Fifteen Lectures on Showa Japan Road to the Pacific War in Recent Historiography
Why did Showa Japan rush to war? Where did Japan fail? This compilation of the most up-to-date studies by 15 leading Japanese historians tries to find answers to these questions. Each chapter contains a list of selected reference books with brief annotations for the benefit of readers who wish to study more about the subject. The fifteen chapters offer nuanced understanding of prewar Showa history that challenges stylized discourse about Showa Japan prevalent in recent historiography.
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1,925円 (税込)“I wrote this book in the hope that readers will be able to save their own lives as well as those of the ones they love when an earthquake next strikes, so that the tragedy of March 11, 2011, would never be repeated.” ―Satoko Oki What our chatty planet teaches us Would you be surprised to hear that there are scientists who listen to the Earth? Yes, the Earth does talk in many different voices?the voice of the air, the voice of the sea, the voice of volcanoes, and the voice of the Earth. Seismologists listen to the voice of the Earth. We use high performance seismometers that do not miss the slightest muttering by the Earth that human ears cannot hear. That way, we can learn about what causes earthquakes and even what it is like inside the planet. Earthquakes occur because it is hot inside the planet?because the Earth is dynamic. We cannot escape earthquakes as long as we live on the Earth. But from listening to the planet, seismologists have discovered what causes earthquakes and how we can live with them to protect our lives. -
2,702円 (税込)Horyu-ji temple was first erected in the 7th century and has come down to us today in the magnificent form it achieved in 711, over 1,300 years ago. It has given the lie to the common misconception that wood is destined to quickly rot and decay, and has demonstrated the enduring value of wood, not to mention the fact that the temple has been designated a World Heritage Site as the earth’s oldest wooden structure. Here Tsunekazu Nishioka, the master carpenter who undertook the repair of this monumental structure in the mid 20th century, shares the insights and knowledge he gained from that experience. To make Nishioka’s words and observations more easily understood by later generations, Jiro Kohara has buttressed them with scientific experiments and commentary, bringing into sharp view Horyu-ji’s long-concealed mysteries and secrets. The result is a revealing picture of Japan's immemorial love of trees and wood, a broad-ranging introduction to the country’s wood culture. -
3,049円 (税込)This book covers the history of physics, chemistry, and pharmacology in modern Japan, focusing on the 1920s through the early 1960s. Led by the editor’s introduction, “A Portrait of the History of Scientific Thought,” readers will soon find themselves in the middle of a complex double narrative comprising both ‘the telling of history’ and ‘the telling of the history of history.’ In the end, readers will come to understand an intricate historical aspect, made possible through such a grand and meta-appreciation. -
2,679円 (税込)Why did Showa Japan rush to war? Where did Japan fail? This compilation of the most up-to-date studies by 15 leading Japanese historians tries to find answers to these questions. Each chapter contains a list of selected reference books with brief annotations for the benefit of readers who wish to study more about the subject. The fifteen chapters offer nuanced understanding of prewar Showa history that challenges stylized discourse about Showa Japan prevalent in recent historiography. -
2,802円 (税込)In this delightfully engaging look at Japan’s traditional dance-drama, Matsui Kesako approaches kabuki in the same way a paleontologist might examine geological layers, with each play revealing a fascinating story about the time and place in which it was created and performed. Starting with Danjuro I’s Shibaraku, which dates to the late seventeenth century, Matsui artfully traces the origins and evolution of many of kabuki’s defining characteristics while linking them to larger patterns of cultural development in Japanese society. As a novelist and former writer for the kabuki stage herself, she offers a unique perspective on 10 of the most famous and beloved plays in the traditional repertory, ending her survey with Mokuami’s Sannin Kichisa, which premiered in 1860-just prior to the start of Japan’s modernization. Her keen insights, encyclopedic knowledge, and easy writing style bring this centuries-old theatrical tradition to life, rendering it readily accessible to those who may have no prior knowledge of the subject. Originally intended for Japanese readers, this groundbreaking work is now available in English, offering the international community glimpses into why kabuki can truly be called a “mirror of Japan.” -
2,310円 (税込)This book features conversations between Donald Keene, a preeminent scholar of Japanese literature, and Shiba Ryotaro, the author who continued to contemplate the human condition through his original and distinctive lens of history. These talks―which mainly explore the foundation of Japanese culture―took place in Japanese on three occasions in 1971, in the historic cities of Nara, Kyoto and Osaka. Drawing on their profound insights into Japan's relations with foreign cultures over the course of Japanese history, the two engage in a passionate discussion of their first-hand impressions and observations of Japanese culture. -
2,618円 (税込)What is Bushido? What is Budo? How are the culture and traditions of samurai connected with the modern martial arts? Is the ancient wisdom of Japan's feudal warriors truly relevant in the twenty-first century? If so, how can it be accessed? This book addresses these questions, and is a must read not only for martial artists, but also for those who want to know more about the enigmatic Japanese mind and notions of self-identity. -
2,541円 (税込)In this penetrating biography of Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931), one of Japan's foremost entrepreneurs, Shimada Masakazu traces Shibusawa's youth, when he witnessed the decay of Japan's feudal society and experienced the benefits of modernization at first hand in Europe; his service in the Ministry of Finance of the new Meiji government in its early years; and his venture into business and involvement in literally hundreds of companies as he set about building the roots of modern corporate Japan. Shimada also looks closely at Shibusawa's social activities and his insistence that economics and morals are inseparable. In troubled times like the present, when the limits of capitalism are being seen around the world, Shibusawa's vision is as relevant as ever. -
2,464円 (税込)“I have waited eagerly for the day when Unsung Heroes of Old Japan would be translated into English and made available to people around the world. I wrote the book with the faint hope that people might one day become more like the men and women portrayed here. Whether humanity has any universal values, I can’t say. But looking back over the sweep of human history, I am convinced that values like those shown here result in happiness for the individual and society.” (From ‘Preface to the English edition’ by the author) True stories of three little-known Japanese of the Edo period who lived lives of sublime selflessness and purity, blurring the boundary between self and others. Merchant Kokudaya Juzaburo comes up with a brilliant scheme to rescue his dying town from poverty. He and others go deep into debt, risking all to raise money for the cash-strapped daimyo and receive annual interest in return. Prodigious scholar and former Zen monk Nakane Tori refuses a government post and elects to live in abject poverty, weaving sandals. Though perhaps the age's greatest poet, he throws his works into the fire and ends his days teaching in a country village. Otagaki Rengetsu, a noted beauty in Kyoto, loses two husbands and five children. She becomes a Buddhist nun and devotes her life to poetry and pottery. With her savings she feeds the hungry and builds a bridge across Kamo River. -
3,003円 (税込)For Japan, where natural resources are not abundant, the importance of human resources cannot be overstated. It is the person, and the person only, that determines economic wealth. So what characteristics will emerge when reviewing the economic development of modern Japan through its history of human resources formation? In this book, we will examine the formation and allocation of human resources that brought about economic growth, focusing on the form of education and training in schools, companies, and the military. In particular, how are knowledge and skills delivered in a ＂have-not＂ country like Japan? Following transitions form the Edo period to the present age, we approach the core of Japanese systems from both historical and theoretical perspectives.
