WILDERNESS TRAVEL
Japan: In the Footsteps of Basho   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Essential Books These 5 items are available for $75, including
U.S. shipping, a 15% discount (Item no. EXJPN110)		  
Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches  •  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. The haiku included are acknowledged some of the best ever composed. He concludes his masterpiece with: "In this little book of travel is included everything under the sky -- not only that which is hoary and dry but also that which is young and colorful, not only that which is strong and imposing but also that which is feeble and ephemeral." (JPN91, $14.00)		   Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
In Praise of Shadows  •  Junichiro Tanizaki
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, $16.00)		   In Praise of Shadows
The Art and Culture of Japan  •  Nelly Delay
ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 160 PAGES
Lavishly illustrated, this handy pocket encyclopedia in the Discoveries series introduces the art, architecture and culture of Japan. With 165 archival and modern illustrations and a section of original documents. (JPN51, $12.95)		   The Art and Culture of Japan
Eyewitness Guide Japan  •  Eyewitness Guides
GUIDEBOOK •  2011 •  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 Map  •  Periplus Maps
2009 •  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



Also Recommended

Fodor's Tokyo's 25 Best  •  Fodor's Guides   • GUIDEBOOK • COMING IN JUNE  •  A shirt-pocket map and practical guide. (JPN05, $12.99)
 		  
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)
 		  
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)
 		  
Getting Wet, Adventures in the Japanese Bath  •  Eric Talmadge   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE  •  Tokyo-based Talmadge journeys from seaside resorts to mountain retreats and megaplexes in this cultural history of Japan through the tradition of the bath. (JPN197, $22.00)
 		  
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. (JPN139, $12.95)
 		  
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)
 		  
The Gardens of Japan  •  Teiji Itoh   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  This beautifully illustrated overview of the history and tradition of gardens features 75 color photographs and astute essays. (JPN38, $60.00)
 		  
36 Views of Mount Fuji, On Finding Myself in Japan  •  Cathy Davidson   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  A thoughtful set of witty reflections on Japan, Japanese culture and the adventure of living overseas by a talented writer who taught at an all women's university in Japan in the 1980s. (JPN65, $23.95)
 		  
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)
 		  
Our Land Was a Forest, An Ainu Memoir  •  Kayano Shingeru   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  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)
 		  
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan  •  Isabella Bird   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  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)
 		  
Black Arrow  •  I. J. Parker   • MYSTERY  •  Detective Akitada must solve a series of brutal slayings in the northern city of Echigo. (JPN201, $15.00)
 		  
Japan, A Traveler's Literary Companion  •  Jeffrey Angles   • ANTHOLOGY  •  This geographically-organized anthology introduces both Japan and its best contemporary writers. (JPN187, $14.95)
 		  
The Essential Haiku, Versions of Basho, Buson and Issa  •  Robert Hass   • LITERATURE  •  A collection of haiku, tenderly translated, by three Japanese masters of the form. Edited by former Poet Laureate Robert Hass. (JPN93, $16.99)
 		  
The Hell Screen  •  I. J. Parker   • MYSTERY  •  Suguwara Akitada returns in another mystery of 11th-century Japan, with rich ambiance and superb historical detail. This time, a murder in a temple catches Akitada unprepared. (JPN327, $14.00)
 		  
The Narrow Road to Oku  •  Basho Matsuo  •  Donald Keene   • LITERATURE  •  Keene gives a precise and poetic translation, alongside the original Japanese characters, in this edition of the great poet Basho Matsuo's (1644-1694) famous journey to Oku. With illustrations by Masayuki Miyata (1926-1997). (JPN211, $25.00)
 		  
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)
 		  
 
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