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Hidden Treasures of Japan

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Essential Reading

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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)

The Inland Sea

The Inland Sea

by Donald Richie

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 255 PAGES
  • 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, 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)

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)

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)

Japan Map

Japan Map

by Periplus Maps

  • 2009
  • MAP

This convenient map covers the island nation at a scale of 1:2,000,000, with insets of the major cities. (JPN06, $8.95)

 
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)

Culture Smart! Japan

Culture Smart! Japan


by Paul Norbury

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

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

Exploring Kyoto


by Judith Clancy

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 233 PAGES

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

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)

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)

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)

Everyday Life in Traditional Japan

Everyday Life in Traditional Japan


by Charles J. Dunn

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

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

Hiroshima


by John Hersey

  • HISTORY
  • 1989
  • PAPER
  • 152 PAGES

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

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)

Japanese Culture

Japanese Culture


by Paul Varley

  • HISTORY
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 383 PAGES

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

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)

Ways of Forgetting, Japan in the Modern World

Ways of Forgetting, Japan in the Modern World


by John W. Dower

  • HISTORY
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 240 PAGES
  • 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

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 Japanese Tea Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden


by Marc Peter Keane

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2009
  • HARD COVER
  • 296 PAGES

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

Learning to Bow, Inside the Heart of Japan


by Bruce Feiler

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 321 PAGES

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

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)

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)

Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches

Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches


by 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. With some of the most perfect 17-syllable haiku ever composed. (JPN91, $14.00)

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)

The Makioka Sisters

The Makioka Sisters


by Tanizaki Junichiro

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 530 PAGES

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

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)

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)

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia


by Shimba Tadao

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 512 PAGES

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

Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia


by Mark Brazil

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 520 PAGES

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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