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3,003円 (税込)Since ancient times, the Japanese have lived with superstitions of strange presences and phenomena known as ＂yokai,＂ creating a culture by turns infused with unease, fear, and divinity. Tsukimono spirit possessions. Fearsome kappa, oni, and tengu. Yamauba crones. Ghostly yurei. Otherworldy ijin...Where did they come from? Why do they remain so popular? Written by Japan's premier scholar of yokai and strange tales, this book is both an introduction to the rich imagination and spirituality of Japan's yokai culture and a history of the authors and writings that have shaped yokai studies as a field. -
3,003円 (税込)Shinto is a tradition native to Japan that arose naturally on the eastern fringe of the Eurasian continent and was woven over many years into the fabric of people's everyday lives. When Buddhism entered the country in the sixth century, the two religions-rather than competing with or seeking to marginalize the other―coalesced, embracing many other folk deities as well to create a singular combinatory religious culture that continues to permeate Japan's cultural life today. This English translation of a book originally written in Japanese by one of the country's most knowledgeable, penetrating, and eclectic scholars of Japanese religion and spirituality presents an engaging overview of the country's religious legacy, as well as offering insights into how religion can become a force for peaceful coexistence, rather than violent extremism. -
2,772円 (税込)In East Asia, the growth center of the post-Cold War world, two regional powerhouses survey one another from opposite sides of the Japan Sea. China, a rising power with tremendous economic clout and an increasingly assertive foreign and military policy, and Japan, a respected leader in the region and a mature nation enjoying its greatest political stability in many years, must coexist for the peace and prosperity of East Asia and the Asia-Pacific. But just how well can these neighbors―and oftentimes rivals-get along? What stands in the way? And who else is caught up in their volatile relationship? -
3,426円 (税込)In 1947, Japan eternally renounced war and the possession of armed forces with its constitution. How, then, did the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) survive, moreover, evolve over the ensuing 70 years into the prominent presence it is today? Sado Akihiro reviews the JSDF's history chiefly from the viewpoint of restrictions imposed on it by civil officials of the national bureaucracy, based on lessons gleaned from the arbitrary conduct of the military in pre-World War II days. He also explores the financial constraints placed on the JSDF in the form of a percentage of the GNP. This book traces the inside story of U.S.-Japan relations and Japan's defense policy. It attempts to shine a light on the true state of the JSDF in the midst of new challenges that put it at a crossroads, including post-9/11 international terrorism, North Korean nuclear development, and China's increased military presence in Asia. -
3,003円 (税込)In 2015 as the world commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the international community focused its attention on the Abe Statement, the statement released by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. This book encapsulates the discussions held by the Advisory Panel on the History of the 20th Century and on Japan's Role and the World Order in the 21st Century, a panel of preeminent academics, journalists, businesspersons, and others, which met in order to set out with greater clarity the points to be considered by Prime Minister Abe as he formulated his statement. The panel conducted a general review of the points instrumental in preparing the Abe Statement through presentations by Shinichi Kitaoka, Masayuki Yamauchi, Takashi Shiraishi, Naoya Okuwaki, Yukio Okamoto, Akihiko Tanaka, Fumiaki Kubo, Shin Kawashima, Shunji Hiraiwa, Masashi Haneda, and Yuichi Hosoya as well as discussions held among the panel members. This book, the outcome of highly accomplished specialists across a broad range of fields coming together to set out parameters for the recognition of history, is a must-read for discussing contemporary history that will be highly valued by anyone analyzing Prime Minister Abe's statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war and by the statement's supporters and critics alike. -
2,695円 (税込)Official development assistance (ODA), direct investment in Southeast Asia, participation in the Cambodian peace process, peacekeeping operations (PKO), the founding of APEC and other large-scale regional frameworks, the response to the Asian economic crisis, grappling with the ＂history＂ problem, trilateral summits: these have all been important milestones for postwar Japan―and especially for post-Cold-War Japan―in its efforts to rediscover Asia and Japan's place in it. Tanaka Akihiko traces the role of diplomacy in redefining the role of Japan in Asia from the 1977 Fukuda Doctrine of ＂heart-to-heart contact＂ between Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors to the Abe administration's negotiations to settle the comfort woman issue with South Korea at the end of 2015. But he also looks at the transformation that Asia itself underwent during that period. The Cold War in Asia was not a simple bipolar confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies. The situation there was complicated by the presence of China, the importance of nationalism for countries that had once been colonies, and the need to escape third-world status and beceome economically developed. Asia during the Cold War, especially East Asia, was a divided region; few countries had normal international relations with China. But in the late 20th century, Asia underwent three structural changes―the end of the Cold War, globalization, and democratization. The result has been dynamic growth in tandem with deepening economic interdependence and the development of a complex web of regional institutions among Asian countries. What has been Japan's role in this increasingly interconnected Asia? What has Japan achieved―or failed to achieve―in Asia? This book is a history of post-Cold-War international politics, the themes of which are crises, responses to crises, and institution-building to prevent crises before they happen, aimed to provide an overview of political trends in Asia and Japan's diplomatic response to them. -
2,772円 (税込)It is said that Japan is currently experiencing its third opening to the outside world. However, in terms of importance, rather than the so-called second opening-which refers to the reforms following World War II-the more significant opening was that of the Meiji Restoration, initiated and carried out by the Japanese themselves. Consequently, as Japan today finds itself feeling trapped with a sense of despair, it is to the Meiji era that we should turn, and more than to anyone else, the person we should turn to is Fukuzawa Yukichi. With the general reader in mind, this volume brings together the results of the present-day research into the accomplishments of Fukuzawa as part of an overall appraisal of the man himself. (Excerpted from the foreword) -
1,848円 (税込)An award-winning writer and translator who has immersed himself in Japanese culture for half a century delivers a firsthand account of the country's customs and the profound changes occurring in contemporary Japanese society. Originally published in Japanese, If There Were No Japan: A Cultural Memoir was acclaimed for its insights into Japanese life, bringing together aspects of history, culture and everyday life to paint an original and revealing portrait of the Japanese people and the pressing issues facing them today. This national bestseller was hailed as a roadmap for “innovation of the mind”―essential knowledge that could guide Japan out of the economic and psychological doldrums that have held sway for the past two decades. During his decades of passionate engagement with Japan, Pulvers became close friends with many of the most gifted writers, filmmakers, actors and journalists in the country. Whether delving into ancient traditions or providing vivid accounts of contemporary customs, analyzing characters in Japanese fiction or recounting personal encounters with individuals, the author illuminates those inventive elements that have made Japanese culture and design the envy of the world―and that signal a way forward into the twenty-first century. -
2,079円 (税込)Today, as globalization deepens daily and the world becomes increasingly integrated, the time has come to revise the conventional Euro-centric view on world history. Haneda Masashi has been exploring for several years now how best to create a new world history. The world history that we learn and understand today is already out of step with the times. Therefore, it is imperative to envisage a new world history that is suitable to our own time. What description of history, then, is appropriate for our contemporary times? To answer this question, the author first reviews what kind of perception we have of world history and what is wrong with it. Subsequently, he looks into what is the new world history that is called for and how it can be created. Haneda finds that more and more people are behaving with an awareness of themselves as inhabitants of this earth, willing to mutually transcend differences of views so as to defend this one and only earth of ours and let people the world over live more peacefully and happily. On the basis of these soul-searching explorations, the author comes to propose a world history for inhabitants of the earth from the viewpoint of “there is one world.” -
2,079円 (税込)Nakano Koji opens the door to the treasury of Japanese classics by introducing six writers who are his personal favorites. The writers under his lens span seven centuries, ranging from the twelfth century to the nineteenth. Three are poets; three wrote timeless prose. The hermit-monk Ryokan, a poet who loved nothing more than bouncing balls with neighborhood children or just sitting sprawled in his hut listening to the sound of rain, teaches the value of living with a spirit of play. Kenko offers trenchant comments on the aesthetics of life, grounded in an appreciation of the immediacy of death. Kamo no Chomei, a journalist par excellence, found happiness late in life by flouting convention and “rejoicing in the absence of grief.” Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, takes us on a mind-bending trip to the Dharma―ultimate truth―that involves revolutionary ways of conceiving of time, life, and death. Saigyo, the beloved itinerant monk-poet, continually explores his own wayward heart and its vast, incorrigible love of beauty. Buson the haiku poet uses his painter’s eye to capture cosmic vistas as well as moments of poignancy in poems of seventeen syllables.
