Showdown at Shinagawa
Showdown at Shinagawa

Author: Bill Zarchy

Publisher: Roving Camera Press

Published: 2013-11-20

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9780984919109

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Part personal memoir, part armchair travel book, Bill Zarchy's Showdown at Shinagawa takes readers inside the international adventures of working film crews making a living in the fascinating, unpredictable, sometimes dark, and often comical world of the film and video business. Showdown features 18 tales, the rich experiences of a cinematographer whose assignments have taken him to 30 countries and 40 states. Zarchy brings us along for the ride on a darkly funny bus trip down India's deadly Bombay-Pune Road in "Wrecks and Pissers," drags us through the disorienting milieu of one of Singapore's high-tech cleanrooms in "No Worry, Chicken Curry," faces a surreal Japanese bowling-for-budget match in the title story "Showdown at Shinagawa," and shares the challenge of filming former President Clinton while dealing with family tragedy in "Dog Years." And so on, across six continents, over three decades of his work as a director of photography. Despite the numbing jetlag, cultural disorientation, frustration with clients, and unpredictable weather that are an inevitable part of international film shoots, Zarchy maintains his sense of humor and a strong belief in the warmth, candor, friendship, and skills of the hundreds of crewmembers he has worked with around the world. Sometimes he deals with famous people like Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs, and Morgan Freeman. Always, he marvels at how personal traits transcend boundaries: crewpeople in Bavaria are a lot like their brothers and sisters in Bangkok. Zarchy's first filming trip abroad was a shoot for a Hong Kong-based tour company that took him to eight countries in Asia in 1975. Two years later, he accompanied the band Fleetwood Mac through Japan and Hawaii. Since then, he has shot projects of all kinds all over the world. In the course of traveling and working with clients and crew people from everywhere, he has developed a fine ear for dialogue, a witty style of storytelling, and a keen insight into the dissonance that often occurs when people in other countries emulate the style and outer trappings of American society, within the context of their own cultures.

Finding George Washington
Finding George Washington

Author: Bill Zarchy

Publisher:

Published: 2020-11-20

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 9780984919123

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On a freezing night in 1778, General George Washington vanishes. Walking away from the Valley Forge encampment, he takes a fall and is knocked unconscious, only to reappear at a dog park on San Francisco Bay-in the summer of 2014. Washington befriends two Berkeley twenty-somethings who help him cope with the astonishing-and often comical-surprises of the twenty-first century. Washington's absence from Valley Forge, however, is not without serious consequences. As the world rapidly devolves around them-and their beloved Giants fight to salvage a disappointing season-George, Tim, and Matt are catapulted on a race across America to find a way to get George back to 1778. Equal parts time travel tale, thriller, and baseball saga, Finding George Washington is a gripping, humorous, and entertaining look at what happens when past and present collide in the 9th inning, with the bases loaded and no one warming up in the bullpen.

The Meiji Restoration
The Meiji Restoration

Author: Robert Hellyer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-05-07

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1108478050

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This volume examines the Meiji Restoration through a global history lens to re-interpret the formation of a globally-cast, Japanese nation-state.

A History of Japan
A History of Japan

Author: Kenneth Henshall

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-04-17

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0230346626

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Japan's impact on the modern world has been enormous. It occupies just one 300th of the planet's land area, yet came to wield one sixth of the world's economic power. Just 150 years ago it was an obscure land of paddy fields and feudal despots. Within 50 years it became a major imperial power – it's so-called 'First Miracle'. After defeat in the Second World War, when Japan came close to annihilation, within 25 years it recovered remarkably to become the world's third biggest economy – it's 'Second Miracle'. It is now not only an economic superpower, but also a technological and cultural superpower. True miracles have no explanation: Japan's 'miracles' do. The nation's success lies in deeply ingrained historical values, such as a pragmatic determination to succeed. The world can learn much from Japan, and its story is told in these pages. Covering the full sweep of Japanese history, from ancient to contemporary, this book explores Japan's enormous impact on the modern world, and how vital it is to examine the past and culture of the country in order to full understand its achievements and responses. Now in its third edition, this book is usefully updated and revised.

