Japan   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Essential Books These 6 items are available for $91, including
U.S. shipping, a 15% discount (Item no. EXJPN98)		  
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 Inland Sea  •  Donald Richie
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 255 PAGES • FAVORITE
Richie's book, on its surface a travel account, is a beautiful reflection on all things Japanese by one of the country's most acute observers. Anyone with an interest in Japan would enjoy this book, those on a voyage through the inland sea even more so. Written after many decades in Japan, The Inland Sea is among the best of the master's many books. Arturo Silva, who edited the Donald Richie Reader, calls it his masterpiece (and a work of fiction). (JPN13, $16.95)		   The Inland Sea
Japan, A Traveler's Literary Companion  •  Jeffrey Angles
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
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

70 Japanese Gestures  •  Hamiru-aqui   • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS  •  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)
 		  
Culture Smart! Japan  •  Paul Norbury   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A concise, no-nonsense guide to local customs, etiquette and culture, this is a helpful travel tool for visitors to Japan. (JPN269, $9.95)
 		  
Exploring Kyoto  •  Judith Clancy   • GUIDEBOOK  •  Featuring 30 well-crafted walking tours of neighborhoods, gardens and sanctuaries. (JPN26, $16.95)
 		  
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)
 		  
Old Kyoto, A Guide to Traditional Shops and Inns  •  Diane Durston   • GUIDEBOOK  •  Wonderful, elegant essays on carefully chosen shops, often in out-of-the-way neighborhoods. (JPN24, $22.00)
 		  
Tokyo, A View of the City  •  Donald Richie   • GUIDEBOOK  •  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)
 		  
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)
 		  
Hiroshima  •  John Hersey   • HISTORY  •  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  •  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)
 		  
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)
 		  
Ways of Forgetting, Japan in the Modern World  •  John W. Dower   • HISTORY • COMING IN JUNE  •  Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Dower (Embracing Defeat) takes a probing look at key moments in the relationship between Japan and the United States in the 20th century, focusing on Japanese perceptions of our tangled history. (JPN417, $26.95)
 		  
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)
 		  
The Japanese Tea Garden  •  Marc Peter Keane   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  Keane eloquently describes the history, design and aesthetics of tea gardens from T'ang China to present day Japan, with over one hundred full-color photographs and illustrations. (JPN422, $59.95)
 		  
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)
 		  
Untangling My Chopsticks, A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto  •  Victoria Abbott Riccardi   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  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)
 		  
Memoirs of a Geisha, A Novel  •  Arthur Golden   • LITERATURE  •  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)
 		  
Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches  •  Nobuyuki Yuasa  •  Basho Matsuo   • LITERATURE  •  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. With some of the most perfect 17-syllable haiku ever composed. (JPN91, $14.00)
 		  
South of the Border, West of the Sun  •  Haruki Murakami   • LITERATURE  •  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)
 		  
The Makioka Sisters  •  Tanizaki Junichiro   • LITERATURE  •  The story of a merchant family in prewar Osaka and the struggle of four beautiful sisters to maintain their position in society after the death of their parents, also made into a delightful film by Ichikawa. (JPN41, $16.00)
 		  
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion  •  Yukio Mishima   • LITERATURE  •  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)
 		  
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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