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2,002円 (税込)Edo Japan Encounters the World continues the conversation, begun nearly twenty years earlier in The People and Culture of Japan, between scholar of Japanese literature Donald Keene and historical novelist Shiba Ryotaro. In discussions that took place in Osaka and Kyoto from 1989 to 1990, these two penetrating and original observers of Japanese culture turn their attention to the long peace of the Edo period (1603-1868), when Japan developed in relative isolation from outside influence. From analysis of literary masters like Basho and Chikamatsu to critiques of the repressive aspects of Edo life, their exchanges bring much insight to this often romanticized period of Japanese history. -
2,156円 (税込)Architects play an essential role in contemporary society, helping to shape the environment in which we live and work. This book explores how architects in Japan have responded to the demands of their times and how they continue to engage with new economic realities and the shifting global order. The moving image of Japanese society is reflected in the work of the architects profiled in this book: from the generation rising from the ashes of postwar Japan, through the postwar economic boom, to the generation that quietly gathered strength during the recession of the 1970s; from the generation that debuted in the bubble economy of the 1980s to the generation that began their work after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the collapse of the bubble economy; and finally, after decades of economic stagnation, to the generation that has come to the fore since the early twenty-first century. Contemporary Japanese architects have pioneered developments in sustainability and introduced engineering innovations that have changed not only the look of modern buildings but the ways in which they can be constructed. Japanese design concepts, realized in major public buildings around the world, communicate with a global audience and contribute toward shaping our shared future. -
2,079円 (税込)What makes Japanese art unique? In The Japanese Sense of Beauty, art critic and historian Takashina Shuji reflects on the aesthetic and philosophical sensibilities underlying Japanese art throughout its history, from the earliest calligraphy and painted screens to modern masters like Hishida Shunso and Yokoyama Taikan. Along the way, Takashina explores themes such as the relationship between subjective perspective and “flat” composition and the playful intermingling of word and image throughout the plastic arts of Japan. He also offers fresh critical perspectives on many individual artists, including Takeuchi Seiho, one of the first to fuse traditional techniques with Western realism, and Takahashi Yuichi, who combined a vivid mastery of texture with deceptively traditionalist compositions. Other essays in this wide-ranging collection touch on everything from the symbolism of Mount Fuji to the ancient music known as gagaku, showing how even the most disparate topics can shed new light on what is essential to Japanese culture. The Japanese Sense of Beauty is an important contribution to the study of aesthetics and cultural history, offering insights that will change the way you think about Japanese art. -
1,925円 (税込)Toshio Suzuki has devoted himself to Studio Ghibli for some thirty years, producing such world-renowned animated classics as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Early in his career he met the two genius directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and gained their confidence. Working with these two inimitable directors, he experienced the joys and sorrows of filmmaking, and he continues today to guide the studio. Based on his innate inquisitive nature and the accumulated resources of thirty years, Suzuki has recounted in this book the story not only of Miyazaki and Takahata but also the other figures working at Studio Ghibli or in connection with it. It is a fascinating tale, told with penetrating insight and heartwarming humor. -
2,310円 (税込)Toward the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, Mutsu Munemitsu was ousted from his home Kisu-han as a result of his father’s defeat in a power struggle. To avenge this, Mutsu bolstered his talent to become a man of “genius and learning in equal measure.” He joined the Kobe Naval Training Center founded by Katsu Kaishu and, later, Kaientai, a trading and shipping company and private navy founded and managed by Sakamoto Ryoma before the Meiji Restoration was accomplished. During the Meiji era, Mutsu fully exercised his extraordinary ability, including working to revise unequal treaties with Western powers as foreign minister. In his last days, he scrambled to end the First Sino-Japanese War; his efforts resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki with favorable terms for Japan. Mutsu also helped Japan ride out the subsequent wave of the Tripartite Intervention from Russia, France, and Germany. This book’s author, a career diplomat himself, traces the footsteps of modern Japan’s diplomacy by reviewing the philosophical and political journey of this extraordinary diplomat who protected the dignity of Japan as a modern nation throughout his professional life. -
2,002円 (税込)Wasan―a unique form of Japanese mathematics―was developed during the Edo period (1603-1868), a time when the entire country was isolated from the rest of the world. Mathematics was enjoyed as a form of entertainment by adults and children alike and by people of all social classes. Jinkoki, an extraordinary mathematics textbook, was used at private elementary schools called terakoya and became a bestseller that could be found in every household. Furthermore, world-class works were produced by Japanese mathematicians such as Seki Takakazu and Takebe Katahiro. This book explores the beauty and fascination surrounding wasan by providing a guided tour that goes back in time over three hundred years and navigates through the mysterious and incredible world of mathematical wizardry found during the Edo period Japan. -
