Snakeskin Shamisen

Snakeskin Shamisen

Author: Naomi Hirahara

Publisher: Delta

Published: 2006-04-25

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0440335892

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From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara’s acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction’s most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win–from a novelty slot machine!–he’s torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas’s pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else’s business, but at G.I.’s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime…and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L.A.–a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.


Snakeskin Shamisen

Snakeskin Shamisen

Author: Naomi Hirahara

Publisher: Delta

Published: 2006-04-25

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0385339615

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From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara’s acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction’s most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win–from a novelty slot machine!–he’s torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas’s pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else’s business, but at G.I.’s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime…and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L.A.–a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.


Teaching Asian North American Texts

Teaching Asian North American Texts

Author: Jennifer Ho

Publisher: Modern Language Association

Published: 2022-07-28

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1603295658

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From the short stories and journalism of Sui Sin Far to Maxine Hong Kingston's pathbreaking The Woman Warrior to recent popular and critical successes such as Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer, Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians, Asian North American literature and media encompass a long history and a diverse variety of genres and aesthetic approaches. The essays in this volume provide context for understanding the history of Asian immigrants to the United States and Canada and the experiences of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Contributors address historical contexts, from the early enactment of Asian exclusion laws to the xenophobia following 9/11, and provide tools for textual analysis. The essays explore conventionally literary texts, genres such as mystery and speculative fiction, historical documents and legal texts, and visual media including films, photography, and graphic novels, emphasizing the ways that creators have crossed boundaries of genre and produced innovative new forms.


Gasa-Gasa Girl

Gasa-Gasa Girl

Author: Naomi Hirahara

Publisher: Dell

Published: 2008-05-20

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 0440241553

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Invited to New York by his estranged daughter, Mari, seventy-something Japanese gardener Mas Arai discovers that Mari has taken off, leaving Mas alone with his new son-in-law Lloyd, who is planning to open a Japanese garden, only to find himself caught up in murder when Lloyd's boss is found dead and Mari is arrested for the crime. Reprint.


Strawberry Yellow

Strawberry Yellow

Author: Naomi Hirahara

Publisher: Prospect Park Books

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 149

ISBN-13: 1938849035

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Mas Arai returns for his fifth mystery by getting entangled in a family reunion murder in California's strawberry fields.


Blood Hina

Blood Hina

Author: Naomi Hirahara

Publisher: Prospect Park Books

Published: 2013-08-26

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1938849205

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Mas Arai's best friend Haruo is getting married, and he has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But when an ancient Japanese doll display of Haruo's fiancée goes missing, the wedding is called off with fingers pointed at Haruo. To solve the mystery to save Haruo's life, Mas must untangle a web of secrecy, heart-breaking memories, and murder.


Composing for Japanese Instruments

Composing for Japanese Instruments

Author: Minoru Miki

Publisher: University Rochester Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 9781580462730

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The unique sounds of the biwa, shamisen, and other traditional instruments from Japan are heard more and more often in works for the concert hall and opera house. Composing for Japanese Instruments is a practical orchestration/instrumentation manual with contextual and relevant historical information for composers who wish to learn how to compose for traditional Japanese instruments. Widely regarded as the authoritative text on the subject in Japan and China, it contains hundreds of musical examples, diagrams, photographs, and fingering charts, and comes complete with two accompanying compact discs of musical examples. Its author, Minoru Miki, is a composer of international renown and is recognized in Japan as a pioneer in writing for Japanese traditional instruments. The book contains valuable appendices, one of works Miki himself has composed using Japanese traditional instruments, and one of works by other composers -- including Toru Takemitsu and Henry Cowell -- using Japanese traditional instruments. Marty Regan is Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M University; Philip Flavin is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, Australia.


Gasa-Gasa Girl

Gasa-Gasa Girl

Author: Naomi Hirahara

Publisher: Delta

Published: 2005-03-29

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0440335329

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From the time she was a child, Mas Arai’s daughter, Mari, was completely gasa-gasa–never sitting still, always on the go, getting into everything. And Mas, busy tending lawns, gambling, and struggling to put his Hiroshima past behind him, never had much time for the family he was trying to support. For years now, his resentful daughter has lived a continent away in New York City, and had a life he knew little about. But an anxious phone call from Mari asking for his help plunges the usually obstinate Mas into a series of startling situations from maneuvering in an unfamiliar city to making nice with his tall, blond son-in-law, Lloyd, to taking care of a sickly child…to finding a dead body in the rubble of a former koi pond. The victim was Kazzy Ouchi, a half-Japanese millionaire who also happened to be Mari and Lloyd’s boss. Stumbling onto the scene, Mas sees more amiss than the detectives do, but his instinct is to keep his mouth shut. Only when the case threatens his daughter and her family does Mas take action: patiently, stubbornly tugging at the end of a tangled, dangerous mystery. And as he does, he begins to lay bare a tragic secret on the dark side of an American dream.… Both a riveting mystery and a powerful story of passionate relationships across a cultural divide, Gasa-Gasa Girl is a tale told with heart and wisdom: an unforgettable portrait of fathers, daughters, and other strangers.


The Essential Mystery Lists

The Essential Mystery Lists

Author: Roger M Sobin

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Inc

Published: 2011-09-30

Total Pages: 591

ISBN-13: 1615952039

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For the first time in one place, Roger M. Sobin has compiled a list of nominees and award winners of virtually every mystery award ever presented. He has also included many of the “best of” lists by more than fifty of the most important contributors to the genre.; Mr. Sobin spent more than two decades gathering the data and lists in this volume, much of that time he used to recheck the accuracy of the material he had collected. Several of the “best of” lists appear here for the first time in book form. Several others have been unavailable for a number of years.; Of special note, are Anthony Boucher’s “Best Picks for the Year.” Boucher, one of the major mystery reviewers of all time, reviewed for The San Francisco Chronicle, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and The New York Times. From these resources Mr. Sobin created “Boucher’s Best” and “Important Lists to Consider,” lists that provide insight into important writing in the field from 1942 through Boucher’s death in 1968.? This is a great resource for all mystery readers and collectors.; ; Winner of the 2008 Macavity Awards for Best Mystery Nonfiction.


Japan

Japan

Author: Burgess Speed

Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780739043035

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To most of us, Japan is an exotic and faraway land. When we see images of Shinto shrines, pagodas, geishas, and Kabuki actors in face paint, our imaginations are immediately captured. Now you can experience this rich and mysterious culture through its music. In addition to arrangements of classic folk tunes such as Sakura" and "Edo Komori-uta," Guitar Atlas: Japan teaches about Japanese scales, modes, and tunings, and traditional instruments such as the shamisen, koto, shakuhachi. Learn guitar techniques to emulate the sounds of these exotic instruments. Discover the fascinating world of Kabuki music, including a style of shamisen playing called ozatsuma. The book also informs about the Bon odori, or bon dances, held during the summer festival of Bon. This exciting introduction to the music of Japan offers new and interesting music to add to your repertoire, and teaches techniques, theory, and traditions that will enhance your playing and enrich your spirit. A CD demonstrating all examples and compositions is included."