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Kyoto

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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We feature a handpicked selection of travel guides, maps, literature, books on art, nature and culture, all designed to help you get more out of your travels to Kyoto . Order an essential package, and we'll ship any additional items for free.

Essential Reading

Item EXJPN58. Buy these 4 items as a set for $66 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Lonely Planet Kyoto

Lonely Planet Kyoto

by Lonely Planet

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 220 PAGES

An excellent practical travel guide to Kyoto, covering history and culture, as well as its many temples, gardens and attractions. With day trips, 32 pages of maps and travel details, including chapters on Nara and Osaka. (JPN60, $22.99)

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)

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)

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)

 
A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto

A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto


by Marc Treib | Ron Herman

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 202 PAGES

Organized geographically, each of the featured gardens in this indispensable guide gets several pages with special features, practical information, history, comments and several black-and-white photographs. (JPN07, $22.00)

Exploring Kyoto

Exploring Kyoto


by Judith Clancy

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 233 PAGES

Featuring 30 well-crafted walking tours of neighborhoods, gardens and sanctuaries. (JPN26, $16.95)

Kyoto, 29 Walks in Japan's Ancient Capital

Kyoto, 29 Walks in Japan's Ancient Capital


by John H. Martin

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 376 PAGES

This is the one book to take along to Kyoto. With 29 easy-to-follow walking tours, organized by neighborhood, 100 color photos and 40 maps and site diagrams, this expanded edition of the classic guide by John and Phyllis Martin includes both well-known temples and shrines and lesser known districts and sites. (JPN25, $24.95)

A Traveller's History of Japan

A Traveller's History of Japan


by Richard Tames

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

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

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)

Kyoto, A Cultural History

Kyoto, A Cultural History


by John Dougill

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

A rich portrait and guide to the gardens, monasteries, art, history and culture of Kyoto, once Japan's capital, founded 1,200-years ago. (JPN178, $19.99)

Kyoto, Seven Paths to the Heart of the City


by Diana Durston | Katsuhiko Mizuno

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 68 PAGES

An oversize, nicely illustrated walking guide to seven historic districts in the city. Includes 100 color photographs and 8 very helpful full-color maps. The neighborhood descriptions are augmented by Durston's notes on architecture, food, crafts and festivals. (JPN119, $24.95)

Old Kyoto, A Short Social History


by John Lowe

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • HARD COVER
  • 70 PAGES

This lively history of the city covers Kyoto's emperors, shoguns and samurai, merchants and artists during its long reign as royal court and Shogunate. With 39 images, half in color. (JPN167, $18.95)

Seeing Kyoto


by Juliet Winters Carpenter | Sen Soshitsu

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 96 PAGES

In this oversized visual celebration of Kyoto and neighboring Nara, long-time resident Carpenter presents the cobblestone streets, temples, gardens, history and traditions of the ancient capital. (JPN180, $35.00)

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)

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 Gardens of Japan

The Gardens of Japan


by Teiji Itoh

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1998
  • HARD COVER
  • 244 PAGES

This beautifully illustrated overview of the history and tradition of gardens features 75 color photographs and astute essays. (JPN38, $60.00)

A Year in Japan

A Year in Japan


by Kate T. Williamson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 192 PAGES

Williamson records her extended stay in Kyoto, its architecture, gardens, culture and traditions in 350 watercolor illustrations. (JPN189, $19.95)

Geisha, A Life

Geisha, A Life


by Mineko Iwasaki

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

The memoir of a celebrated Geisha, rich in details of life in Kyoto's Gion Kobu district. Iwasaki was the chief source of information for Arthur Golden's best-selling "Memoirs of a Geisha." (JPN131, $16.00)

Untangling My Chopsticks, A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto

Untangling My Chopsticks, A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto


by Victoria Abbott Riccardi

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

In this beguiling memoir, Riccardi writes with verve of cultural encounters, bewilderment and discovery in Kyoto. If you've ever parted the drapes of a Japanese restaurant to face a room full of people and blank stares, you'll really appreciate the book. With 25 recipes for traditional and less traditional Japanese dishes. (JPN135, $19.00)

Confessions of a Mask

Confessions of a Mask


by Meredith Weatherby | Yukio Mishima

  • LITERATURE
  • 1988
  • PAPER
  • 254 PAGES

An unsettling portrait of society in Post War Japan that tells of the coming of age of a complex, tragic figure who, among other things, struggles with his homosexuality. (JPN18, $12.95)

Japanese Inn

Japanese Inn


by Oliver Statler

  • LITERATURE
  • 1982
  • PAPER
  • 365 PAGES

Life over four generations at a country inn. An impressionistic overview of traditional Japan solidly based on actual historic events. Illustrated with 50 Japanese prints. (JPN39, $24.00)

The Essential Haiku, Versions of Basho, Buson and Issa

The Essential Haiku, Versions of Basho, Buson and Issa


by Robert Hass

  • LITERATURE
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 329 PAGES

A collection of haiku, tenderly translated, by three Japanese masters of the form. Edited by former Poet Laureate Robert Hass. (JPN93, $16.99)

The Lady and the Monk, Four Seasons in Kyoto

The Lady and the Monk, Four Seasons in Kyoto


by Pico Iyer

  • LITERATURE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 337 PAGES

Deeply romanticized, this short novel is nonetheless redolent in the places, sights and sounds of modern day Kyoto. Iyer writes with infectious charm the story of a young American man and his affair with a bored Japanese married woman. (JPN32, $14.95)

The Old Capital

The Old Capital


by Yasunari Kawabata | J. Martin Holman

  • LITERATURE
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

Kawabata captures perfectly the tension between tradition and new ways in postwar Japan in this lyrical novel set in Kyoto. (JPN185, $15.95)

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion


by Yukio Mishima

  • LITERATURE
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 262 PAGES

Inspired by historical events, this powerful first novel by the great 20th-century Japanese writer tells the story of the monk who burned the Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. (JPN389, $15.00)

Travelers' Tales Japan

Travelers' Tales Japan


by Donald W. George | Amy G. Carlson

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 411 PAGES

A collection of stories and essays by famous writers that captures experiences of traveling through Japan. With a range of styles and topics, this book is a great travel companion. (JPN48, $18.95)

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