Stone Bridge Press

Memorizing kanji - Japanese written characters - and their thousands of shapes, sounds, and meanings would drive anyone crazy. And here's something crazier: a whole book about kanji: where they come from, why they look like they do, how to tell husband from prisoner, where to find kanji in Wales, and how to learn kanji faster. Scattered throughout are nearly one hundred large-type "exhibits" of kanji madness, including puzzles and even kanji sudoku.

With clear insight and without academic jargon, Alexander Jacoby examines the works of over 150 filmmakers to uncover what makes their films worth watching. Included are artistic profiles of everyone from Yutaka Abe to Isao Yukisada, including masters like Kinji Fukasaku, Juzo Itami, Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Miike, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Yoji Yamada. Each entry includes a critical summary and filmography.

In a military training mission gone tragically wrong, 210 soldiers ascend Mount Hakkoda in the dead of winter and only eleven return. This fictionalized account of a true incident remains one of Japan's most poignant stories about soldiers' courage and the dangers of reckless leadership.

After more than two hundred years of self-imposed isolation, Japan opened itself to the Western world in 1854. There followed a time of political upheaval, capped by the Meiji Restoration in 1868. This remarkable book, begun in 1885 and based on the author's detailed diary and keen memory, is a record of the inner history of those critical years in the evolution on Japan, accompanied by an account of Satow's personal experiences during that period.

This encyclopedic survey of the next cultural tsunami to hit America has over 1,000 entries - including production data, synopses, and commentaries - on everything from rubber-monster shows to samurai drama, from crime to horror, unlocking an entire culture's pop history as never seen before.

This landmark book, first published at the height of the manga boom, is offered in a hardcover collector's edition with a new foreword and afterword. Frederik L. Schodt looks at the classic publications and artists who created modern manga, including the magazines Big Comics and Morning, and artists like Suehiro Maruo and Shigeru Mizuki; an entire chapter is devoted to Osamu Tezuka. The new afterword shows how manga have evolved in the past decade to transform global visual culture.

The ancient Japanese city of Kyoto is famous for its festivals, Zen gardens, temples, and universities - all of which make it an ideal city to explore on foot. In this revised and updated edition of the classic travel book, 32 walking tours guide you through famous sites and back-street locales. Includes two new walks, a new design, detailed maps, photos, and notes about Kyoto's cultural and historical background.

This book contains over 850 family crests (kamon) with descriptions, cultural backgrounds, and a selection of photographs showing how crests are used on banners, signs, and buildings. Of special interest to graphic designers, quilt-makers, and illustrators.

Here is the first book in English about Japan's modern master of fear and horror. The book traces Kiyoshi Kurosawa's humble beginning in the pink film industry through his evolution into yakuza movie director and the celebrated filmmaker of gripping works like Cure and Pulse. Included are essays on twenty-five films, a filmography, and a sit-down interview.

Rediscover the roots of Asian-America in this "documentary comic" of the true adventures of four young Japanese men in California 90 years ago. The Four Immigrants Manga is Henry Kiyama's visual chronicle of his immigrant experiences in the United States....Click for more!

The Japanese have leveraged the childlike, feminine, cute aspects of their otaku (geek) culture into top-tier products for world markets. What does this mean for the human/object interface? How can we personalize and pleasurize design? The answers may lie in our entertainments, innocence, and obsessions.

Starting with the notion that some traditions - like drinking green tea for health and mental acuity - embody timeless wisdom for living, Toshimi A. Kayaki offers dozens of wise old Japanese ways for improving how you look and feel while respecting nature and the environment. Carry your own pair of chopsticks, wear five-toe socks, eat salty plums, use rice water as floor wax, do "eco-laundry," and always set aside 10 percent for savings... you get the idea. By leading a "green tea life," you'll help yourself and the planet.