Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) was the first Japanese composer to receive international recognition in the field of classical music, and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the late twentieth century. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu created his own unique sound world one that was not bound by convention. In A Memoir of Toru Takemitsu, his wife of forty-two years reveals a candid, behind-the-scenes glimpse into his fascinating life, his legendary music, and his final days. After rising to prominence in 1957 when Igor Stravinsky praised his Requiem for Strings, Takemitsu became best known in the West for his concert music, but was also a master composer of music for film, television, theater, and radio drama. Through six extensive interviews, Asaka Takemitsu reveals previously unknown information regarding the composer's compositional processes and his private life including the difficult period after the war and the subsequent post-war art movement in Japan, his bond with his friends, love of movies, and daily routine. This inspiring memoir shares an unforgettable story of how a young boy without any musical training or affluence used the power of positive thinking to make his dream of becoming a composer come true.
The dramatic arc of Saigo Takamori's life, from his humble origins as a lowly samurai, to national leadership, to his death as a rebel leader, has captivated generations of Japanese readers and now Americans as well - his life is the inspiration for a major Hollywood film, The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe. In this vibrant new biography, Mark Ravina, professor of history and Director of East Asian Studies at Emory University, explores the facts behind Hollywood storytelling and Japanese legends, and explains the passion and poignancy of Saigo's life. Known both for his scholarly research and his appearances on The History Channel, Ravina recreates the world in which Saigo lived and died, the last days of the samurai. The Last Samurai traces Saigo's life from his early days as a tax clerk in far southwestern Japan, through his rise to national prominence as a fierce imperial loyalist. Saigo was twice exiled for his political activities -- sent to Japan's remote southwestern islands where he fully expected to die. But exile only increased his reputation for loyalty, and in 1864 he was brought back to the capital to help his lord fight for the restoration of the emperor. In 1868, Saigo commanded his lord's forces in the battles which toppled the shogunate and he became and leader in the emperor Meiji's new government. But Saigo found only anguish in national leadership. He understood the need for a modern conscript army but longed for the days of the traditional warrior. Saigo hoped to die in service to the emperor. In 1873, he sought appointment as envoy to Korea, where he planned to demand that the Korean king show deference to the Japanese emperor, drawing his sword, if necessary, top defend imperial honor. Denied this chance to show his courage and loyalty, he retreated to his homeland and spent his last years as a schoolteacher, training samurai boys in frugality, honesty, and courage. In 1876, when the government stripped samurai of their swords, Saigo's followers rose in rebellion and Saigo became their reluctant leader. His insurrection became the bloodiest war Japan had seen in centuries, killing over 12,000 men on both sides and nearly bankrupting the new imperial government. The imperial government denounced Saigo as a rebel and a traitor, but their propaganda could not overcome his fame and in 1889, twelve years after his death, the government relented, pardoned Saigo of all crimes, and posthumously restored him to imperial court rank. In THE LAST SAMURAI, Saigo is as compelling a character as Robert E. Lee was to Americans-a great and noble warrior who followed the dictates of honor and loyalty, even though it meant civil war in a country to which he'd devoted his life. Saigo's life is a fascinating look into Japanese feudal society and a history of a country as it struggled between its long traditions and the dictates of a modern future.
Yuuki Rito is your average high school student—awkward, shy, and hopeless when it comes to confessing his feelings to the girl of his dreams. But one day, a beautiful woman suddenly materializes in his bathtub! Her name is Lala Deviluke, an alien princess on the run from an intergalactic empire. After Rito gets unwittingly engaged to Lala, he soon finds himself sucked into a battle for Lala's affections, as alien suitors from across the galaxy vie for her hand in marriage. Rito's troubles have only just begun!
Life isn't easy when you're a high school student who is kinda-sorta engaged to the princess of the entire galaxy. All Rito really wants is a simple life with Haruna, his one true crush, but the universe has other ideas. Jealous alien suitors keep on trying to ruin Rito's life-- and the worst cosmic enemy he's encountered yet is about to make her appearance!
In these writings, available here in English for the first time, the distinguished Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu reflects on his contemporaries, including John Cage, Olivier Messiaen, and Merce Cunningham; on nature, which has profoundly influenced his composition; on film and painting; on relationships between East and West; on traditional Japanese music; and on his own compositions.
'" High school love is hard enough all on its own, and for Rito, it happens to involve the gorgeous princesses of a galactic empire, interstellar assassins, a ghost-girl, and that''s just for starters! The antics between all the oddballs at Sainan High have a way of creating one risque situation after another...but that idyll isn''t going to last much longer. The sinister Master Nemesis has long warned of the power of "Darkness" lurking inside of Yami. The time has come for that Darkness to awaken! Can Rito survive the true power of a living weapon? "'
Momo is the younger sister of Lala, the alien princess who has long since been engaged to the human Rito. Although Rito’s heart continues to waver between Lala and his first crush, Haruna, Momo finds herself unable to deny the feelings she has for the hapless human male. Instead of giving up, Momo attempts to surround Rito with a harem of beautiful women, all working towards urging him to marry Lala, become crowned as King, and as a result, be allowed to marry his entire harem—Momo included!
"...the best extant map of our sonic shadowlands, and it has changed how I listen."—Alex Ross, The New Yorker "...an essential survey of contemporary music."—New York Times "…sharp, provacative and always on the money. The listening list alone promises months of fresh discovery, the main text a fresh new way of navigating the world of sound."—The Wire 2017 Music Book of the Year—Alex Ross, The New Yorker Music after the Fall is the first book to survey contemporary Western art music within the transformed political, cultural, and technological environment of the post–Cold War era. In this book, Tim Rutherford-Johnson considers musical composition against this changed backdrop, placing it in the context of globalization, digitization, and new media. Drawing connections with the other arts, in particular visual art and architecture, he expands the definition of Western art music to include forms of composition, experimental music, sound art, and crossover work from across the spectrum, inside and beyond the concert hall. Each chapter is a critical consideration of a wide range of composers, performers, works, and institutions, and develops a broad and rich picture of the new music ecosystem, from North American string quartets to Lebanese improvisers, from electroacoustic music studios in South America to ruined pianos in the Australian outback. Rutherford-Johnson puts forth a new approach to the study of contemporary music that relies less on taxonomies of style and technique than on the comparison of different responses to common themes of permission, fluidity, excess, and loss.
Yuuki Rito is your average high school student—awkward, shy, and hopeless when it comes to confessing his feelings to the girl of his dreams. But one day, a beautiful woman suddenly materializes in his bathtub! Her name is Lala Deviluke, an alien princess on the run from an intergalactic empire. After Rito gets unwittingly engaged to Lala, he soon finds himself sucked into a battle for Lala’s affections, as alien suitors from across the galaxy vie for her hand in marriage. Rito’s troubles have only just begun!
