When Americans think of Japan, many think about some combination of geishas, Mt. Fuji, Pearl Harbor, anime, and karate. But these things are the tip of the iceberg – Japan encompasses so much more. The historic isolation of this nation of islands, both geographic and political, has led to the development of a culture and language quite unlike its neighbors.
I visited there in the summer of 2008 – a fulfillment of a dream – and found the country breathtakingly beautiful, immaculately clean, and with a dynamic and ever-changing balance between the commercial and spiritual.
One of my best memories is that of the day I took part in a hands-on class on the craft of
shibori, which is analogous to western tie-dying, but brought to high art. Craft, in Japan, is highly respected, and merges into the spiritual. My
shibori tapestry depicted
tsuki no usagi – the rabbit in the moon.
I watched advanced
judoka (judo students) practice judo, attended a
kabuki performance, and visited the 5th station on iconic Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji was also visible when I took a ferry across Lake Ashi on a perfect summer evening, a vermillion
torii off our port bow.
A companion and I visited the famous Tsukiji Fish Market and saw a whole tuna that would sell for $10,000. We watched a wholesale vegetable auction, which was more fascinating than it sounds. A vendor told me that everyone knew who would win each auction - the hotels which had the deepest pockets - but the day’s selling price was to be determined. On another day we were delighted with a traditional
kaiseki dinner, a type of cuisine where diners are served dozens of small dishes to explore and savor.
Although the concept of “ice cream” was imported from America, the Japanese came up with their own flavors, some of which have migrated, in their turn, back to the USA. For example, I tasted
matcha ice cream, a startling green dessert made with green-tea powder. I’m still not sure whether I’d choose that flavor again. On the other hand, I didn’t even try
ikasumi, which is squid-ink ice cream…
We delayed our bullet-train ride from Kyoto to Tokyo to attend an outdoor ceramics festival. From one of the hundreds of vendors I bought a small dish decorated with a clay-slip hedgehog. The word for “hedgehog” in Japanese, literally translated back to English, is “needle mouse”! Other vendors sold elegant vessels for
chanoyu - the highly ritualized tea ceremony.
We climbed, step by polished wooden step, to the top of Himeji castle on a day hotter than I’d ever experienced before, and that afternoon, ate
udon noodles hotter yet, just out of the cooking pot.
So, if you'd like to go deeper and wider than the overdone Hollywood stereotypes, the library has almost 2100 items that are cataloged under "Subject: Japan", which we invite you to explore.
Few of us are traveling these days due to Covid-19, but here is a selection of items from all over our adult collections – the texts, performances, and photographs might be your conveyance to a virtual sojourn in this most intriguing land. Bon voyage!
Pop culture:
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Raiga : god of the monsters (DVD); call number JAPANESE DVD RAIGA
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Be more Japan : the art of Japanese living; call number 306.0952 BE
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A manga lover's Tokyo travel guide : [my favorite things to see and do in Japan! by Evangeline Neo; call number GRAPHIC 915.213504 NEO
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A geek in Japan : [discovering the land of manga, anime, Zen, and the tea ceremony] by Héctor GarcÃa; call number 915.2045 GARCIA
Martial Arts:
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The way of kata : a comprehensive guide to deciphering martial applications by Lawrence Kane; call number 796.815 KANE
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Kodokan judo : throwing techniques by Toshiro Daigo; call number 796.8152 DAIGO
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Black belt karate by Hirokazu Kanazawa; call number 796.8153 KANAZAWA
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A history of the samurai : legendary warriors of Japan by Jonathan López-Vera
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Beginning go by Peter Shotwell; call number 794.4 SHOTWELL
Crafts and Fine Arts:
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Japan style : architecture + interiors + design by Kimie Tada; call number 747.0952 TADA
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Infinity : the life and art of Yayoi Kusama directed by Heather Lenz; call number DVD 709.2 KUSAMA
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One hundred aspects of the moon : Japanese woodblock prints by Yoshitoshi by Tamara Tjardes; call number 769.952 TJARDES
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Netsuke : 100 miniature masterpieces from Japan by Noriko Tsuchiya; call number 736.7 TSUCHIYA 2015
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The Art of Kintsugi : Learning the Japanese Craft of Beautiful Repair by Alexandra Kitty; coming soon!
