It is 1987, forty-five years after Japan conquered New Zealand, and the brutal shackles of the occupation have loosened a little: English can be spoken by natives in the home, and twenty-year-old Business English teacher Chris Ipswitch has a job at the Wellington Language Academy. But even Chris and his famous older brother—the Night Train, a retired Pan-Asian sumo champion—cannot stay out of the conflict between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Free New Zealand movement. When Chris takes it upon himself to investigate a terrible crime, he is drawn into the heart of the struggle for freedom, guided along the way by the mysterious Hitomi Kurosawa and the ghost of Kiwi rock 'n' roll legend and martyr Johnny Lennon. New Hokkaido is a fascinating counter-factual history and an adventure that thrills and disquiets at every turn.
Japanese people have lived on the country's other three main islands--Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku--for many centuries, but ethnic Japanese, or Wajin, began coming to Hokkaido in large numbers only in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This book tells the story of Japan's aboriginal people, the Ainu, followed by that of foreign explorers and ethnic Japanese pioneers. The book pays close attention to the Japanese-Russian conflicts over the island, including Cold War confrontations and more recent clashes over fishing rights and the Hokkaido-administered islands seized by the U.S.S.R. in 1945.
Super Cheap Hokkaido is the perfect companion for a budget holiday to Sapporo and the surrounding Hokkaido prefecture. A follow-up to the bestselling Super Cheap Japan guidebook, this book will show you exactly how, where and when you can save money on your trip. Spend next to nothing drinking local beer in Sapporo, relax in free hot springs, spend a cheap day’s hiking in the mountains or stuff yourself on inexpensive, yet super fresh sushi and sashimi; it’s all here in this amazing travel guide. Inside the Super Cheap Hokkaido guide book: - Budget food - comprehensive listings of low-cost restaurants, take-outs, cheap roadside stations and supermarkets, so you’ll always be able to eat on the cheap - Budget shopping - 100 yen ($1) shops, how and where to go tax-free shopping, all the best attraction discounts and free sample hotspots - Color maps for budget travelers, making it easy and stress-free to get around - Highlights and itineraries for those with a rental car or people using discount train passes, so you can keep costs down while exploring all across Hokkaido - Essential help for budget travelers - free tours, simple to understand directions, simplified transportation maps and basic Japanese phrases to help you get better prices on your trip - Cheap accommodation - the best and cheapest hostels, family-friendly hotels, campsites, mountain lodges, capsule hotels and net cafesGuides to Sapporo, Niseko, Furano, Otaru, Biei, Hakodate, Matsumae Castle, the Daisetsuzan National Park, Lake Mashu, Shiretoko National Park, Abashiri and much more The Super Cheap Hokkaido travel book is perfect for backpackers, budget travelers, families on a tight budget, students and those who are new to Hokkaido. Explore this spectacular island while keeping your bank balance happy!Also consider Super Cheap Japan for a guide to Japan’s highlights on the main island of Honshu and Super Cheap Tokyo for the capital and Kanto region.
