Category: Japan

By Yasuo Kuwahara, Gordon T. Allred

Initially released in 1957, this enduring classic—the first-ever English publication cowritten by means of a jap suicide pilot—remains a touching and insightful check out the area of the kamikaze. This version, now thoroughly revised, displays the precious perception and point of view received by way of the writer because the time of the book’s preliminary book. From the age of 15, Yasuo Kuwahara started a lifetime of army carrier that incorporated affliction via brutal easy education, partaking in ferocious aerial wrestle opposed to the Allies, and heading off a suicide venture whilst an atomic bomb used to be dropped in Hiroshima, close to his homeland. From being handpicked for kamikaze provider to discovering the self-discipline to die for the emperor, this historical past offers a firsthand account of the attention-grabbing lifetime of a kamikaze fighter pilot.

Because the finish of the chilly battle, Japan's safeguard setting has replaced considerably. whereas, at the worldwide point, the us continues to be Japan's most vital defense companion, the character of the partnership has replaced due to moving calls for from the USA, new foreign demanding situations similar to the North Korean nuclear programme and the quick upward push of China.

At an identical time, Japan has been faced with new, non-traditional protection threats comparable to overseas terrorism, the unfold of infectious ailments, and worldwide environmental difficulties. at the household point, demographic switch, labour migration, fiscal decline, place of work lack of confidence, and a weakening effect of coverage projects problem the sustainability of the approach to life of many eastern and feature ended in a heightened experience of lack of confidence one of the eastern public.

This booklet specializes in the family discourse on lack of confidence in Japan and is going past army safeguard. The chapters disguise matters similar to Japan s growing to be notion of nearby and international lack of confidence; the altering function of army forces; the perceived probability of chinese language international funding; societal, cultural and labour lack of confidence and the way it's plagued by demographic alterations and migration; in addition to nutrition lack of confidence and its demanding situations to wellbeing and fitness and public coverage. every one bankruptcy asks how the japanese public perceives those insecurities; how those perceptions impression the general public discourse, the most stakeholders of this discourse, and the way this impacts state-society family and govt rules. "

Governing lack of confidence in Japan offers new insights into jap and foreign discourses on safeguard and lack of confidence, and the ways that safety is conceptualized in Japan. As such, it will likely be of curiosity to scholars and students engaged on jap politics, safety stories and foreign relations.

By Rebecca Otowa

PICKED AS the most effective BOOKS OF 2013 by way of THE organization OF BOOKSELLERS FOR CHILDREN!

A ideal advent to jap tradition for children, My outstanding Japan Adventure is the diary of an American 5th grader who travels to Japan to spend 4 fascinating months with a eastern family members as an alternate scholar. He documents all his adventures during this diary in order that he can inform his buddies again domestic approximately what he did and observed in the course of his time in Japan. With the aid of a jap foster brother and sister he visits a Ninja village, attempts new meals, learns brush portray, and will get the interior scoop on lifestyle in a jap college. Readers of every age will love experiencing existence in Japan from a kid's aspect of view!

Dan's adventures comprise: My First Week of faculty, vacationing a Ninja Village, enjoyable with Origami, training Aikido, Making Mochi, and masses more… As a multicultural children's booklet, My remarkable Japan Adventure is ideal for children who are looking to discover one other tradition and feature enjoyable within the approach!

By Toshihiko Hara

This is often the booklet to target a brand new phenomenon rising within the twenty-first century: the quickly getting older and lowering inhabitants of a well-developed kingdom, particularly, Japan. The that means of this phenomenon has been effectively clarified because the attainable historic final result of the demographic transition from excessive beginning and dying premiums to low ones. Japan has entered the post-demographic transitional section and should be the fastest-shrinking society on the earth, top different Asian nations which are experiencing an analogous drastic alterations. the writer used the historic facts, compiled through the Statistic Bureau, Ministry of inner Affairs and Communications in 2006 and inhabitants projections for published in 2012 by means of the nationwide Institute of inhabitants and Social safeguard learn, to teach the earlier and destiny improvement of the dependency ratio from 1891 to 2060. Then, using the inhabitants lifestyles desk and web replica price, the results of accelerating lifestyles expectancy and declining fertility at the dependency ratio have been saw individually. eventually, the ancient relationships between women’s survival premiums at reproductive age, the theoretical fertility price to take care of the alternative point and the recorded overall fertility price (TFR) have been analyzed. ancient remark confirmed TFR adapting to the theoretical point of fertility with a definite time lag and reminiscent of women’s survival premiums at reproductive age. Women’s expanding lifespan and survival charges may have prompted selection making to reduce the danger of childbearing. whether the theoretical fertility expense meets the substitute point, women’s perspectives of minimizing the danger may perhaps stay unchanged simply because for ladies the cost–benefit imbalance in childbearing continues to be too excessive in Japan. in response to the findings, the writer discusses the sustainability of jap society on the subject of nationwide funds, social safeguard reform, relatives guidelines, immigration rules and neighborhood polices.

By Ruth Ozeki

The excellent fiction better half to The Omnivore's Dilemma and In protection of Food

Now that Michael Pollan's New York Times bestsellers have unfolded a countrywide discussion approximately the place meals rather comes from, conscientious readers all over the place probably want to consume My yr of Meats. while documentarian Jane Takagi-Little eventually lands a role generating a eastern tv express that simply occurs to be backed through the yankee meat-exporting undefined, she starts off to discover a few unsavory truths approximately love, fertility, and a truly harmful hormone referred to as DES. A modern day tackle Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, veteran filmmaker Ruth Ozeki's novel has been hailed as "rare and provocative" (USA Today) and "up-to-the-minute" (Chicago Tribune).