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Japanese design : art, aesthetics & culture by Patricia Jane Graham; call number 745.0952 GRAHAM
Gastronomy:
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Cook anime : eat like your favorite character--from Bento to Yakisoba by Diana Ault; call number 641.5952 AULT
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Let's make ramen! : a comic book cookbook by Hugh Amano; call number 641.822 AMANO
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Japanese kitchen knives : essential techniques and recipes by Hiromitsu Nozaki
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The book of tea : beauty, simplicity and the Zen aesthetic by Kakuzo Okakura; call number 394.150952 OKAKURA
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Just enough : vegan recipes and stories from Japan's Buddhist temples by Claire Gesshin Greenwood; call number 641.56362 GREENWOO
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Gyoza : the ultimate dumpling cookbook by Paradise Yamamoto; call number 641.8 YAMAMOTO
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Rice, noodle, fish : deep travels through Japan's food culture by Matt Goulding; call number 641.5952 GOULDING
Geography/Tourism:
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Tokyo travel sketchbook : Kawaii culture, wabi sabi design, female samurais and other obsessions by Amaia Arrazola; coming soon!
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A beginner's guide to Japan : observations and provocations by Pico Iyer; call number 952.05 IYER
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Hokkaido highway blues : hitchhiking Japan by Will Ferguson; call number 915.204 F353h
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Looking for the lost : journeys through a vanishing Japan by Alan Booth; call number 915.2 B725l
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111 places in Tokyo that you shouldn't miss by Christine Izeki; call number 915.2135 IZEKI
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Seeing Kyoto by Juliet Winters Carpenter; call number OVERSIZE 915.21 CARPENTE
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Tokyo on foot : travels in the city's most colorful neighborhoods by Florent Chavouet; call number 741.5 CHAVOUET
Performing Arts:
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Kissing the mask : beauty, understatement, and femininity in Japanese Noh theater : with some thoughts on muses (especially Helga Testorf), transgender women, kabuki goddesses, porn queens, poets, housewives, makeup artists, geishas, valkyries, and Venus figurines by William Vollman; call number 305.40952 VOLLMANN
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The lovers' exile [Bunraku puppet theater]; call number DVD 792 LOVER'S
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Folk songs of Japanese children by Donald Paul Berger; call number MUSIC SCORE 784.4952 B496f
Literary:
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Forty-seven samurai : a tale of vengeance & death in haiku and letters by Hiroaki Sato; call number 952.02 SATO
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The Tale of Genji : a visual companion by Melisa McCormick; call number 895.6314 TALE
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Classical Japanese prose : an anthology by Helen McCullough; call number 895.608 C614
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Japanese stories for language learners : bilingual stories in Japanese and English; call number 495.684 JAPANESE
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The travelling cat chronicles by Hiro Arikawa; call number FICTION ARIKAWA
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In ghostly Japan by Lafacadio Hearn; call number CS 915.2 H436i
Linguistics:
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15-minute Japanese : learn in just 12 weeks by Mitsuko Maeda-Nye; call number 495.6 MAEDANYE
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Japanese beyond words : how to walk and talk like a native speaker by Andrew Horvat; call number 495.6 H823j
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Japanese in plain English by Boye De Mente; call number 495.68 D376j
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Let's learn Hiragana by Yasuko Mitamura; call number 495.61 MITAMURA 2011
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Jazz up your Japanese with onomatopoeia : for all levels by Hiroko Fukuda; call number 495.68 FUKUDA 2012
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The complete guide to Japanese kanji : remembering and understanding the 2,136 standard characters by Christopher Seeley; call number 495.68 SEELEY
Spirituality:
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Zen garden design : mindful spaces by Shunmyo Masuno, Japan's leading garden designer by Mira Locher; call number 712.0952 LOCHER
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The book of ichigo ichie : the art of making the most of every moment, the Japanese way by Héctor GarcÃa
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A Pilgrimage in Japan : The 33 Temples of Kannon by Joan Stamm; call number 915 STAMM
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The essence of Shinto : Japan's spiritual heart by Motohisa Yamakage; call number 299.561 YAMAKAGE
Politics/International Relations:
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Night in the American village : women in the shadow of the U.S. military bases in Okinawa by Akemi Johnson; call number 305.40952 JOHNSON
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Three tigers, one mountain : a journey through the bitter history and current conflicts of China, Korea, and Japan
History:
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Memoirs of a kamikaze : a World War II pilot's inspiring story of survival, honor and reconciliation by Kazuo Odachi
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Stranger in the Shogun's city : a Japanese woman and her world by Amy Stanley; call number 952.135025 STANLEY
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Nisei linguists : Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II by James Mcnaughton; call number D 101.2:N 63
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African samurai : the true story of Yasuke, a legendary black warrior in feudal Japan by Thomas Lockley; call number 952.024092 LOCKLEY
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The bells of old Tokyo : meditations on time and a city by Anna Sherman; call number 952.135 SHERMAN
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Daughters of the Samurai : a journey from East to West and back by Janice Nimura; call number 920.72 NIMURA
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Prisoners of the empire : inside Japanese POW camps by Sarah Kovner; call number 940.547252 KOVNER
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Samurai castles : history, architecture, visitors' guides by Jennifer Mitchelhill; call number 728.81 MITCHELH