2,233円 (税込)How can peace be realized in the modern world? And how can Japan ensure its own security? Despite the intense debates over Japan’s recent security-related legislation, such vital issues as these were never explored. To give proper consideration to these thorny questions, it is indispensable to have both a knowledge of history indicating the circumstances in which wars occur and a real recognition of the security environment of the twenty-first century. This work explores hotly debated security-related matters from a standard viewpoint on international politics and diplomatic history. It also advocates in a bold yet level-headed manner the form Japan’s security should take and the path Japan should follow to make that a reality. -
2,156円 (税込)After the Pacific War, the bitter enemies Japan and the United States became fast friends and allies. Most observers in the West believe Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was unprovoked, but what had led Japan to take such action? The arrival of American “black ships” in Japan in 1853 was one cause of the fall of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power little more than a decade later. That set Japan on the road to international expansion in imitation of Western imperial powers. This volume recounts this saga from the Russo-Japanese War and Japanese expansion in Manchuria to the brink of war with the United States. -
2,387円 (税込)It is said that the twentieth century was a century of war. War and colonization can leave deep divides between nations. In the case of Japan, this antagonism manifested as a result of historical issues. There have also been moments in postwar history where efforts were made to overcome the hostility surrounding these problems. We can see times that featured attempts at reconciliation and improvements in relations between Japan and China, as well as Japan and South Korea. However, these problems heated up in the twenty-first century, impacting not only relations with China and South Korea but also ties with the United States, South-East Asia, and Europe. This title examines the period from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial) to the normalization of relations between Japan and South Korea and between Japan and China. Chapter 1 explores issues that arose regarding Japanese history textbooks, the release of a statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Miyazawa Kiichi, Chun Doo-hwan’s visit to Japan, and “mutual trust” with Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang and Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro. Chapter 2 investigates the view of the Chinese side and behind-the-scenes negotiations regarding visits by Japanese prime ministers to Yasukuni Shrine, focusing on Prime Minister Nakasone’s official visit in particular. As for the issue of the wartime comfort women, Chapter 3 delves into Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi’s visit to South Korea, the statements by chief cabinet secretaries Kato Koichi and Kono Yohei, and relations with South Korea. Chapter 4 explains how Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi’s statement, which was issued on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the war’s end, came to comprise a common language within Japanese politics. Chapter 5 examines twenty-first-century issues, while the final chapter provides future prospects regarding what the future will hold. -
2,310円 (税込)In 2018, Japan marked the 150th anniversary of the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the establishment of a new government under Emperor Meiji. This was not simply a transfer of political authority but instead signaled revolutionary transformation in Japan, including the abolition of the domains and the formation of a modern nation-state in the years that followed. A period of radical social change was ushered in with the abolition of the class system, the introduction of Western industrial and military technology, the development of mass media, and the establishment of constitutional government. The impact on Japan of diplomatic, economic, and cultural pressure from the United States and other Western powers from 1853 onward was previously thought to be the immediate catalyst of this “Meiji Revolution.” But Japan’s modern transformation was rooted in a much deeper process of social and intellectual development that gradually unfolded throughout the latter half of the Tokugawa period. Surveying a diverse group of thinkers spanning the Tokugawa and early Meiji years-Ogyu Sorai, Yamagata Banto, Motoori Norinaga, Rai San’yo, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Takekoshi Yosaburo, and others-this ambitious book liberates modern Japanese history from the stereotypical narrative of “Japanese spirit and Western technique,” offering a detailed examination of the elements in Tokugawa thought and culture that spurred Japan to articulate its own unique conception of civilization during the course of the nineteenth century. In the latter half of the Tokugawa period, Japan faced many possible alternate paths as it gradually advanced toward its encounter with “civilization”-which could also be described as an encounter with the unknown. This book offers the reader a bird’s-eye view of this process of encounter, which provides a fascinating model for the advancement of understanding and coexistence among the world’s diverse cultures. Exploring the legacy of Japan’s quest for “civilization” in the nineteenth century thus serves as a lens for examining our world today, while also suggesting an alternative narrative to the conventional success stories of Japan’s modernization.
