys on the Threshold of Memory

About This Life, Journeys on the Threshold of Memory

by Barry Lopez

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 273 PAGES

A collection of essays on far-flung travels -- both actual and internal -- by the wonderful writer and traveler. Lopez includes Galapagos, Hokkaido, Bonaire and Antarctica among the thoughtful essays. (GEN42, $15.00)

Japan Map

Japan Map

by Periplus Maps

  • 2009
  • MAP

This convenient map covers the island nation at a scale of 1:2,000,000, with insets of the major cities. (JPN06, $8.95)

 
Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of WWII

Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of WWII


by John W. Dower

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 676 PAGES

A social and political history of the postwar years in Japan. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, it's an eye-opening account by a leading scholar of Japanese-American relations at MIT. (JPN54, $19.95)

Japanese Culture

Japanese Culture


by Paul Varley

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 383 PAGES

Valery traces cultural trends from the emergence of Japanese civilization through the present age, touching on religion, gardens, tea ceremony, the visual arts, theatre, literature and cinema. (JPN84, $24.00)

In Praise of Shadows

In Praise of Shadows


by Junichiro Tanizaki

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 73 PAGES

An earthy meditation on traditional Japanese art, architecture and design, this essay by the great Japanese novelist, first published in 1933, offers tremendous insight into Japanese aesthetics. Most illuminating. (JPN19, $16.00)

The Art and Culture of Japan

The Art and Culture of Japan


by Nelly Delay

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

Lavishly illustrated, this handy pocket encyclopedia introduces the art, architecture and culture of Japan. With 165 archival and modern illustrations and a section of original documents. (JPN51, $12.95)

Our Land Was a Forest, An Ainu Memoir


by Kayano Shingeru

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 172 PAGES

This lovely memoir of life on Hokkaido in the years following WWII is also an account of the disappearing traditions of the Ainu people in the face of a modernizing nation. (JPN46, $37.00)

The Roads to Sata, A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan

The Roads to Sata, A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan


by Alan Booth

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 281 PAGES

A revealing, humorous account of the author's 2,000-mile walk north to south from Hokkaido to Kyushu by a wonderfully eccentric British expatriate. (JPN11, $16.00)

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan


by Isabella Bird

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Bird's narrative of her travels in Japan in 1878, just after the country re-opened its doors to the world. She spent little time on the cities, heading straight out to meet the peasants in their fields. (JPN94, $12.95)

Japan, A Traveler's Literary Companion

Japan, A Traveler's Literary Companion


by Jeffrey Angles

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

This geographically-organized anthology introduces both Japan and its best contemporary writers. (JPN187, $14.95)

Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches

Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches


by Nobuyuki Yuasa | Basho Matsuo

  • LITERATURE
  • 1967
  • PAPER
  • 178 PAGES

These marvelous prose-and-poetry sketches by the famous poet wanderer Basho (1644-94) invoke the mysteries of the cosmos manifest in the Japanese landscape. With some of the most perfect 17-syllable haiku ever composed. (JPN91, $14.00)

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, A Novel

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, A Novel


by David Mitchell

  • LITERATURE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 479 PAGES

Mitchell sets this richly imagined historical novel in the world of the Dutch East Indies company and cloistered early 18th-century Japan, where -- to this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, costly courtesans, earthquakes, and typhoons -- comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout and resourceful young clerk. (JPN415, $15.00)

Cranes, A Natural History of a Bird in Crisis


by Janice Hughes

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 256 PAGES

Hughes covers the behavior, including the remarkable dancing displays, history, habits, life and lore of the 15 species of cranes worlwide. (BRD75, $45.00)

The Lost Wolves of Japan


by Brett L. Walker

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 331 PAGES

Drawing on Japanese history, literature, folklore and biology, Walker looks at the forces that caused the extinction of the wolves in Japan. (JPN215, $35.00)

Volcanoes, Crucibles of Change

Volcanoes, Crucibles of Change


by Richard Fisher

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 344 PAGES

A complete primer for the volcano lover, this heavily illustrated book covers types of volcanoes and eruptions, worldwide distribution and the physics of their formation. (GEO02, $29.95)

Wild Asia, Spirit of a Continent

Wild Asia, Spirit of a Continent


by Mark Brazil | Art Wolfe

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2000
  • HARD COVER
  • 192 PAGES

Organized by bioregion, this lavishly illustrated survey covers plants, animals, habitats and landscapes from the Himalayas to India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East. (ASA33, $49.95)

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia


by Shimba Tadao

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 512 PAGES

Featuring 800 color photographs, up-to-date range maps and notes on identification. (JPN264, $40.00)

Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan: Passerines: Tyrant Flycatchers to Buntings

Birds of Europe, Russia, China, and Japan: Passerines: Tyrant Flycatchers to Buntings


by Norman Arlott

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

This Princeton Illustrated Checklist, spanning all of the Russian Arctic, Europe, China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and the Middle East, features 80 color plates with range maps and succinct descriptions. (EUR276, $29.95)

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Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.