A Portrait of Japan
Author: Laurens Van der Post
Publisher:
Published: 1968
Total Pages: 184
ISBN-13:
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Japan, a Self-portrait
Author: Shōji Yamagishi
Publisher:
Published: 1979
Total Pages: 134
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFive Gentlemen of Japan
Author: Frank Gibney
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 1997-05-15
Total Pages: 464
ISBN-13: 1462913334
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA newspaperman, an ex-Navy vice-admiral, a steel worker, a farmer, and the 124th Emperor of Japan himself--these are the fascinating heroes of Gibney's brilliant book about modern Japan. Strongly individual, every one of them, the five yet share the common inheritance of Japan's precocious but unstable past. Through their lives and attitudes, Gibney gives us an invaluable analysis of this new sovereign nation so suddenly thrown into the world's power conflicts. He helps us understand the historical and social forces which make Japan what she is today--the old contracts and loyalties from which each of the Five Gentlemen is struggling to break away from his country. Their courageous efforts to weld a new Japan from the remains of the old society, and to come to terms with the present, are as exciting as it is important.
Shinohata
Author: Ronald P. Dore
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 1994-04-18
Total Pages: 342
ISBN-13: 9780520086289
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe spectacular changes that have occurred since World War II, occupation, and the achievement of industrial parity is meshed with revealing portraits of how the hamlet is structured, how it works, and what it means to live in this most elemental and formative of all Japanese social entities.
The Soil
Author: Takashi Nagatsuka
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 1994-01-29
Total Pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9780520914223
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNagatsuka Takashi's novel The Soil, published in Japan in 1910, provides a moving and sensitive but unsentimental portrait of rural peasant life in Japan during the Meiji era. The community described is the author's native place, and the characters whose lives are described in vivid detail over a period of years are drawn from life.
Memories of Silk and Straw
Author: Junichi Saga
Publisher: Kodansha Amer Incorporated
Published: 1990
Total Pages: 258
ISBN-13: 9780870119880
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOver 50 reminiscences of pre-modern Japan. This book presents an illustrationf a way of life that has virtually disappeared.
Japanese Marxist
Author: Gail Lee Bernstein
Publisher: Harvard Univ Asia Center
Published: 1990
Total Pages: 244
ISBN-13: 9780674471948
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIt is the merit of Bernstein's portrait of Kawakami Hajime that he emerges as a recognizable human being, a truly modern figure reflecting in his own life a personal and hard-won balance between traditional Japanese values and the demands of modernization. The heir of a samurai family, an acknowledged authority on economics, a professor at one of Japan's leading universities, an early popularizer of Marxism in Japan, a Japanese Communist on his own unique terms, and, finally, the author of an autobiography that is a classic of modern Japanese literature, Kawakami Hajime is an important figure in the history of modern Japan. At each stage of Kawakami's winding path to Marxism--from patriotic nationalist to academic Marxist to revolutionary Communist--his concern for the ethical and economic problems that emerged in the course of Japan's astonishingly rapid industrialization dominated his consciousness. Bernstein provides a portrait of Kawakami's complex personality as well as an elegantly shaped narrative of the context and content of Japanese left-wing politics in the 1920s, and she makesplain the kinds of cultural conflict that modernization, in its several varieties, bequeathed to Japanese intellectuals.
Zen Terror in Prewar Japan
Author: Brian Daizen Victoria
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2020-02-14
Total Pages: 389
ISBN-13: 1538131676
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWritten by a Zen priest, this book explodes the myth of Zen Buddhism as a peaceful religion. Can Buddhism, widely regarded as a religion of peace, also contribute to acts of terrorism? Through an insider’s view of right-wing ultranationalism in prewar Japan, this powerful book follows a band of Zen Buddhist–trained adherents who ardently believed so. Brian Victoria, himself a Zen priest, tells the story of a group of terrorists who were responsible for the assassination of three leading political and economic figures in 1932. Victoria provides a detailed introduction to the religious as well as political significance of the group’s terrorist beliefs and acts, focusing especially on the life and times of the band’s leader, Inoue Nisshō. A deeply troubled youth, Inoue became a spy in Manchuria for the Japanese Army in 1909, where he encountered Zen for the first time. When he returned to Japan in 1921, he determined to resolve his deep spiritual discontent through meditation practice, which culminated in an enlightenment experience that resolved his long-term doubts.After engaging in “post-enlightenment training” under the guidance of Rinzai Zen master Yamamoto Gempō, Inoue began a program of training the “patriotic youth” who formed the nucleus of his terrorist band. After the assassinations, Inoue and his band were sentenced to life imprisonment, only to be released just a few years later in 1940. Almost unbelievably, Inoue then became the live-in confidant of Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro, a position he held through the end of WWII. In the postwar era, Inoue reinvented himself again as the founder and head of yet another band of ultranationalists known as the “National Protection Corps.” His eventful life came to an end in 1967. Victoria concludes with an assessment of the profound impact of the assassinations, which culminated in Japan’s transformation into a totalitarian state and set the stage for Pearl Harbor. The author also examines the connection of Buddhism to terrorism more broadly, considering the implications for today’s Islamic-related terrorism.
Self Portraits
Author: Dazai Osamu
Publisher: ببلومانيا للنشر والتوزيع
Published: 2024-10-28
Total Pages: 260
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Self Portraits" by Dazai Osamu is a collection of short stories, essays, and personal reflections that offer insight into the mind and struggles of the author. These pieces blend fiction and autobiography, reflecting Dazai’s inner conflicts, including his lifelong battle with depression, addiction, and a sense of alienation. The stories in this collection often present characters that mirror Dazai himself—outsiders grappling with societal expectations, guilt, and shame. Themes of human imperfection, self-destruction, and existential despair are common throughout. Dazai's writing style is deeply introspective, marked by irony and dark humor, as he explores the contradictions of the human spirit. "Self Portraits" provides a raw and intimate look into the author’s life, making it an essential read for those interested in understanding Dazai’s psyche and the experiences that shaped his literary voice. The collection complements his other major works, such as No Longer Human and The Setting Sun, by revealing more personal aspects of his worldview.
Everyday Life in Traditional Japan
Author: Charles Dunn
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: 2008-08-15
Total Pages: 195
ISBN-13: 1462916511
DOWNLOAD EBOOKEveryday Life in Traditional Japan paints a vivid portrait of Tokugawa Japan, a time when contact with the outside world was deliberately avoided, and the daily life of the different classes consolidated the traditions that shaped modern Japan. With detailed descriptions and over 100 illustrations, authentic samurai, farmers, craftsmen, merchants, courtiers, priests, entertainers and outcasts come to life in this magnificently illustrated portrait of a colorful society. Most works of Japanese history fail to provide enough details about the lives of the people who lived during the time. The level of detail in Everyday Life in Traditional Japan allows for a nearly complete picture of the history of Japan. In fascinating detail, Charles J. Dunn describes how each class lived: their food, clothing, and houses; their beliefs and their fears. At the same time, he takes account of certain important groups that fell outside the formal class structure, such as the courtiers in the emperor's palace at Kyoto, the Shinto and Buddhist priests, and the other extreme, the actors and the outcasts. he concludes with a lively account of everyday life in the capital city of Edo, the present-day Tokyo.