By Yukiko Tanaka

As Japan shifted from an agricultural nation prior to 1950 to an industrialized state in much less time than the other constructed kingdom, ladies felt the strain of the shift. Husbands labored longer hours, leaving the entire loved ones chores and baby rearing to their better halves whereas pleasing their responsibilites as company squaddies. The economic system used to be fueled via a diligent, well-educated, low-paid team, yet gender position department grew to become much more inflexible. family earning rose and development in components resembling diets, transportation, and relaxation have been made; glossy home equipment additionally made it attainable for moms to have part-time jobs. yet pollutants additionally rose, as did costs, and crowded dwelling stipulations started to impinge on family members existence. Tanaka, who has spent a long time on reflection at her state from an American standpoint, examines marriage, motherhood, employment, independence, women's routine, and previous age for ladies in Japan over the past 50 years.

Showing for the 1st time in English, the writings during this assortment replicate probably the most cutting edge and influential paintings by means of eastern intellectuals lately. the quantity bargains a unprecedented and much-needed window into the an important rules and positions at present shaping eastern concept (shiso).

In addressing the political, ancient, and cultural concerns that experience ruled eastern society, those essays go quite a number disciplines, together with literary conception, philosophy, background, gender experiences, and cultural reviews. members research Japan's imperialist and nationalist prior in addition to representations and remembrances of this heritage. in addition they critique contemporary efforts in eastern right-wing circles to erase or vague the extra troubling elements of Japan's colonial firm in East Asia. different essays discover how Japan has seen itself in regard to the West and the complicated impact of Western proposal on jap highbrow and political life.

The volume's groundbreaking essays on problems with gender and the contested position of feminist notion in Japan speak about the similarities among the emotional bullying of ladies who don't settle for conventional gender roles and teasing in colleges; how the japanese have followed components of Western orientalism to discredit feminism; and ancient structures of jap motherhood.

By Alan Spence

My early life identify was once Iwajiro, and that i was once 8 years previous while I first entered on the gates of hell...

One evening in eighteenth-century Japan, on the hour of the Ox, a tender boy named Iwajiro sits in a nation of natural focus. on the foot of Mount Fuji, in the back of monitor partitions and amidst curls of incense smoke Iwajiro chants the Tenjin Sutra, an act of devotion realized from his loved mother.

On the part of a similar mountain, 20 years on, he'll take a seat in excellent stillness because the summit erupts, spitting hearth and molten rock onto the land round him. this isn't the 1st time he has obvious hell.

This guy turns into Hakuin, one of many maximum lecturers within the heritage of Zen. His quest for fact will name on him to defy his father, to stand demise, to discover love and to lose it. he'll ask, what's the sound of 1 hand clapping? And he'll grasp his maximum worry. evening Boat is the tale of his super existence.

About the Author

Alan Spence is an award-winning Scottish poet, playwright, novelist and brief tale author. Awards comprise the Glenfiddich Award, The People's Prize, Macallan brief tale Prize and McVitie Prize for Scottish author of the 12 months. he's Professor in inventive Writing on the collage of Aberdeen the place he based the once a year notice competition in 1999 and used to be its inventive Director for 12 years. along with his spouse he runs the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Centre in Edinburgh.

By Curtis Andressen

A complete historical past of the land of the emerging sunlight, from its old origins to its attention-grabbing current. Few international locations were the topic of a lot scholarly cognizance but stay so elusive. An more and more time-honored kingdom via shared tourism and company relationships, there's nonetheless greatly approximately Japan and its earlier that defies categorization or generalization; very much that leaves the customer wondered. Who precisely are the japanese? Are they peace-loving or warlike? Creators of stunningly attractive paintings varieties or destroyers of pristine ordinary environments? Isolationist or expansionist? thoughtful of different cultures or arrogantly dismissive? prepared contributors of the overseas group or shy and scared of enticing with others? Deeply conventional or hugely Westernised? Wildly profitable or perched at the fringe of bankruptcy? Japan has lengthy been characterised through such deeply divergent interpretations. the following, Curtis Andressen delves into Japan's giant historical past to provide an explanation for the present demanding situations the rustic faces. From the sunrise of time while the 1st settlers arrived within the islands of Japan, via feudalism with its heavy imprint of authoritarianism to 20th-century adventurism, American career, breakneck financial development and modern uncertainty, Andressen strains the main facets of jap tradition and the way those have manifested within the country's political process, financial system and society to create a special id. it's meant for somebody with a realistic cause of figuring out extra approximately Japan - scholars, academics, guests, company humans - in addition to these for whom clean insights into Japan's wealthy tradition and exact historical past could make compelling analyzing.

By Janet Hunter

In the course of the interval of industrialisation in Japan from the 1870s to the Nineteen Thirties, the fabric was once Japan's biggest production undefined, and the country's significant resource of export gains. It had a predominantly lady labour strength, drawn generally from the rural population.This booklet examines the associations of the labour industry of this serious in this vital interval for jap monetary improvement. in line with vast unique learn, the publication offers a wealth of element, exhibiting among different issues the complexity of the labour marketplace, the interdependence of the rural and production sectors, and the significance of gender. It argues that the labour industry associations which constructed during this interval had a profound impact at the labour marketplace and labour relatives within the postwar years.