Japan's Best Friend

Author: Manami Okazaki
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 3791387251
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This quirky, nose-to-tail survey of Japan’s love affair with dogs explores why they have played such an important role in the country since ancient times, how they’re represented in traditional and contemporary culture alike, and which breeds are most distinctly part of the canine craze. In Japan’s Best Friend, stunning photographs take readers to religious festivals and shrines that honor dog deities, to the streets of Tokyo where canines are a mainstay of kawaii culture, and inside the doors of cafés that make pup-themed latte art as well as facilities that train rescue dogs to be involved with therapy. Readers are introduced to SONY’s iconic dog robot aibo; to the loyal Akita Hachiko, whose statue is located next to the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing; and to Doge, the Shiba Inu internet sensation. The book looks at how dogs are represented in Japanese traditions, as well as the extraordinary lengths to which they are exalted within pop culture. It includes Edo and Meiji-era woodblock prints, as well as dog-centric work by Pritzker Prize-winning architects and renowned contemporary artists. Interviews with craftspeople, illustrators, and stylists offer a fascinating glimpse into the human-to-animal connection. At turns adorable, funny, informative, and uplifting, this multi-faceted celebration investigates a phenomenon that will appeal to anyone obsessed with dogs, Japan, or both.

Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan

Author: Sarah Archer
Publisher: The Countryman Press
ISBN: 1682684741
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 235

Book Description
An irresistible and colorful celebration of Japan’s thriving cat culture. In Japan, cats rule. And the country’s feline love affair is now a worldwide phenomenon. From cat cafés and Hello Kitty to the familiar sight of a maneki neko (“beckoning cat”) waving its paw from a shop window, cat lovers all over the world are more immersed in Japan’s cat culture than they may realize. With charming storytelling, Catland will introduce you to cats practicing to become monks, a designer who makes cat costumes inspired by the fashions of 18th-century France, and skilled craftsmen who build pieces of fine furniture precisely scaled down to suit feline customers. Packed with photographs, works of art, pop culture and folklore, Catland is the perfect gift for the cat lover in your life.

When the Sea is Rising Red

Author: Cat Hellisen
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN: 142995101X
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
After seventeen-year-old Felicita's dearest friend Ilven kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg's magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik. Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it.

Kawaii!

Author: Manami Okazaki
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 3791347276
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Showcasing Japan's astonishingly varied culture of cute, this volume takes the reader on a dazzling and adorable visual journey through all things kawaii. Although some trace the phenomenon of kawaii as far back as Japan's Taisho era, it emerged most visibly in the 1970s when schoolgirls began writing in big, bubbly letters complete with tiny hearts and stars. From cute handwriting came manga, Hello Kitty, and Harajuku, and the kawaii aesthetic now affects every aspect of Japanese life. As colorful as its subject matter, this book contains numerous interviews with illustrators, artists, fashion designers, and scholars. It traces the roots of the movement from sociological and anthropological perspectives and looks at kawaii's darker side as it morphs into gothic and gloomy iterations. Best of all, it includes hundreds of colorful photographs that capture kawaii's ubiquity: on the streets and inside homes, on lunchboxes and airplanes, in haute couture and street fashion, in cafés, museums, and hotels.

Valentine's Rising

Author: E.E. Knight
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101462256
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
Returning to the Ozark Territories, freedom fighter David Valentine is shocked to find it overrun by vampiric Kurians under the command of the merciless Consul Solon. In a desperate gambit, Valentine leads a courageous group of soldiers on a mission to drive a spike into the gears of the Kurian Order. Valentine stakes life, honor, and the future of his home in a rebellion that sparks the greatest battle of his life.

Ame Goes to Japan

Author: Mami Bacera
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781952343032
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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

The Land of the Rising Yen

Author: George Mikes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780140036794
Category : Japan
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description

1Q84

Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Bond Street Books
ISBN: 0385669445
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 1342

Book Description
The long-awaited magnum opus from Haruki Murakami, in which this revered and bestselling author gives us his hypnotically addictive, mind-bending ode to George Orwell's 1984. The year is 1984. Aomame is riding in a taxi on the expressway, in a hurry to carry out an assignment. Her work is not the kind that can be discussed in public. When they get tied up in traffic, the taxi driver suggests a bizarre 'proposal' to her. Having no other choice she agrees, but as a result of her actions she starts to feel as though she is gradually becoming detached from the real world. She has been on a top secret mission, and her next job leads her to encounter the superhuman founder of a religious cult. Meanwhile, Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange disturbance that develops over a literary prize. While Aomame and Tengo impact on each other in various ways, at times by accident and at times intentionally, they come closer and closer to meeting. Eventually the two of them notice that they are indispensable to each other. Is it possible for them to ever meet in the real world?

The Brazilian Cat (Cryptofiction Classics - Weird Tales of Strange Creatures)

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1473399343
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 38

Book Description
This early work by Arthur Conan Doyle was originally published in 1898 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography as part of our Cryptofiction Classics series. 'The Brazilian Cat' is a short story about an enormous and captivating black cat. Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1859. It was between 1876 and 1881, while studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh, that he began writing short stories, and his first piece was published in 'Chambers's Edinburgh Journal' before he was 20. In 1887, Conan Doyle's first significant work, iA Study in Scarlet', appeared in 'Beeton's Christmas Annual'. It featured the first appearance of detective Sherlock Holmes, the protagonist who was to eventually make Conan Doyle's reputation. The Cryptofiction Classics series contains a collection of wonderful stories from some of the greatest authors in the genre, including Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack London. From its roots in cryptozoology, this genre features bizarre, fantastical, and often terrifying tales of mythical and legendary creatures. Whether it be giant spiders, werewolves, lake monsters, or dinosaurs, the Cryptofiction Classics series offers a fantastic introduction to the world of weird creatures in fiction.

The Blue Cat of Castle Town

Author: Catherine Cate Coblentz
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486815277
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 131

Book Description
"The blue cat is like a knight on a quest. His quest is to find a hearth to fit the song the river taught him and to teach the owner of the hearth to sing that song"--Jacket.