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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

Item EXJPN108. Buy these 6 items as a set for $81 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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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)

Tokyo, A View of the City

Tokyo, A View of the City

by Donald Richie

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 142 PAGES

Richie's literate essay on the culture, history and fabric of Tokyo, where he's lived for 50 years, is structured as a geographic tour starting at the Imperial Palace and branching out. With black-and-white photos. (JPN90, $25.00)

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)

Tokyo Map

Tokyo Map

by Borch Maps

  • 2005
  • MAP

A folded, laminated map of Tokyo at a scale of 1:17,000. (JPN102, $7.95)

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)

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)

 
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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan

The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan


by Christopher Benfey

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

The fascinating tale of a tightly-knit group of late Victorian travelers, scientists and adventurers dedicated to the idea of Japan. (JPN138, $16.00)

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)

Japanese Garden Design

Japanese Garden Design


by Marc P. Keane | Haruzo Ohashi

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 184 PAGES

An illustrated introduction to the aesthetics and meanings of Japanese gardens. It relates the social, religious and historical contexts to landscape and garden design. (JPN52, $30.00)

Shibori, The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing Tradition Techniques Innovation


by Yoshiko Wada

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 303 PAGES

This book introduces techniques perfected by the Japanese in relation to shibori. (JPN78, $48.00)

Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textiles


by Matilda McQuaid | Cara McCarty

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

A celebration of recent trends in Japanese textile art. (JPN79, $29.95)

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)

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)

The Unknown Craftsman, A Japanese Insight into Beauty

The Unknown Craftsman, A Japanese Insight into Beauty


by Soetsu Yanagi | Shoji Hamada | Bernard Leach

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 230 PAGES

Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961) presents Japanese crafts, their integral place in Japanese society, and the role of the craftsman in this an excellent overview of the foundations of the Mingei (folk-craft) movement. With 76 illustrations. (JPN116, $35.00)

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)

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)

Memoirs of a Geisha, A Novel

Memoirs of a Geisha, A Novel


by Arthur Golden

  • LITERATURE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 434 PAGES

The runaway best-selling novel about a geisha in the celebrated Gion district of Kyoto. A major feat of literary impersonation, the novel is rich in period detail and ceremony. (JPN45, $15.95)

Out

Out


by Natsuo Kirino

  • MYSTERY
  • 2005
  • PAPER

In this well-received mystery, Masako Katori, a middle-aged wife and mother working the night shift at a Tokyo factory, strangles her abusive husband. (JPN196, $15.00)

South of the Border, West of the Sun

South of the Border, West of the Sun


by Haruki Murakami

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

Murakami stirs jazz, neon-lit streets, out of the way shrines, hustle and bustle and wonder into this lyrical tale of love in contemporary Tokyo. (JPN213, $14.95)

Tale of the Heike


by Helen Craig McCullough

  • LITERATURE
  • 1988
  • PAPER
  • 489 PAGES

Japan's most famous war tale about the fall of the Taira (Heike) clan and the victory of the Minamoto (Genji) during the end of the 12th century. (JPN75, $29.95)

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 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)

The Samurai

The Samurai


by Shusaku Endo

  • LITERATURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

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)

The Tale of Genji


by Murasaki Shikibu | Edward G. Seidensticker

  • LITERATURE
  • 1983
  • PAPER
  • 1090 PAGES

The unabridged version of one of the most famous works of Japanese prose. This is the story of Genji, a romantic man in the Heian court, as written in the 11th-century by Lady Murasaki. (JPN73, $29.95)

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)

The Art of Setting Stones & Other Writings from the Japanese Garden

The Art of Setting Stones & Other Writings from the Japanese Garden


by Marc P. Keane

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 196 PAGES

In these lyrical essays Kyoto-resident and landscape architect Marc Peter Keane takes eight gardens of his adopted home as a point of departure for reflections on nature, religion and aesthetics. (JPN124, $16.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

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.