All About Japan
All About Japan

Author: Willamarie Moore

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2013-09-03

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 1462906249

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

**2012 Creative Child Magazine Preferred Choice Award Winner!** A cultural adventure for kids, All About Japan offers a journey to a new place—and ways to bring it to life! Dive into stories, play some games from Japan, learn some Japanese songs. Two friends, a boy from the country and a girl from the city, take us on a tour of their beloved land through their eyes. They introduce us to their homes, families, favorite places, school life, holidays and more! Celebrate the cherry blossom festival Learn traditional Japanese songs and poems Make easy recipes like mochi (New Year's sweet rice cakes) and okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza or pancakes) Create origami frogs, samurai helmets and more! Beyond the fun and fascinating facts, you'll also learn about the spirit that makes Japan one-of-a-kind. This is a multicultural children's book for families to treasure together.

Wrong about Japan
Wrong about Japan

Author: Peter Carey

Publisher: Random House Australia

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 1740513258

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 2002, the author travelled to Japan, accompanied by his twelve-year-old son Charley, on a special kind of pilgrimage. In a stunning memoir-cum-travelogue he charts this journey, inspired by Charley's passion for manga and anime.

Let's Learn about JAPAN
Let's Learn about JAPAN

Author: Yuko Green

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2013-01-16

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 0486489930

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Add up the money in a wallet full of yen and follow a maze through the sights of Kyoto. These and dozens of other activities offer a fun-filled introduction to Japanese culture.

Handmade in Japan
Handmade in Japan

Author: Gestalten

Publisher: Gestalten

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9783899559927

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Discover the exceptional artistry and rich traditions being kept alive by Japanese artisans in the twenty-first century. In an era where global interest in handmade, small-batch products is heightening as a response to mass production, Handmade in Japan takes a look inside the workshops of the country's artisans, revealing their endless pursuit of excellence, and what it means to dedicate one's life to the stewardship of irreplaceable cultural heritage. International readers with an appreciation for handmade processes using sustainable materials will find inspiration in the exploration of craft ecosystems, such as the harvesting of natural lacquer in Iwate. Likewise, those who admire skill and beauty will enjoy discovering the lengths these makers go to in ensuring every product is perfect.

In the Realm of Ash and Sorrow
In the Realm of Ash and Sorrow

Author: Kenneth W. Harmon

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2024-01-16

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When the spirit of an American airman befriends a Japanese woman and her daughter in the days before the Hiroshima bomb, he races against time to save the ones he loves the most. When American WWII bombardier Micah Lund dies on a mission over Japan, his spirit remains trapped as a yurei ghost. Dazed, he follows Kiyomi Oshiro, a war widow struggling to care for her young daughter, Ai, as food is scarce, work at the factory is brutal, and her in-laws treat her like a servant. Watching Kiyomi and Ai together, Micah’s intolerance for the enemy is challenged. As his concern for the mother and daughter grows, so does his guilt for his part in their suffering. Micah discovers a new reality when Kiyomi and Ai dream—one which allows him to interact with them. While his feelings for them deepen, imminent destruction looms. Hiroshima is about to be bombed, and Micah must warn Kiyomi and her daughter. In a place where dreams are real, Micah races against time to save Kiyomi and Ai, while battling the old beliefs he embodied as a soldier and his idea of family. In the Realm of Ash and Sorrow is a tale about love in its most extraordinary forms—forgiveness, sacrifice, and perseverance against impossible odds.

The Invention of Religion in Japan
The Invention of Religion in Japan

Author: Jason Ānanda Josephson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2012-10-03

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0226412342

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions”—and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition.

The Power to Compete
The Power to Compete

Author: Hiroshi Mikitani

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-11-10

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1119000602

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"If you're as interested in Japan as I am, I think you'll find that The Power to Compete is a smart and thought-provoking look at the future of a fascinating country." - Bill Gates, "5 Books to Read This Summer" Father and son – entrepreneur and economist – search for Japan's economic cure The Power to Compete tackles the issues central to the prosperity of Japan – and the world – in search of a cure for the "Japan Disease." As founder and CEO of Rakuten, one of the world's largest Internet companies, author Hiroshi Mikitani brings an entrepreneur's perspective to bear on the country's economic stagnation. Through a freewheeling and candid conversation with his economist father, Ryoichi Mikitani, the two examine the issues facing Japan, and explore possible roadmaps to revitalization. How can Japan overhaul its economy, education system, immigration, public infrastructure, and hold its own with China? Their ideas include applying business techniques like Key Performance Indicators to fix the economy, using information technology to cut government bureaucracy, and increasing the number of foreign firms with a head office in Japan. Readers gain rare insight into Japan's future, from both academic and practical perspectives on the inside. Mikitani argues that Japan's tendency to shun international frameworks and hide from global realities is the root of the problem, while Mikitani Sr.'s background as an international economist puts the issue in perspective for a well-rounded look at today's Japan. Examine the causes of Japan's endless economic stagnation Discover the current efforts underway to enhance Japan's competitiveness Learn how free market "Abenomics" affected Japan's economy long-term See Japan's issues from the perspective of an entrepreneur and an economist Japan's malaise is seated in a number of economic, business, political, and cultural issues, and this book doesn't shy away from hot topics. More than a discussion of economics, this book is a conversation between father and son as they work through opposing perspectives to help their country find The Power to Compete.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Author: Gail Tsukiyama

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1429919094

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Gail Tsukiyama's The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers. It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks. But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold—and forge their own paths in a new Japan. Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father's star pupil, Hiroshi.

Japan in the American Century
Japan in the American Century

Author: Kenneth B. Pyle

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2018-10-15

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0674989082

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

No nation was more deeply affected by America’s rise to world power than Japan. President Franklin Roosevelt’s uncompromising policy of unconditional surrender led to the catastrophic finale of the Asia-Pacific War and the most intrusive international reconstruction of another nation in modern history. Japan in the American Century examines how Japan, with its deeply conservative heritage, responded to the imposition of a new liberal order. The price Japan paid to end the occupation was a cold war alliance with the United States that ensured America’s dominance in the region. Still traumatized by its wartime experience, Japan developed a grand strategy of dependence on U.S. security guarantees so that the nation could concentrate on economic growth. Yet from the start, despite American expectations, Japan reworked the American reforms to fit its own circumstances and cultural preferences, fashioning distinctively Japanese variations on capitalism, democracy, and social institutions. Today, with the postwar world order in retreat, Japan is undergoing a sea change in its foreign policy, returning to an activist, independent role in global politics not seen since 1945. Distilling a lifetime of work on Japan and the United States, Kenneth Pyle offers a thoughtful history of the two nations’ relationship at a time when the character of that alliance is changing. Japan has begun to pull free from the constraints established after World War II, with repercussions for its relations with the United States and its role in Asian geopolitics.

Five Hundred Fun Facts about Japan
Five Hundred Fun Facts about Japan

Author: DIANE Publishing Company

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1994-04

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1568061528

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book offers hundreds of entertaining facts about the Japanese people, including their culture & their history, which has spanned nearly 2,000 years. The facts are arranged by subject: popular culture & mythology; food & drink; religion, festivals, & holidays; arts & crafts; performing arts, movies, & theater; martial arts, sports, games, & traditional healing; media, transportation, & communications; cities & famous places; geography, climate, & the natural world; government; business; education, science, & technology; history & the emperor; & famous people. Many entries tell about that which is unique, the oldest, the most famous, etc.