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3,003円 (税込)Kyoto, where world-class high-tech industries exist alongside heritage industries. Achieving highly competitive strength by keeping a step ahead of the global standard while maintaining the spirit of harmony that distinguishes Japanese style management. What is the essence of this style of management? How has Kyoto’s living traditional culture as a part of daily life been preserved? A thorough study of various unique approaches, based on interviews with managers and craftspeople, Murayama’s work covers everything from distinct management styles aimed at increasing workforce motivation to the development of capabilities that yield products with high cultural value, and innovation for the sake of business continuity. This book is packed with valuable hints for the future management of not only Japanese firms but also businesses worldwide. -
2,156円 (税込)Religion and tourism seem to be an unlikely pair, but in fact, taking a look at these two human behaviors provides invaluable insight into modern society. In the past, holy sites were of immense importance to those who followed a particular religion, and these places used to attract many faithful pilgrims. These days, however, people without faith visit holy places simply to experience something out of the ordinary. Furthermore, many places without any connection to religion are being called “sacred” and attracting people’s interest. What really drives people there, and what do people want to gain from the experience? In this informative book, the author discusses various pilgrimages in order to shed light on new types of religious views and faiths that have come into being in the twenty-first century. The book explores the Santiago pilgrimage in Spain; the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage in Shikoku, Japan; B-grade tourist spots; so-called “power spots”; sacred anime sites; and much more. Through examining these places and the people who visit them, the reader will experience a shift in perspective and discover that in this secular age, holy places are no longer supported by religions and doctrines alone. The interchanges between a place and its community of people are what make a place holy. People are placing more importance on the shared image and experience expected to be had there. This is a must-read for researchers investigating the link between tourism and religion and how the two influence each other. -
3,003円 (税込)For several hundred years, Japanese porcelain has been highly acclaimed and sought after around the world. Sophisticated porcelain ware has long been produced in the Arita area of Kyushu, and artisans from the Kakiemon family have gained particular renown for their skill in enamels and their artistic designs. Now, for the first time, the techniques and tradition behind the creation of their ceramic works are disclosed through the words of the late Kakiemon XIV. Starting with his childhood memories, he talks about his father and grandfather and what he inherited from them; how the craftsmen work at the kiln; and how materials such as stone, clay, and firewood play a crucial part in creating the works. Most striking of all are the explanations of aka-e overglaze enamels and nigoshide porcelain, the characteristics that make Kakiemon ware so phenomenal. With more than twenty color plates depicting Kakiemon pieces from museums and private collections, this volume provides rare insight into one of the world’s most famous kilns. -
2,849円 (税込)Urushi, Japanese lacquerware, is perhaps the oldest and most sublime of all the Japanese arts and crafts. Its history goes back more than 7,000 years, and it is still vibrantly alive today. It is practiced by craftsmen working in time-honored techniques and by modern artists forging the future. Valued for its utilitarian durability, urushi developed into an incomparable art, adorning a multitude of objects from luxurious palaces to lavish murals and exquisitely crafted fountain pens. The present book, written more than fifty years ago by the Living National Treasure Matsuda Gonroku, has long been a must-read for collectors, researchers, and laypeople. It is the “bible” of urushi, covering every conceivable aspect of the subject. It includes some fifty full-color illustrations of masterpieces honored by history and masterworks by Matsuda himself. The present edition has been supervised by Murose Kazumi, a disciple of Matsuda’s and a Living National Treasure in his own right. His foreword enables the reader to acquire a broader understanding of the contents of the book and gain a deeper appreciation of its value and impact on the world of urushi. -
2,156円 (税込)Video games are often thought to draw children out of nature and into isolated, closed spaces. In The Lure of Pokemon: Video Games and the Savage Mind, however, Nakazawa Shinichi shows how the Pokemon series of video games, far from standing in opposition to nature, actually seeks to represent the true, hidden essence of the natural world. From humble beginnings as a video game launched in the mid-90s, Pokemon has become a global entertainment franchise, even reaching into the real world with “augmented reality” via the mobile game Pokemon Go. Nakazawa argues that the Pokemon worldview is the best contemporary example of Levi-Strauss’s “savage mind” (la pensee sauvage). As the natural environment is transformed around them, the author suggests, children that would once have directly observed and explored nature encounter it through technology instead. Contemporary games and other narratives can often be viewed as attempts to reconnect the human unconscious with nature, undoing the separation effected by the scientific, rational thought of Western modernity. Nakazawa also shows how games like Pokemon recreate deep-rooted social patterns. When characters capture monsters, carry them around in “Poke Balls,” and swap them with other characters, they are part of a tradition in which trade is more than just the exchange of goods. Barter is a much more profound form of communication in which each participant also receives part of the other. The author supports his argument through close analysis of the history and even prehistory of video games in Japanese culture. Drawing on mythology, Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, and other resources, he explores cultural touchstones like Space Invaders, Ultraman, and the RPG as a genre, showing how their rich, direct expression appeals directly to the urges and impulses within children themselves, helping them come to terms with their place in the world. The Lure of Pokemon: Video Games and the Savage Mind is both a work of game criticism revealing la pensee sauvage within today’s video games and an examination of Japanese culture as the context from which the Pokemon phenomenon was born. -
