WILDERNESS TRAVEL
Japan: Shikoku Island   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Eyewitness Guide Japan  •   Eyewitness Guides
GUIDEBOOK •  2009 •  PAPER  • 408 PAGES
This superb guide to all of Japan features color photography, dozens of excellent local maps and a region-by-region synopsis of the country's attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, the volume is an excllent overview of the country. For more detailed practical information, especially for an independent traveler, consider Gateway to Japan. (JPN130, $28.00)
  Eyewitness Guide Japan
Japan, A Traveler's Literary Companion  •  Jeffrey Angles  •  Thomas Rimer  •  Donald Richie
ANTHOLOGY •  2006 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES
This marvelous anthology, organized geographically, is both an introduction to Japan and to its contemporary writers. Donald Richie underscores Japan as a small place of great diversity in his appreciative foreword. (JPN187, $14.95)
  Japan, A Traveler's Literary Companion
In Praise of Shadows  •  Junichiro Tanizaki  •  Thomas J. Harper  •  Edward G. Seidensticker
ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2010 •  PAPER  • 73 PAGES
This essay by the great Japanese novelist, first published in 1933, offers tremendous insight into Japanese aesthetics. It's an earthy meditation on traditional Japanese art, architecture and design. Most illuminating. (JPN19, $14.95)
  In Praise of Shadows
The Art and Culture of Japan  •  Nelly Delay
ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 160 PAGES
An illustrated historical survey of the art, architecture and culture of Japan in a compact 5" x 7" format. It's a portable encyclopedia featuring 165 archival and modern illustrations and a section of original documents, surprisingly thorough in its coverage of all Japanese arts considering the size. (JPN51, $12.95)
  The Art and Culture of Japan
Japan Map  •   Periplus Maps
MAP
Handsome, accurate and regularly updated, this convenient map covers the island nation with insets of the major cities. It has a variety of scales, with the majority at 1:2,000,000. Two Sides. 20x38 inches. (JPN06, $8.95)
  Japan Map
 

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Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook  •  Yoshi Abe   • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS  •  A handy, palm-sized guide to pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (JPN136, $8.99)
 
 
A Traveller's History of Japan  •  Richard Tames   • HISTORY  •  A lively and concise narrative history of Japan and its transformation from Shinto, Shogun and Samurai traditions to 20th-century powerhouse. (JPN09, $14.95)
 
 
Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of WWII  •  John W. Dower   • HISTORY  •  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)
 
 
Everyday Life in Traditional Japan  •  Charles J. Dunn   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  This detailed evocation of traditional Edo Japan portrays all walks of life -- samurai, farmers, courtiers, priests, outcasts and merchants -- with hundreds of marvelous black and white illustrations. (JPN331, $16.95)
 
 
Geisha  •  Liza Crihfield Dalby   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  The observations of an American graduate student who apprenticed as a geisha, interpreting this intriguing role in traditional Japanese society. (JPN49, $24.95)
 
 
Inventing Japan, 1853-1964  •  Ian Buruma   • HISTORY  •  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 in this lively entry in the Modern Library Chronicle series. (JPN139, $12.95)
 
 
Japanese Culture  •  Paul Varley   • HISTORY  •  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  •  Kakuzo Okakura   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  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  •  Giei Sato   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  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)
 
 
Zen and Japanese Culture  •  Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Suzuki describes Zen, its ideas, origins and practice in simple, poetic language, conveying how the Zen emphasis on simplicity has shaped a Japanese aesthetic. A classic by the hugely influential Zen master, first published in 1959. (JPN338, $29.95)
 
 
Japanese Art  •  Joan Stanley-Baker   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  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)
 
 
Japanese Gardens  •  Gunter Nitschke   • ART & ARCHITECTURE • OUT OF PRINT  •  In keeping with the aesthetics of a Japanese garden, Gunter Nitschke has produced a simple but elegant tribute with this collection of photographs. (JPN270, $14.99)
 
 
The Art of the Japanese Garden  •  Michiko Kimura Young  •  David Young   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  An illustrated profile of aristocratic gardens, graveled courtyards, Zen and other Japanese gardens, featuring 250 color photos. (JPN181, $55.00)
 
 
Dave Barry Does Japan  •  Dave Barry   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Good will ambassador and columnist Barry takes no prisoners in this outrageous commentary on Japan and its culture. (JPN234, $13.95)
 
 
Learning to Bow, Inside the Heart of Japan  •  Bruce Feiler   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  As surprising, helpful and informative as it is funny, this is an insightful account of travels and teaching in Japan. Feiler presents anecdotes on the rituals, personality traits and cultural peccadilloes of the Japanese. (JPN111, $13.99)
 
 
The Inland Sea  •  Donald Richie   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE • FAVORITE  •  Richie's masterpiece, more than a travel account, is a beautiful reflection on all things Japanese by one of its most acute observers. (JPN13, $16.95)
 
 
Japan, Through Writer's Eyes  •  Elizabeth Ingrams   • ANTHOLOGY  •  These tales by both Japanese writers and visitors, including Pico Iyer, Junichiro Tanizaki and Jan Morris, illuminates the history and culture of Japan. (JPN351, $33.95)
 
 
Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories  •  Ryunosuke Akutagawa   • LITERATURE  •  Modern and pre-modern clash in this crisp new edition of Akutagawa's celebrated stories. (JPN317, $16.00)
 
 
The Samurai  •  Shusaku Endo   • LITERATURE  •  This historical novel by one of Japan's best-known modern writers is set in the world of the 17th-century Samurai. A Roman Catholic, Endo explored Christianity and morals in his many novels and stories. (JPN157, $14.95)
 
 
Thousand Cranes  •  Yasunari Kawabata  •  Edward G. Seidensticker   • LITERATURE  •  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)
 
 
A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia  •  Shimba Tadao   • FIELD GUIDE  •  Featuring 800 color photographs, up-to-date range maps and notes on identification. (JPN264, $40.00)
 
 
Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia  •  Mark Brazil   • FIELD GUIDE  •  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)
 
 


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