MOUNTAIN TRAVEL-SOBEK

Focus on Japan

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Kids

Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

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Eyewitness Guide Japan

Eyewitness Guide Japan

by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 408 PAGES

Dazzling illustrations, architectural cutaways and color photographs, along with useful local maps, give this guide to Japan's many attractions a distinct edge. (JPN130, $28.00)

Seeing Japan

by Charles Whipple | Morihiro Hosokawa

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER

A wide-ranging introduction to modern Japan. Charles Whipple covers the basic elements of Japanese family and society, as well as geography, art, theater and sports. (JPN179, $35.00)

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)

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)

 
Kyoto Map

Kyoto Map


by Periplus Maps

  • 2003
  • MAP

This convenient map includes detailed information on Old Kyoto. It shows different sections of Kyoto and surrounding areas at a variety of scales, ranging from 1:12,000 to 1:500,000. (JPN27, $8.95)

70 Japanese Gestures

70 Japanese Gestures


by Hamiru-aqui

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 158 PAGES

A clever guide to body language and slang in Japan as demonstrated in 70 witty black-and-white photographs and explanatory text. (JPN193, $9.95)

Fodor's Tokyo's 25 Best

Fodor's Tokyo's 25 Best


by Fodor's Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 128 PAGES
  • COMING IN JUNE

A shirt-pocket map and practical guide. (JPN05, $11.99)

Japan Bilingual Map

Japan Bilingual Map


by Kodansha International

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER

This full-color double-sided map includes the entirety of Japan at a scale of 1:500,000, as well as individual maps of Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya and Fuji-Hakone. (JPN209, $14.95)

Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook

Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook


by Yoshi Abe

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 259 PAGES

A handy palm-sized guide to pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (JPN136, $8.99)

Old Kyoto, A Guide to Traditional Shops and Inns

Old Kyoto, A Guide to Traditional Shops and Inns


by Diane Durston

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Wonderful, elegant essays on carefully chosen shops, often in out-of-the-way neighborhoods. (JPN24, $22.00)

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)

Geisha

Geisha


by Liza Crihfield Dalby

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 380 PAGES

The observations of an American graduate student who apprenticed as a geisha, interpreting this intriguing role in traditional Japanese society. (JPN49, $25.95)

Hiroshima

Hiroshima


by John Hersey

  • HISTORY
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 152 PAGES

Never sensational, this 1946 classic by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Hersey puts a human face on the unthinkable. Hersey explores the tragedy through interviews with residents, scientists and politicians. (JPN20, $7.95)

Inventing Japan, 1853-1964

Inventing Japan, 1853-1964


by Ian Buruma

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 194 PAGES

A favorite writer with keen insight about Japan, Buruma offers an admirably succinct, dramatic history of Japan's transformation from feudal state to host of the 1964 Olympics, with a focus on World War II. (JPN139, $12.95)

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)

The Book of Tea

The Book of Tea


by Kakuzo Okakura

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 116 PAGES

A graceful, witty meditation on Japanese aesthetics and culture as reflected through the tea ceremony. A celebrity and cultural ambassador, Okakura was a curator at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. (JPN21, $9.95)

Unsui, A Diary of Zen Monastic Life

Unsui, A Diary of Zen Monastic Life


by Giei Sato

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1973
  • PAPER
  • 142 PAGES

The daily life of the monastery as depicted in 97 watercolor sketches. Giei Sato looks back at his time as an apprentice with warmth and grace. (JPN145, $22.00)

Japanese Art

Japanese Art


by Joan Stanley-Baker

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 223 PAGES

Concise, thoroughly illustrated and comprehensive, this handsome book in the "World of Art" series is a fine survey of Japanese art from the prehistoric period to modern Japan. With 167 illustrations. (JPN08, $19.95)

The Art of the Japanese Garden

The Art of the Japanese Garden


by Michiko Kimura Young | David Young

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER
  • 176 PAGES

An illustrated profile of aristocratic gardens, graveled courtyards, Zen and other Japanese gardens, featuring 250 color photos. (JPN181, $55.00)

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)

The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon


by Shonagon Sei | Ivan Morris

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 416 PAGES

Exquisite short essays and vignettes of Japanese court life in the Heian period. (JPN76, $17.00)

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)

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