2,849円 (税込)“I have received color without limit from the natural world in the years since I entered the dyer’s way. It has poured down on me endlessly, too much for this meager vessel to hold. Joyful as a child with a new set of paints, I have woven and woven yarn dyed by the grasses and trees”. A startlingly original creator in the medium of textiles, Living National Treasure Shimura Fukumi is also well known in Japan for her essays on color, nature, and the work of weaving and dyeing. The Music of Color collects some of Shimura’s most insightful writing together with Takao Inoue’s stunning photographs of her art and the natural world that inspires it. From winter snows to spring blossoms, from the foothills of Japan’s “Southern Alps” to the back streets of Gion, Kyoto, Shimura initiates the reader into a facet of Japanese culture where the boundary between craft and art is blurred. Her insight into the sources and uses of natural color, along with her decades of experience in the world of Japanese textiles, from silkworm and loom to finished kimono, are both on full display in this rich collection. Travels from Bashо-’s “Deep North” to the western island of Kyushu are recorded, as are valuable accounts of Shimura’s encounters with other figures in Japanese aesthetics such as lacquerware master Kuroda Tatsuaki and poet-critic О-oka Makoto. Offering new perspectives on contemporary textiles, Japanese folk craft traditions, and thoughts on how Japanese artists engage with the four seasons, the gemlike essays and translucent photographs of The Music of Color will linger with the reader long after the book itself is over. “We draw the beautiful colors of the sakura not from the petals but the gnarled bark and branches. . . . The blossoms have already bloomed, so no color can come from there. It is the spirit of the tree entire, ceaselessly active, that emerges in the hue of each petal― and do we not see the same truth in the world of words?” -
2,618円 (税込)From its very origins, Ohmi was a highly developed region bordering Kyoto, the center of political power. For that reason, Ohmi is closely tied to the history of political, cultural, social and economic development in Kyoto, and therefore Japan as a whole. Ancient Ohmi was first developed by immigrants from the Korean Peninsula and China and was a vital crossing point connecting Kyoto with eastern Japan. The intersection of the Nakasendo Road and the Tokaido Road was located within its borders. The vital traffic of people and goods led to the early development of organizations and individuals engaged in the concentrated delivery of vast quantities of products. Ohmi merchants can be considered the very source of Japanese-style management. The key concepts that they developed underpinned the success of Japanese corporations for generations. These include core concepts such as sanpo-yoshi or “three-way satisfaction” and corporate social responsibility (CSR), considering a third-person perspective, being a member of society, a healthy tension with society, customer satisfaction, contribution to society, the social consciousness of “good for the world”, appropriate profits, avoid waste and give your all, the spirit of the peddler, faith and devotion, talent and innovation, leveraging information and investing in startup ventures. Inspirational and practical, this book is full of useful ideas and methods that have helped Japanese corporations and individuals achieve success for generations. It is recommended for any student of business or anyone who wants to dig deep into the historical background that helped Japanese companies overcome adversity and achieve greatness. -
1,925円 (税込)Japan, a country where population decline is progressing and the number of workers is decreasing. While the fiscal deficit continues to expand, rural regions are in a crisis of disappearance. Isn’t the decline of the nation already inevitable? Versus such preconceptions, economics which has struggled with population issues over many years responds “No!” Innovation holds the key to economic growth, and the fact that Japan is one of the world’s leading longevity societies poses an opportunity. This book sweeps away the “population decline pessimism” that has spread throughout Japan and approaches the real issues of the Japanese economy. -
2,618円 (税込)Japanese culture is deeply rooted in nature―from literature to the visual arts, and from religious practice to daily life. How, when, and why this close association with nature developed is explored in this book by bestselling author Matsuoka Seigow. Using ten key motifs―mountains, paths, deities, wind, birds, flowers, buddhas, time, dreams, and moon―each of which serves as a lens on different aspects of Japanese culture, Matsuoka ranges from history and ethnology to the arts. He also explores the insights that emerge when traditional sensibilities are examined from the perspective of modern science. Japanese concepts of time, interval, and otherness, though arrived at intuitively, overlap with how contemporary fields such as quantum physics and relativity theory grapple with issues of uncertainty, indeterminacy, and ambiguity. Matsuoka proposes that throughout history, the phenomena of nature and the kaleidoscope of seasonal change have functioned as a system of recombinant codes for the expression of the Japanese sensibility. This unique multimedia system for the cultural construction of nature has generated the essential creative motifs of Japanese literature, fine arts, and craft, which in turn have shaped every aspect of Japanese life and thought. -
2,310円 (税込)This book reveals how St. Francis Xavier’s (1506～1552) dream of evangelizing Japan has been realized by four Catholic missionaries: Aime Villion (1843～1932), Sauveur Candau (1897～1955), Hermann Heuvers (1890～1977), and Georges Neyrand (1920～2011). All of them lived in Japan until death, and wrote and published widely in Japanese for the populace. Their writings are testimony to their endeavors to learn the language, understand the people, and enrich Japanese culture with Christianity. This book re-examines Xavier’s proficiency in Japanese, investigates his influence on missionaries who followed his footsteps to Japan, and explores modern missionaries’ observations of Japan from their insider-outsider perspectives. Their works have fascinated millions of Japanese for their insightful interpretations of Japan and enlightening advice. The literature penned by these missionaries not only enhances our understanding of the five-century long dialogue between Europe and Japan, but also enables us to recognize and appreciate the extremely important role that Christianity has played in shaping today’s Japanese culture.
