Showing titles in Japan

Discover the mystical creation of Takamagahara, where gods and goddesses shaped the sacred mythology that defines Japan. Dive into empowering tales of extraordinary heroes who straddle the realms of gods and mortals. From benevolent spirits to awe-inspiring creatures, explore a world where the extraordinary mingles with everyday life.

We discover why appreciating the beauty of sakura, cherry blossom, allows for a moment to deeply experience a season through a single entity (Cherish). In the traditional tea ceremony, we see the importance of kiwameru, the Japanese word for achieving mastery or perfection (Perfect). In umami, we taste how something simple and delicious can nourish the heart (Savour). We explore why the things left unsaid, ma, are just as important as the words we say (Harmonise).

This illuminating study explores the ways in which the shattering defeat of the Japanese in World War II, followed by over six years of American military occupation, affected every level of Japanese society. The author describes the countless ways in which the Japanese met the challenge of "starting over", from top-level manipulations concerning the fate of Emperor Hirohito to the hopes, fears, and activities of ordinary men and women in every walk of life.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Japan Story written and read by Christopher Harding. This is a fresh and surprising account of Japan's culture from the 'opening up' of the country in the mid-nineteenth century to the present. It is told through the eyes of people who greeted this...

A classic of Japanese history, this audiobook is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal Japan to the post-Cold War period and collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture.

In 24 Hours in Shogun’s Japan, Mark Hudson brings this pivotal moment to life through the eyes of 24 individuals—nobles and farmers, merchants and monks, pirates and poets—each living through one dramatic hour of a single day. From the streets of Kyoto to the slopes of Mount Fuji, this book offers an immersive portrait of this fascinating era of Japanese history.

'A superbly revealing account of a dreadful and profoundly sad war' ALASTAIR CAMPBELL 'This extraordinary book gives us a unique insight into why and how Japan fought such an appalling war' NICK HEWER A new perspective on Japan during the Asia-Pacific War, using remarkable first-hand Japanese...

From the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police press club: a unique, firsthand, revelatory look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up. At nineteen, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life...

Shinto, the indigenous faith of the Japanese people, continues to fascinate and mystify both the casual visitor to Japan and the long-time resident. Relatively unknown among the religions of the world, Shinto: The Kami Way provides an enlightening window into this Japanese faith.

Discover fascinating ancient Japanese fairy tales as well as the folk tales of the Ainu/Aino. The first book in this collection, titled Japanese Fairy Tales, was written by Iwaya Sazanami and translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki, a 20th-century translator of Japanese short stories and fairy tales. The second book in this collection is a rare one that is not usually available in audio format: Aino Folk-Tales by Basil Chamberlain, one of the most prominent British Japanologists active in Japan during the latter half of the 19th century.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ‘A stunning book, among the most immediate and thrilling works of history I have ever read’ At 8:15am on August 6th 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In an instant, the temperature at its core rose to millions of degrees...

Beginning with Pearl Harbor, renowned historian Donald Macintyre charts the course of the Pacific war through the major battles that shaped World War Two: Java Sea, Coral Sea, Midway, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf. Of course, the Pacific theater was shaped not only by naval actions but also by closely interlocking military campaigns. Macintyre brings these amphibious struggles, which were more ferocious and wide-ranging than the world had ever seen, to the forefront of listeners' minds and demonstrates just why the Allies were able to emerge victorious.

From a leading expert in Japanese history, this is one of the first full histories of the art and culture of the Samurai warrior. The Samurai emerged as a warrior caste in Medieval Japan and would have a powerful influence on the history and culture of the country from the next 500 years. Clements also looks at the Samurai wars that tore Japan apart in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the caste was finally demolished in the advent of the mechanized world.

In 1676, a ninja named Fujibayashi collected and combined information from the ninja clans of Iga—regarded to be the homeland of the ninja—and compiled it into an authoritative book. Known as The Bansenhukai, Fujibayashi's book has now been translated into English by the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team and is widely considered to be the "bible" of ninjutsu, the arts of the ninja.

For nearly a thousand years, the samurai stood at the heart of Japan’s history—warriors of the sword, guardians of tradition, and ultimately casualties of modern change. Their story is one of loyalty and betrayal, war and peace, honour and decline. To understand the samurai is to understand Japan itself, for no other class shaped the nation’s destiny so profoundly. The Rise and Fall of the Samurai traces this extraordinary journey through ten defining moments.

Almost 24 hours to the minute since the tsunami hit Fukushima Daiichi, Unit 1 exploded. The building wrenched apart, sending shards of irradiated concrete and metal knifing through the air in all directions. The reactor’s massive heavy-duty gantry crane bent like a twig and collapsed onto the refueling floor control room, crushing everything that wasn’t expelled in the blast. Outside, chunks of debris rained down on the fire crew, injuring five and shredding the hoses they had just laid.

 Few events have ever shaken a country in the way that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor affected the United States. After the devastating attack, Japanese forces continued to overwhelm the Allies, attacking Malaya with its fortress of Singapore, and taking resource-rich islands in the Pacific - Borneo, Sumatra, and Java - in their own blitzkrieg offensive. Allied losses in these early months after America's entry into the war were great, and among the most devastating were those suffered during the Java Sea Campaign.

This highly regarded war memoir was a best seller in both Japan and the United States during the 1960s and has long been treasured by historians for its insights into the Japanese side of the surface war in the Pacific. The author was a survivor of more than one hundred sorties against the Allies and was known throughout Japan as the Unsinkable Captain.

Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of China. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments in the name of science and Japan's wartime chemical and biological warfare research. Author Hal Gold draws upon a wealth of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities.

‘Excellent’ Antony Beevor ‘Saul David is a brilliant historian … In shocking and jaw-dropping detail, he brings a battle that deserves far greater prominence and understanding vividly back to life’ James Holland From award-winning historian Saul David, an action-packed and powerful new...