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Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?

Eri & Michio Hamaji

English

$28.00


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When we travel abroad, we are always greeted with a number of surprises and interesting discoveries. Have you ever wondered what America must look like through the eyes of another culture? “Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?” provides an informative and easy-to-read glimpse of life in America from a Japanese cultural perspective.

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70 Japanese Gestures

Hamiru Aqui

English

$9.95

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A word from the author:

In 2005, Japan became the world's pioneer in shrinking-population socioeconomics. It became the first large industrialized nation to experience a population decline as a result of natural causes. Continuing population growth has been an automatic assumption in economics for as long as anyone can remember, and the implications of population shrink-age are huge and far-reaching. Japan's economic and social systems-holdovers from an era of continuing population expansion - will become dysfunctional in the era of population shrinkage. The new demographic realities will force a thorough revamping of those systems.

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Shrinking-Population Economics –
Lessons from Japan: What a Shrinking Population Really Means

Matsutani Akihiko

English

$28.00

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A word from the author:

In 2005, Japan became the world's pioneer in shrinking-population socioeconomics. It became the first large industrialized nation to experience a population decline as a result of natural causes. Continuing population growth has been an automatic assumption in economics for as long as anyone can remember, and the implications of population shrink-age are huge and far-reaching. Japan's economic and social systems-holdovers from an era of continuing population expansion - will become dysfunctional in the era of population shrinkage. The new demographic realities will force a thorough revamping of those systems.

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Shutting out the Sun

Michael Zielenziger

English

24.95

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The world’s second-wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Equally as troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of “parasite singles,” the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children.

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Plastic Culture: How Japanese Toys Conquered the World

Woodrow Phoenix

English

$29.95

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Plastic Culture explores the world of toys: why we love them, what they represent, and why there is a growing market for "designer" and "art" toys aimed at adults.

In this book, British author Woodrow Phoenix takes a look at our relationship to toys in the twenty-first century, with particular reference to Japan—an exporter of both merchandise and ideas. Plastic toys based on Japanese comics, movies, and TV shows, from Astro Boy, Godzilla, and Gatchaman, to Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, and Pokémon have had a powerful effect on the imaginations and markets of the West, and have kick-started trends in design and pop culture that have crossed from Japan to the West and back East again.

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The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan

Abigail Friedman

English

$14.95

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Abigail Friedman was an American diplomat in Tokyo, not a writer. A chance encounter leads her to a haiku group, where she discovers poetry that anyone can enjoy writing. Her teacher and fellow haiku group members instruct her in seasonal flora and fauna, and gradually she learns to describe the world in plain words, becoming one of the millions in Japan who lead a haiku life. This is the author's story of her literary and cultural voyage, and more: it is an invitation to readers to form their own neighborhood haiku groups and, like her, learn to see the world anew.

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The Japan Journals, 1947-2004

Donald Richie

English

$18.95

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Donald Richie has been observing and writing about Japan from the moment he arrived on New Year's Eve, 1946. Detailing his life, his lovers, and his ideas on matters high and low, The Japan Journals is a record of both a nation and an evolving expatriate sensibility. As Japan modernizes and as the author ages, the tone grows elegiac, and The Japan Journals-now in paperback after the critically acclaimed hardcover edition-becomes a bittersweet chronicle of a complicated life well lived and captivatingly told.

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The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film

Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp

English

$30.00

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The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film offers a groundbreaking and gap-filling insight into the inner workings of the industry and the leading creative minds that have made Japan such a cinematic talking point. From the exuberant excesses of Takashi Miike, via the gangster cool of Takeshi Kitano and the atmospheric horror of Hideo Nakata, to the restrained humanism of Hirokazu Kore-eda, this brand new book shines a revealing light on the many fascinating aspects of Japanese film.

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The Way of Taiko

Heidi Varian and Seiichi Tanaka

English

$18.95

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Taiko drumming is an ancient sacred practice in Japan, originally used to drive away pests from rice fields and then to call to the gods in thanks at harvest time. Today taiko in Japan and North America has evolved into a form of mental, physical, and martial arts training that combines rhythm, harmony, and movement. Ensembles are experimenting with new forms, arrangements, and instruments, making taiko a dynamic, living bridge between ancient traditions and modern performance art.