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2,310円 (税込)In recent decades, Okinawan cuisine has earned a place in the Japanese food scene due to its healthy diet. The recipes are the results of wisdom passed down through generations on the southern islands. Little is known, however, that their roots can be traced back to a nineteenth century guidebook on diet therapy which was written by a renowned doctor. Tokashiki Pechin Tsukan was the chief physician to the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, as the islands were known for five centuries before they became Okinawa. Tsukan penned Gozen honzo in 1832, which can be directly translated as “medicinal foods placed on a tray and served to the king.” From grains and vegetables to meat and fish, he took up 300 traditional Ryukyu foodstuffs, explaining their medicinal effects, the preparations required, and their effective combinations. This modern version of the Gozen honzo unveils the knowledge it contains, covering 60 ingredients and 70 recipes from the text to reproduce the various delicacies. The exceptional pictures radiate the richness of the dishes, and the additional commentary on culture provides deep insight into how people lived on the islands. This reading experience will lead you to understand that the Okinawan saying “food is kusuimun (medicine)” is truly so. ※この商品は固定レイアウトで作成されており、タブレットなど大きいディスプレイ を備えた端末で読むことに適しています。また、文字列のハイライトや検索、辞書の 参照、引用などの機能が使用できません。 -
2,464円 (税込)The Japan-US alliance has continued to deepen and develop for around sixty years, responding to the security environment of the times. But today, the security order of the Asia-Pacific region is at an important turning point. China’s maritime activities are only intensifying, causing growing instability in the regional maritime security environment. As the existing order of the Asia-Pacific region is now being threatened, the Japan-US alliance is an “alliance of hope” for peace and prosperity. In this book, the authors analyze the present conditions of the alliance and discuss its future direction from this perspective of maintaining the maritime security order in the Asia-Pacific region. Together with the diplomatic and security policies of Japan and the US, and of China, their research subjects include the policies of India, Australia, South Korea, Russia, and ASEAN, which are the main players in the oceans of the region, and they derive important hints for the future of the Japan-US alliance. -
2,156円 (税込)How Human Is Human?: The View from Robotics Research presents an overview of various androids created by its author, Hiroshi Ishiguro, along with episodes and difficulties encountered during their development. Unlike the industrial robots so commonly seen in today’s factories, Dr. Ishiguro’s androids are designed with a focus on providing new tools for human interaction and communication. Of particular note are his Geminoid series androids, which are designed to exactly duplicate the appearance of actual living beings (in the case of the latter, Ishiguro himself), providing insights into psychological phenomena arising from the experience of encountering one’s doppelganger. These androids further allow for remote operations over the Internet, allowing users to project their voice and even movements, thereby establishing a sense of presence that is impossible through commonplace technologies such as video conferencing. These androids thus represent a first step toward telepresence technologies only encountered today in works of science fiction. -
1,771円 (税込)Cancer immunotherapy with anti-PD-1 antibodies has fundamentally changed the way we think about cancer treatment. As Honjo Tasuku traces the arc of his research from a chance discovery to the development of a revolutionary therapy, he engages in a wide ranging discussion of the marvels of biological phenomena, the thrill of life science’s explorations of the unknown, the nature of life itself, and the future of Japanese healthcare. In the preface to the English edition, Dr. Honjo shares his thoughts about how we should grapple with life in the time of COVID-19 and offers a message to the next generation. Included at the end of the book is the transcript of Dr. Honjo’s Nobel Prize banquet speech. -
1,848円 (税込)Considered a miracle at the time, Japan’s emergence from devastation to become the world’s second-largest economy less than two dozen years after the disaster of wartime defeat has been widely commented upon and analyzed. Yet all too many scholars posit Japan as an exceptional case that defies repeating. In this eminently readable survey, one of Japan’s foremost macroeconomists looks back at the rapid-growth years and how they revolutionized Japanese life, for better and for worse, and explains how latent demand, population mobility, productivity improvements, and other non-unique factors converged to generate the growth. At the same time, he frankly acknowledges the less-remarked downside of this transformation. Household appliances proliferated, but so did pollution. Urban development was spectacular, but so was the loss of community and history. Massive urbanization provided workers for the industrial ramp-up but also drained farming communities and their traditions. It was a decidedly mixed bag, and Yoshikawa goes beyond the economics to lay it all out in easily understandable prose augmented by over two score of tables, figures, and photos. This is a personal story about more than Japan―a tale that resonates for all economies at all stages of development. -
1,848円 (税込)The Meiji era (1868―1912) produced numerous geniuses in Japan and one who certainly earns his name on the list is Goto Shinpei. Goto, who was a prominent figure in Japan’s political scene, showed exceptional talent in various fields. Starting off his career as a physician, he became a leading figure in public health, and successfully organized a massive quarantine in 1895 for returning soldiers of the First Sino-Japanese war. Later he was appointed as civilian governor of Taiwan and following this he became the first president of the South Manchuria Railway, showing ingenuity in colonial management which was remarkably different from that of Western countries. He built the basis of the Japanese railway system as director-general of the Railway Agency, and as the minister of home affairs presented a grand vision for urban planning immediately after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. He never organized a cabinet himself, but has been remembered as a successful leader in public heath, urban planning, infrastructure building, etc. From his birth in a poor samurai family to his death at seventy-one years old, this biography carefully follows his steps, while at the same time delving into the visions and methods that made him a unique leader. -
