"A very graceful, erudite job . . . extraordinarily revealing."?The New York Times Thirty years after its first publication, Womansword remains a timely, provocative work on how words reflect female s
From one of the authors of Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar comes Speak and Read Chinese, a simple, fun guide that helps language learners remember essential Chinese characters.Students and teachers
?Generally regarded as Okinawa's most adventurous and promising writer of fiction today.”?Michael S. Molasky, University of MinnesotaIn the Woods of Memory is a powerful, thought-provoking novel that
This memoir explores the intense and unlikely relationship that grows between a Japanese master and an American student, both exiles from their own cultures who find refuge in the three strings of th
In February 2004, when her American husband, a recently ordained Zen monk, leaves home to train for a year at a centuries-old Buddhist monastery, Tracy Franz embarks on her own year of Zen. An Alaskan
A complete handbook for learning to read and write Japanese hiragana, the syllabary that is the first of Japan's three writing systems introduced to all beginning students. Using real-world examples,
A complete handbook for learning to read and write Japanese katakana, the syllabary that is the second of Japan's three writing systems introduced to all beginning students. Using real-world examples,
After Pearl Harbor, little Marie Mitsui’s typical life of school and playing with friends in San Francisco is upended. Her family and thousands of others of Japanese heritage are under suspicion and f
How is China organized politically? What are the issues that young people face in today's China? What is China doing about its problem with pollution? Is the Chinese internet like our internet? What's
Oh, Tama! describes the haphazard lives of Natsuyuki Kanemitsu and his loosely connected circle of dysfunctional acquaintances and family. Natsuyuki is prevailed upon by his friend Alexandre, an occas
Buddhism has permeated Japanese life and thought so deeply that knowledge of it is essential for a true understanding of any aspect of Japanese culture. This dictionary, with nearly five thousand entr
Since its first publication in 1992, this book has become a curious classic, taking a simple (yet often incorrectly performed) activity and depicting it with a graphic, manga-style edge. In twelve dra
Osamu Dazai is one of the most famous—and infamous—writers of 20th-century Japan. A Shameful Life (Ningen shikkaku) is his final published work and has become a bestselling classic for its
Mukoda's wonderful stories vividly present the strengths and sorrows of modern Japanese women.--Gail Tsukiyama "Superbly rendered into English."--Publishers Weekly
Teruyo Nogami was a relative newcomer to film production when hired as a continuity/script assistant on Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. A witness to its filming—and its near destruction in a fire—over the
Yasujiro Ozu’s 1953 Tokyo Story is regularly rated among the top films ever made and will soon be reissued on DVD. Ozu and cowriter Kogo Noda viewed the script as literature; once completed, it was li
Kazuo Nakamoto's life in inner-city Tokyo is one of tea and tofu, of American TV and rock 'n' roll. Kazuo is nine. It is the mid-1960s, just after the Japan Olympics, and Kazuo dreams of being a track