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The Anatomy of Dependence

Takeo Doi, M.D.

English

$30.00

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A leading psychiatrist offers not only the most satisfying explanation of Japanese behavior yet written, but a key to a new understanding of all basic human needs. A classic study of the Japanese psyche, a starting point for a true understanding Japanese behavior...

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The Anatomy of Self: The Individual Versus Society

Takeo Doi, M.D.

English

$30.00

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Like Doi's renowned Anatomy of Dependence, The Anatomy of Self addresses the question of the Japanese individual and his or her integration into Japanese society. Its approach is based on an analysis of the Japanese perception of public and private. What kind of society is made up of individuals capable of a constant traversing between behavior based on two simultaneously held, mutually contradictory modes of perception?

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The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture

Roger J. Davies and Osamu Ikeno

English

$16.95

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Westerners who come to Japan for the first time know immediately that everything is different, but understanding how it is different is far more difficult. This book offers Westerners an invaluable key to understanding Japanese culture from the inside out. The book is a collection of twenty-eight essays that offer an informative, accessible look at the values, attitudes, behavior patterns, and communication styles of modern Japan from the unique perspective of the Japanese themselves.

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Japan Unmasked: The Character & Culture of the Japanese

Boye Lafayette De Mente

English

$14.95

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Despite the fact that Japan has had close relations with the West for over a hundred years, the amount of actual knowledge about Japan--as opposed to stereotypes or assumptions--is quite low. In Japan Unmasked, Boye Lafayette De Mente explores what it is that makes the Japanese "Japanese," and how Westerners can understand and deal with the fundamental differences in our ways of thinking and acting. Many of the points and issues brought up in the book will be interesting and enlightening even for the seasoned Japanophile, and is a good read for anyone wanting to increase their understanding of Japan and expand their cultural horizons.

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Japan's Cultural Code Words:
233 Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behaviors of the Japanese

Boye Lafayette De Mente

English

$16.95

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In the maze of Japanese formalities, polite language, and culturally sensitive issues, it's easy for Westerners to become lost and confused about what exactly is "going on," and what Japanese people really mean when they say certain things. Japan's Cultural Code Words is an excellent guide to the meaning and connotation of many Japanese words that could potentially elude even Japanese-speaking Westerners. With Boye Lafayette De Ments's engaging writing style, precise definitions, and connotational background, this book is indispensable for those hoping to "decipher" the Japanese cultural and linguistic code.

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A Practical Guide to Living in Japan: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Settle In

by Jarell Sieff

English

$16.95

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Are you planning on living in Japan? Or have you just moved to Japan? Are you going to enroll in a Japanese school, work for a Japanese company, or explore the Japanese lifestyle and support yourself by teaching English? Regardless of why you're in Japan, here’s just the book you'll need to happily establish yourself in your new home. You’ll get the facts on banking, immigration, and insurance, plus daily-life tips on renting an apartment, utilities, transportation, using the post office, and shopping for furniture. You’ll also get insider advice on how to find a job, learn Japanese, and make new friends, as well as basic information on etiquette and customs. Packed with strategies, charts, and simple how-to instructions.

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The Book of Five Rings

by Musashi Miyamoto

English

$19.00

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Setting down his thoughts on swordplay, on winning, and on spirituality, legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi intended this modest work as a guide for his immediate disciples and future generations of samurai. He had little idea he was penning a masterpiece that would be eagerly devoured by people in all walks of life centuries after his death....

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Bushido: The Soul of Japan

by Inazo Nitobe

English

$19.00

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Kodansha America

BUSHIDO:The soul of Japan is an amazing book in many respects. Written in English and published in the United States in 1900, within a few years it had been translated into Japanese and seven other languages. It became an international best-seller, and found such favor with President Theodore Roosevelt that he gave copies to friends to read. It proved so popular that this tenth, revised and enlarged edition was published in 1905.

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