1,848円 (税込)How do Japanese and Western aesthetics differ? In this comparative cultural study, Takashina Shuji, a leading scholar of Western art history and insightful commentator on Japanese art, compares the two artistic traditions to reveal the distinctive characteristics of the Japanese sense of beauty. The first section, Methods of Japanese Art, uses examples and cross-cultural comparisons to elucidate the techniques by which Japanese artists cultivated their unique approach. These include roving rather than fixed perspective, the “aesthetic of negation”―excising the unnecessary to emphasize what remains―and the “trailing bough” motif, which evokes a world beyond the work’s borders and influenced Western artists such as Monet. In the second section, East-West Encounters, Takashina examines the history of cultural interaction between Japan and the West from the early modern period on and its influence on the art of both. The third section, Passing Beauty, Returning Memory, contains essays on Japanese culture more broadly, including its preference for recurring forms over fixed monuments and its tradition of combining multiple seasons in a single image. Japanese Art in Perspective is a guide not only to the art of Japan but to the essence of its spiritual culture. -
1,694円 (税込)Noh is recognized as one of the oldest and greatest theatrical traditions in the world. Embraced by the samurai elite some 650 years ago, it ultimately permeated every level of Japanese society through the vehicle of utai (noh singing) and inspired generations of writers and scholars in Japan and around the world. What accounts for noh’s enduring vitality? What does this austerely beautiful, understated art form have to offer a digitalized society awash in instant entertainment? Noh actor Yasuda Noboru answers these and other questions in this uniquely personal and accessible introduction to noh as living art. -
2,618円 (税込)Some people view Tokugawa Japan through the “exotic Edo” lens. Others see the era as Japan’s dark ages. And those who reject both of these extremes tend to think of it as simply the run-up to Japan’s modernization. Yet it would be more accurate to see it as a vast flowering of culture spearheaded by the Rinpa school of art led and developed by Tawaraya Sotatsu and Ogata Korin; the exquisite poetry of Matsuo Basho and Yosa Buson; the groundbreaking natural science treatises by Kaibara Ekiken and others; Arai Hakuseki’s Seiyo kibun [Tidings of the West] and Sugita Genpaku’s Rangaku kotohajime [The Dawn of Western Science in Japan]; and by such towering figures as Watanabe Kazan and Hiraga Gennai. All told, the Tokugawa period was arguably the high-water mark of Japan’s long cultural traditions. This ambitious work provides a comprehensive review of the distinctive culture that emerged in the limited space of the Tokugawa period’s 250 years and the narrow confines of Japan. As such, it stands at the forefront of comparative cultural studies and points the way to new insights. This definitive volume is the culmination of a lifetime of work by a scholar whose research on the Tokugawa era has been recognized with awards from, inter alia, the Japan Art Academy and the Japan Academy. -
1,925円 (税込)Japan’s five-thousand yen banknote will have a new face as of 2024, and that face is Tsuda Umeko (1864―1929), who devoted her life to the education of Japanese women. Umeko founded one of Japan’s first schools of higher education for women―a school that later became Tsuda College. Half a century after her death, an old trunk in the college attic was found to contain hundreds of personal letters written by Umeko to her foster mother in America, Adeline Lanman. Umeko had been sent to America as a young child to learn English and the ways of Western civilization. She returned to Japan at eighteen, completely Americanized and a stranger in her own country. The “attic letters” are a fascinating chronicle of her repatriation to late-19th century Japan, and of her encounters with iconic figures such as Japan’s first prime minister Ito Hirobumi. This book shows how the passionate young girl metamorphosed into one of Japan’s foremost educators, by following the thoughts of Umeko herself as she recorded them in her letters. The story is told by oba Minako, a writer who graduated from Tsuda College and was herself a returnee to Japan after a decade in the United States. Tsuda Umeko was awarded the 42nd Yomiuri Prize for Literature (1990).
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1,848円 (税込)Sugihara Chiune was a diplomat who saved more than several thousand lives from the Nazis and U.S.S.R. during the second World War by issuing them with Japanese transit visas. Why was he able to continue handing out these “visas for life”? The man behind these actions was in fact an intelligence professional of rare caliber who, aware of the crisis confronting his nation early on, maintained a precarious balancing act as he traveled around war-torn Europe closely analyzing the global situation. The author, who has spent more than thirty years studying Sugihara, describes here for the first time the real person behind the diplomat and the truth behind the miraculous issue of those visas, based on his close study of documents in the voluminous archive of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of other historical sources. This nonfiction work is the tour de force of the Foreign Ministry’s preeminent “treasure hunter.” -
2,849円 (税込)This volume of seasonally-arranged poems is a guide to the appreciation and enjoyment of the great variety of modern Japanese haiku. From turn-of-the-century masters to poets of today, 300 of Japan’s best modern haiku are introduced by Ozawa Minoru, a leading contemporary haiku poet and critic. Each of the poems, many of them scarcely known, is sensitively discussed together with the background of the poem and the relations between the poets. The volume includes poems from the end of the century through the beginning of the twenty-first century by the most important writers of modern haiku. Alongside these are works by well-known novelists and other cultural figures who were not professional haiku poets but for whom haiku was an important part of their lives, such as Kubota Mantaro, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, and Natsume Soseki. The book also features beautiful seasonal photographs at the beginning of each chapter.
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