Hirohito: The Shōwa Emperor in War and Peace
Hirohito: The Shōwa Emperor in War and Peace

Author: Ikuhiko Hata

Publisher: Global Oriental

Published: 2007-07-12

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9004213376

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This is a most important new work on Emperor Hirohito by one of Japan’s leading historians, Ikuhiko Hata. Following the untimely death of Marius B. Jansen (Emeritus Professor, University of Princeton) in December 2000, who had been actively collaborating with the author and translator of the original Japanese edition (Hirohito Tenno itsutsu no ketsudan, first published in 1987 and republished in 1994), it was inevitable that there would be a delay in publication of the English edition, which is finally now available. In his extended Foreword as editor, referring to the nature of Hirohito’s power, Jansen states: ‘We are left with puzzles that will probably never be resolved. Clearly, as Professor Hata and others have shown, the Emperor Hirohito had immense power, but the condition of retaining it was judicious restraint in exercising it.’ In offering a view on the merits of Hata’s research, Jansen points to the hitherto unknown plots (in parallel but unrelated) by both the Army and Navy to preserve, and if necessary resuscitate, the imperial line in the event the victors decided to depose Hirohito. Jansen also points to the merits of Hata’s particular focus on the contribution Hirohito made to Japan in its post-war relations with the United States. Jansen added substantive notes to help place the author’s material in historical and historiographical perspective. The book, which is not a biography or a general history of the Showa era, focuses on five decisions taken by Emperor Hirohito, which the author considers the key turning points of his reign: these concern the 26 February 1936 insurrection of young army officers, the termination of the Pacific War, the post-war constitution, the issue of abdication and the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

Zengakuren
Zengakuren

Author: Stuart J. Dowsey

Publisher: Ishi Press

Published: 2012-10

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9784871870504

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What is Zengakuren? What are its aims and how important is it in Japan? Who are its members? How did it start and where is it going? The answer to these and many other questions are to be found in this timely analysis of the Japanese student movement. Tracing the origins of modern education in Japan, this book goes on to present a concise and understandable account of the history of Zengakuren. In a series of epic struggles, the students of Zengakuren have fought their way through from the "Red Purge" era of the early fifties, the anti-Security Treaty protests of 1960, to the university struggles of the late sixties. During this period the student movement has continuously developed, spawning in the process one of the most distinctive sub-cultures of post-war Japan. With 1970 a critical year in the history of Japanese protest, this book will serve as a guide to the fascinating, yet intricate, world of Zengakuren. This comprehensive analysis of the Japanese student movement was written by six students from Waseda University, one of Japan's oldest and most respected institutions. Aged between 20 and 23, they bring a freshness to their accounts of the development of Zengakuren. The only all-inclusive book on the revolutionary students of modern Japan, it deals with both actions and theory, all the while showing the underlying causes. Included is a fascinating portrait of a radical group and the student subculture that it is part of. All Japanese names are explained in a special section and the brief bibliography is for those who wish to study the subject further.

Dissenting Japan
Dissenting Japan

Author: William Andrews

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-08-15

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 184904919X

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Conformist, mute and malleable? Andrews tackles head-on this absurd caricature of Japanese society in his fascinating history of its militant sub-cultures, radical societies and well-established traditions of dissent Following the March 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis, the media remarked with surprise on how thousands of demonstrators had flocked to the streets of Tokyo. But mass protest movements are nothing new in Japan and the post-war period experienced years of unrest and violence on both sides of the political spectrum: from demos to riots, strikes, campus occupations, faction infighting, assassinations and even international terrorism. This is the first comprehensive history in English of political radicalism and counterculture in Japan, as well as the artistic developments during this turbulent time. It chronicles the major events and movements from 1945 to the new flowering of protests and civil dissent in the wake of Fukushima. Introducing readers to often ignored aspects of Japanese society, it explores the fascinating ideologies and personalities on the Right and the Left, including the student movement, militant groups and communes. While some elements parallel developments in Europe and America, much of Japan's radical recent past (and present) is unique and offers valuable lessons for understanding the context to the new waves of anti-government protests the nation is currently witnessing.

Tokyo Cyberpunk
Tokyo Cyberpunk

Author: Steven T. Brown

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-30

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0230110061

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Engaging some of the most canonical and thought-provoking anime, manga, and science fiction films, Tokyo Cyberpunk offers insightful analysis of Japanese visual culture. Steven T. Brown draws new conclusions about the cultural flow of art, as well as important technological issues of the day.

An Encyclopedia of Japanese History
An Encyclopedia of Japanese History

Author: Chris Spackman

Publisher: Legare Street Press

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781015646667

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Japanese Cinema
Japanese Cinema

Author: Alastair Phillips

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-12-18

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 1134334214

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Japanese Cinema includes twenty-four chapters on key films of Japanese cinema, from the silent era to the present day, providing a comprehensive introduction to Japanese cinema history and Japanese culture and society. Studying a range of important films, from Late Spring, Seven Samurai and In the Realm of the Senses to Godzilla, Hana-Bi and Ring, the collection includes discussion of all the major directors of Japanese cinema including Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, Oshima, Suzuki, Kitano and Miyazaki. Each chapter discusses the film in relation to aesthetic, industrial or critical issues and ends with a complete filmography for each director. The book also includes a full glossary of terms and a comprehensive bibliography of readings on Japanese cinema. Bringing together leading international scholars and showcasing pioneering new research, this book is essential reading for all students and general readers interested in one of the world’s most important film industries.