The Sakura Obsession

The Sakura Obsession PDF Author: Naoko Abe
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0525519904
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Book Description
Each year, the flowering of cherry blossoms marks the beginning of spring. But if it weren’t for the pioneering work of an English eccentric, Collingwood “Cherry” Ingram, Japan’s beloved cherry blossoms could have gone extinct. Ingram first fell in love with the sakura, or cherry tree, when he visited Japan on his honeymoon in 1907 and was so taken with the plant that he brought back hundreds of cuttings with him to England. Years later, upon learning that the Great White Cherry had virtually disappeared from Japan, he buried a living cutting from his own collection in a potato and repatriated it via the Trans-Siberian Express. In the years that followed, Ingram sent more than 100 varieties of cherry tree to new homes around the globe. As much a history of the cherry blossom in Japan as it is the story of one remarkable man, The Sakura Obsession follows the flower from its significance as a symbol of the imperial court, through the dark days of the Second World War, and up to the present-day worldwide fascination with this iconic blossom.

Kafka on the Shore

Kafka on the Shore PDF Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1400079276
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 481

Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and one of the world’s greatest storytellers comes "an insistently metaphysical mind-bender” (The New Yorker) about a teenager on the run and an aging simpleton. Now with a new introduction by the author. Here we meet 15-year-old runaway Kafka Tamura and the elderly Nakata, who is drawn to Kafka for reasons that he cannot fathom. As their paths converge, acclaimed author Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder, in what is a truly remarkable journey. “As powerful as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.... Reading Murakami ... is a striking experience in consciousness expansion.” —The Chicago Tribune

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms PDF Author: Gail Tsukiyama
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1429919094
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 455

Book Description
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.

Pure Invention

Pure Invention PDF Author: Matt Alt
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1984826719
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
The untold story of how Japan became a cultural superpower through the fantastic inventions that captured—and transformed—the world’s imagination. “A masterful book driven by deep research, new insights, and powerful storytelling.”—W. David Marx, author of Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style Japan is the forge of the world’s fantasies: karaoke and the Walkman, manga and anime, Pac-Man and Pokémon, online imageboards and emojis. But as Japan media veteran Matt Alt proves in this brilliant investigation, these novelties did more than entertain. They paved the way for our perplexing modern lives. In the 1970s and ’80s, Japan seemed to exist in some near future, gliding on the superior technology of Sony and Toyota. Then a catastrophic 1990 stock-market crash ushered in the “lost decades” of deep recession and social dysfunction. The end of the boom should have plunged Japan into irrelevance, but that’s precisely when its cultural clout soared—when, once again, Japan got to the future a little ahead of the rest of us. Hello Kitty, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and multimedia empires like Dragon Ball Z were more than marketing hits. Artfully packaged, dangerously cute, and dizzyingly fun, these products gave us new tools for coping with trying times. They also transformed us as we consumed them—connecting as well as isolating us in new ways, opening vistas of imagination and pathways to revolution. Through the stories of an indelible group of artists, geniuses, and oddballs, Pure Invention reveals how Japan’s pop-media complex remade global culture.

Japan's High Schools

Japan's High Schools PDF Author: Thomas P. Rohlen
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520341309
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 375

Book Description
". . . Rohlen's book achieves exciting conjectural stances while providing us with rich and trustworthy substantive data and description. His treatment of schools as 'moral communities,' his call for new, culturally sensitive definitions of moral and creative goals in children's education, his interest in the consensus between parent, school, and society which underlies effective schooling are reason alone why this book should be read by anyone interested in the context and future of any educational system ... A splendid book for non-specialists, as well as for policymakers ... " --Merry T. White, The Review of Education "Rohlen uses education as the entering wedge for a good understanding of Japanese society in general. That the author was sensitive to and appreciative of Japanese ways is evident throughout." --Eloise Lee Leiterman, Christian Science Monitor "Never have I encountered a work on modem Japan which so skillfully captures what is intrinsically unique about the society. Indeed, Rohlen proves that comparative education need not be a litany of lifeless facts." --Linda Joffe, London Times Educational Supplement "On the basis of fourteen months of fieldwork in five Japanese high schools, the author integrates observation of the schools themselves with discussion of their relationships to higher education and society at large. . . . Rowen's conclusions offer insightful contributions to the current debate on secondary education in the United States." --Harvard Educational Review "The best introduction for many a year into the cultural mainsprings of Japanese society, the principles of its organization, and the way its citizens think and feel." --Ronald P. Dore, Journal of Japanese Studies This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1983. ". . . Rohlen's book achieves exciting conjectural stances while providing us with rich and trustworthy substantive data and description. His treatment of schools as 'moral communities,' his call for new, culturally sensitive definitions of moral and crea

This Japanese Life.

This Japanese Life. PDF Author: Eryk Salvaggio
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781489596987
Category : Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
Most books about Japan will tell you how to use chopsticks and say "konnichiwa!" Few honestly tackle the existential angst of living in a radically foreign culture. The author, a three-year resident and researcher of Japan, tackles the thousand tiny uncertainties of living abroad. -- Adapted from back cover

Naruto Retrospective

Naruto Retrospective PDF Author: Masashi Kishimoto
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
ISBN: 1421588129
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 140

Book Description
Creator Masashi Kishimoto’s tale of the ninja who could, and then, eventually actually did, spend more than a decade captivating us with the long-game adventures of Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Jiraiya, Tsunade and any of the other worthy favorites we meet along the way. Whether you’re a long time die-hard or a newcomer in the enviable position of discovering this story for the first time, consider this new book our gift to you as you get lost in the Ninja World over and over again. -- VIZ Media

The Billionaire's Secret Wife

The Billionaire's Secret Wife PDF Author: Nadia Lee
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781508489498
Category : Billionaires
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
A Pryce Family Novel Having grown up in a dysfunctional family, Vanessa Pryce knows the futility of relying on a man for happiness. But there is one man who makes her want to ignore the truth: the irresistible Justin Sterling, her no-strings boyfriend since their college days together. Even after they break up, she continues to meet him for passionate encounters while keeping the relationship secret. No need to make public something that's doomed. Billionaire tycoon Justin Sterling understands Vanessa's fears. But he's about to change the game they've been playing... Because when one drunken night of sex leads to pregnancy, he's going to move heaven and earth to rewrite their rules.

Cherry' Ingram

Cherry' Ingram PDF Author: Naoko Abe
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 9781784706920
Category : Botanists
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
This translation simultaneously published as "The sakura obsession: the incredible story of the plant hunter who saved Japan's cherry blossoms" in the USA by Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Rits Blog by Crimson Themes.