The Bizarre and the Wondrous from the Land of the Rising Sun highlights unique aspects of Japan-ancient and modern-that have made the country fascinating to Westerners since they first stumbled upon the islands in 1543. These unusual attractions range from high-tech robots that do such things as act as tourist guides and perform delicate surgery, to festivals that go back more than two thousand years and strike many foreign visitors as being bizarre. Among the celebrations that could be labeled as bizarre are annual fertility festivals that feature authentic-looking replicas of the male penis carved in wood, from purse-size versions to ones that are over two meters long and weigh up to 800 pounds. The best known of the fertility festivals is the one staged each March 15 by the Tagata Shrine near the city of Nagoya. The largest wooden penis is carved anew each year, and after the ceremony is kept on display in the main shrine building until the following year when it is sold to private buyers. On the day of the festival the large version of the erect male organ is pulled through the streets on a wheeled cart by up to 12 men to the delight of raucous crowds and child-bearing-age women who try to touch the replica in order to increase their chances of becoming pregnant. Other penis replicas are edible versions made like candy and cookies that are sold to visitors as snacks and souvenirs to take home. Also on the incredible side is a legend that the young Jewish man now known and worshipped by Christians as Jesus Christ the son of God did not die on the cross-that, in fact, he lived and died in Herai Village in Japan. According to the Christian Bible Jesus was born in Israel. There is no further mention of him in the Bible until he is 12 years old when he appears at a Jewish synagogue and lambasts the rabbis for their un-Christian like behavior. The next mention of Jesus in the Bible is when he is in his early 30s and shows up at the Jordan River to be baptized by John, a well-known Jewish preacher. According to the Japanese legend, Jesus and his brother Isukiri spent most of those missing years in Japan, returning to Judea when Jesus was 34 years old. The story goes on to say that after he was betrayed to the Roman authorities he fled back to Japan, and it was his brother who was crucified. The story adds that Jesus married a Japanese girl, became a rice farmer, and lived the rest of his life in Herai [later renamed Shingo]. There is a tomb in Herai that has long been known as the burial place of Jesus [Jehova], the son of Mary. In the book, De Mente goes on to explain how the legend and the tomb became known to present-day Japanese authorities and was publicized in English for the first time in 1935. De Mente says he learned about the story in Tokyo in the early 1950s when he was editor of a monthly cultural magazine, including seeing a photograph of documentary evidence from a museum in Herai. Other fascinating stories in the book include how the infamous secret agents and assassins known as ninja [neen-jah] became a major part of Japanese history; why and how Japan became the first nation in the world to have a national network of roadside inns spaced one day's march apart; why the Japanese are so skilled at producing arts and crafts of extraordinary beauty; why single Japanese girls and men have a hard time hooking up; why Japan's izakaya are more fun than Irish pubs; why rice and other vegetables grow on top of buildings; how the Japanese came up with a new reason for wearing clothes...and some 50-plus other fascinating stories.
A VIBRANT, MEDITATIVE WALK IN SEARCH OF THE SOUL OF JAPAN Traveling by foot through mountains and villages, Alan Booth found a Japan far removed from the stereotypes familiar to Westerners. Whether retracing the footsteps of ancient warriors or detailing the encroachments of suburban sprawl, he unerringly finds the telling detail, the unexpected transformation, the everyday drama that brings this remote world to life on the page. Looking for the Lost is full of personalities, from friendly gangsters to mischievous children to the author himself, an expatriate who found in Japan both his true home and dogged exile. Wry, witty, sometimes angry, always eloquent, Booth is a uniquely perceptive guide. Looking for the Lost is a technicolor journey into the heart of a nation. Perhaps even more significant, it is the self-portrait of one man, Alan Booth, exquisitely painted in the twilight of his own life.
Take a visual journey to Japan's vast northern island of Hokkaido. This stunning guide covering all the places foreign and Japanese tourists alike find so fascinating here--spectacular volcanic landscapes, the world's best powder skiing, and some of Japan's most incredible food. Author Aaron Jamieson is a professional photographer, film-maker, and journalist who has lived on Hokkaido for more than a decade--devoting his time to seeking out the hidden wonders of this very special island. In this book, he provides personal recommendations for places to explore in and around the main cities of Sapporo, Otaru, Hakodate, and Asahikawa, then leads you on a tour of the wild and lesser-known places around the island, including: The resort areas around Lake Toya and Niseko, now famous as ""the Aspen of Asia"" Remote offshore islands and scenic byways along the western and northern coasts The vast hinterland with its rainbow fields of lavender and tulips and towering volcanic peaks The rugged eastern region--home to the aboriginal Ainu people and their traditional culture Hokkaido's stunning national parks, with their hot springs, waterfalls, and distinctive wildlife This unique book--the first of its kind--allows you to view Hokkaido through the eyes of a local and to explore one of the last undiscovered regions of Japan.
