イラストと簡潔な文章で、日本のすべてを紹介する小事典の決定版!自然、地理、衣・食・住、文化、風俗・習慣から政治、経済、社会、産業、歴史まで、日本をまるごと英語で説明できるようになります。さらに、外国の人との交流を深められるように、手巻き寿司の作り方、浴衣の着方、花の生け方、習字、俳句、折り紙、じゃんけん遊びなど、日本文化の教授法をわかりやすく図解しました。ホームステイや海外留学をするときに頼りになる1冊です。

Elegant representations of nature and the four seasons populate a wide range of Japanese genres and media—from poetry and screen painting to tea ceremonies, flower arrangements, and annual observances. In Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, Haruo Shirane shows how, when, and why this practice developed and explicates the richly encoded social, religious, and political meanings of this imagery. Refuting the belief that this tradition reflects Japan's agrarian origins and supposedly mild climate, Shirane traces the establishment of seasonal topics to the poetry composed by the urban nobility in the eighth century. After becoming highly codified and influencing visual arts in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the seasonal topics and their cultural associations evolved and spread to other genres, eventually settling in the popular culture of the early modern period. Contrasted with the elegant images of nature derived from court poetry was the agrarian view of nature based on rural life. The two landscapes began to intersect in the medieval period, creating a complex, layered web of competing associations. Shirane discusses a wide array of representations of nature and the four seasons in many genres, originating in both the urban and rural perspective: textual (poetry, chronicles, tales), cultivated (gardens, flower arrangement), material (kimonos, screens), performative (noh, festivals), and gastronomic (tea ceremony, food rituals). He reveals how this kind of "secondary nature," which flourished in Japan's urban architecture and gardens, fostered and idealized a sense of harmony with the natural world just at the moment it was disappearing. Illuminating the deeper meaning behind Japanese aesthetics and artifacts, Shirane clarifies the use of natural images and seasonal topics and the changes in their cultural associations and function across history, genre, and community over more than a millennium. In this fascinating book, the four seasons are revealed to be as much a cultural construction as a reflection of the physical world.

人気TVシリーズ「まんが日本昔ばなし」から、「桃太郎」、「金太郎」、「かぐや姫」、「浦島太郎」、「一寸法師」などの名作を収録。代表的な日本の童話を英語で話すことができますか。

When the spirit of an American airman befriends a Japanese woman and her daughter in the days before the Hiroshima bomb, he races against time to save the ones he loves the most. When American WWII bombardier Micah Lund dies on a mission over Japan, his spirit remains trapped as a yurei ghost. Dazed, he follows Kiyomi Oshiro, a war widow struggling to care for her young daughter, Ai, as food is scarce, work at the factory is brutal, and her in-laws treat her like a servant. Watching Kiyomi and Ai together, Micah’s intolerance for the enemy is challenged. As his concern for the mother and daughter grows, so does his guilt for his part in their suffering. Micah discovers a new reality when Kiyomi and Ai dream—one which allows him to interact with them. While his feelings for them deepen, imminent destruction looms. Hiroshima is about to be bombed, and Micah must warn Kiyomi and her daughter. In a place where dreams are real, Micah races against time to save Kiyomi and Ai, while battling the old beliefs he embodied as a soldier and his idea of family. In the Realm of Ash and Sorrow is a tale about love in its most extraordinary forms—forgiveness, sacrifice, and perseverance against impossible odds.

Ame the Cat travels back to the country of his birth, Japan.

Gail Tsukiyama's The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers. It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks. But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold—and forge their own paths in a new Japan. Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father's star pupil, Hiroshi.

Postmodernism and Japan is a coherent yet diverse study of the dynamics of postmodernism, as described by Lyotard, Baudrillard, Deleuze, and Guatarri, from the often startling perspective of a society bent on transforming itself into the image of Western “enlightenment” wealth and power. This work provides a unique view of a society in transition and confronting, like its models in the West, the problems induced by the introduction of new forms of knowledge, modes of production, and social relationships.

This compact travel guide and pictorial is the #1 selling travel book in Japan! Packed with cultural and historical information along with charming photographs, you can take a trip to Japan to always remember. Japan is a country shrouded in mystery, even now in the 21st century. The myriad facets that, when put together, compose the whole of this nation are impossible to capture fully. But in The Little Book of Japan, the dynamic photographer-writer team of Gorazd Vilhar and Charlotte Anderson do an admirable job of creating a celebration in words and images that encapsulates what makes this country so extraordinary. Small and easily portable, this Japan travel guide is organized in a series of 44 highlights with photographs contained within four chapters: Cultural Icons, Traditions, Places, and Spiritual Life. Under these four overarching ideals, Vilhar and Anderson explore a wide range of topics from Japanese cultural icons and traditions to Japan's spiritual life to its unique cities and villages. Broad enough to satisfy anyone with interest in the culture, art, and beliefs of this unique island nation, yet comprehensive enough for the true Japanophile, The Little Book of Japan is a stunning collection of photographs and thoughtful mini essays. With everything from Cherry Blossoms to Sushi, Calligraphy to Kimonos, Old Tokyo to Hiroshima, to intimate details of Buddhism and Pilgrimages, this book is a beautiful and enjoyable way to learn more about the fascinating island nation of Japan.

This fantastically varied and exciting collection celebrates the great Japanese short story, from its modern origins in the nineteenth century to the remarkable works being written today. Short story writers already well-known to English-language readers are all included here - Tanizaki, Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata - but also many surprising new finds. From Yuko Tsushima's 'Flames' to Yuten Sawanishi's 'Filling Up with Sugar', from Shin'ichi Hoshi's 'Shoulder-Top Secretary' to Banana Yoshimoto's 'Bee Honey', The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fear, charm, beauty and comedy. Curated by Jay Rubin, who has himself freshly translated several of the stories, and introduced by Haruki Murakami, this book will be a revelation to its readers.