Village Japan
Village Japan

Author: Malcolm Ritchie

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2011-09-13

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1462902057

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In this elegiac account that is part travelogue, part memoir, British poet and writer Malcolm Ritchie recounts his and his wife's unforgettable three-year-sojourn in Sora, a remote farming and fishing village on the Japan Sea coast. Ritchie weaves together anecdotes, conversations, lyrical verses, and unforgettable character studies to vividly and hauntingly evoke the rhythms of life in a traditional rural Japanese community. Underlying this portrait is the author's growing awareness that the aged inhabitants of Sora and the surrounding villages are the custodians of a fragile, barely surviving, way of life, one that is still informed by the cadences of the natural world, under the tutelage of its ancient gods. The book is a paean to a once noble culture all but effaced by Western industrial/technological materialism-the "cultural carcinogens" of the West-which Asian countries such as Japan have all too willingly embraced. Always profound and moving, Village Japan pays lyrical homage to a side of Japan rarely experienced or glimpsed by foreigners today.

The Only Gaijin in the Village
The Only Gaijin in the Village

Author: Iain Maloney

Publisher: Birlinn Ltd

Published: 2020-03-05

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1788852591

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In 2016 Scottish writer Iain Maloney and his Japanese wife Minori moved to a village in rural Japan. This is the story of his attempt to fit in, be accepted and fulfil his duties as a member of the community, despite being the only foreigner in the village. Even after more than a decade living in Japan and learning the language, life in the countryside was a culture shock. Due to increasing numbers of young people moving to the cities in search of work, there are fewer rural residents under the retirement age – and they have two things in abundance: time and curiosity. Iain's attempts at amateur farming, basic gardening and DIY are conducted under the watchful eye of his neighbours and wife. But curtain twitching is the least of his problems. The threat of potential missile strikes and earthquakes is nothing compared to the venomous snakes, terrifying centipedes and bees the size of small birds that stalk Iain's garden. Told with self-deprecating humour, this memoir gives a fascinating insight into a side of Japan rarely seen and affirms the positive benefits of immigration for the individual and the community. It's not always easy being the only gaijin in the village.

Farmers and Village Life in Twentieth-century Japan
Farmers and Village Life in Twentieth-century Japan

Author: Ann Waswo

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 070071748X

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Rural Japan during the twentieth century has been portrayed as a vast reservoir of conservatism in much of the literature on Japan's modern development, and Japanese agriculture since the 1960s has been treated as an artificial creation sustained only by protectionism of the worst sort. This book presents a range of original, in-depth work, including work by Japanese scholars, that seeks to move beyond such stereotypes to reveal the diversity and complexities of rural life in Japan from 1900 to the present.

Tokyo
Tokyo

Author: Michelle Mackintosh

Publisher: Plum

Published: 2018-10-30

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 1760783633

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Visiting Tokyo, whether for the first, second or hundredth time, is a life-changing experience. As a city, it's dynamic, exciting and resolutely individual - a mesmerising and unrivalled parade of fashion, design, architecture, and high culture experiences and, of course, the best pop culture in the world. It's also a city of fascinating contrasts; whether you're standing in the middle of the Shibuya scramble, a blur of pedestrians rushing by, or standing before a small shrine, quiet and contemplative, you will feel Tokyo's intensity. This stunning travel and cultural guide is a celebration of the roots and the marvels of contemporary Tokyo. It's a tightly curated list of must-see places and experiences and must-do walks as well as the authors' tried-and-tested favourites. It's for people who want to get an up close and personal look at the real Tokyo - the food, the crafts, the hidden finds, the architectural marvels, where to go to get into the thick of it and where to go to escape the madness. This is a specially formatted fixed-layout ebook that retains the look and feel of the print book.

Japan's Total Empire
Japan's Total Empire

Author: Louise Young

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 509

ISBN-13: 0520210719

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At the heart of the empire Japan won and then lost in the Pacific War was Manchukuo, a puppet state created in Northeast China in 1932. Not unlike India for the British, Manchukuo was the crucible and symbol of empire for the Japanese. In this book, the first social and cultural history of Japan's construction of Manchuria, Louise Young studies how people at home imagined, experienced, and built the empire that so threatened the world.

Japan and National Anthropology: A Critique
Japan and National Anthropology: A Critique

Author: Sonia Ryang

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-08-02

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1135995907

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Japan and National Anthropology: A Critique is an empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated study which challenges the conventional view of Japanese studies in general and the Anglophone anthropological writings on Japan in particular. Sonia Ryang explores the process by which the postwar anthropology of Japan has come to be dominated by certain conceptual and methodological and exposes the extent to which this process has occluded our view of Japan.

The Peasant Soul of Japan
The Peasant Soul of Japan

Author: Louis Allen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1989-10-02

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1349202428

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A book concerning the Japanese identity in which the author theorizes that the national mentality is a dichotomy between the "equestrian" and the "peasant". He draws on Japanese and European classical literature, on the history of warfare and on studies of law and business management.

Public Spheres, Private Lives in Modern Japan, 1600–1950
Public Spheres, Private Lives in Modern Japan, 1600–1950

Author: Gail Bernstein

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-03-17

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 1684174023

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The eleven chapters in this volume explore the process of carving out, in discourse and in practice, the boundaries delineating the state, the civil sphere, and the family in Japan from 1600 to 1950. One of the central themes in the volume is the demarcation of relations between the central political authorities and local communities. The early modern period in Japan is marked by a growing sense of a unified national society, with a long, common history, that existed in a coherent space. The growth of this national community inevitably raised questions about relationships between the imperial government and local groups and interests at the prefectural and village levels. Moves to demarcate divisions between central and local rule in the course of constructing a modern nation contributed to a public discourse that drew on longstanding assumptions about political legitimacy, authority, and responsibility as well as on Western political ideas.