A revealing look at contemporary Japanese culture.

This masterfully written collection of short essays by the acknowledged Western expert on Japanese culture and film spans thirty years and ranges broadly over subjects as diverse as the Noh theater, fashion, television, Tokyo Disneyland, language, the kiss, and, of course, film. Donald Richie's twenty-eight essays present cross-sections of Japan's enormous creative accomplishments during the nation's rise to economic and cultural power.

In detailing the affair between a garden designer and his client's wife, this stylistic Japanese novel explores the roots of passion.

Mizue is a Japanese housewife. Kase is a garden designer hired by her husband to landscape their home. As the garden takes shape, Mizue awakens to a new sensuality and desire. A disturbing tale of seduction, based on Japanese aesthetics and the artistic pursuit of destructive beauty.

Tachihara Masaaki (1926-1980) was an award-winning Japanese novelist, essayist, poet and literary critic of Korean descent, active during the Shōwa period. Wind and Stone is his only full-length novel in English.

Enjoy delicious Japanese food in some of Kyoto's most tucked-away and spectacular townhouses.

Machiya, or townhouses, are traditional wooden dwellings in Kyoto that evoke the elegance and culture of Japan's old capital with their architectural details, beautiful gardens, and intimate rooms. Many have been converted into restaurants to create unforgettable dining experiences.

Enjoying healthy food in a historic, traditional Kyoto environment is a rare pleasure. Here are some 130 restaurant listings (food, decor, hours, addresses, prices, maps, and index) and a photographic guide to machiya architecture, culture, and aesthetics.

Tenryu-ji: One of Kyoto's most revered Zen temples and a monument to Japanese history, viewed through its monks, gardens, prayers, and art.

This illustrated study of Tenryuji, ranked number one among the five great Zen temples of Kyoto and a major destination for tourism and worship, weaves together history, design, culture, and personal reflection to reveal the inner workings of a great spiritual institution.

Looking at Tenryuji's present as a mirror to its past, and detailing the famous pond and rockwork composition by renowned designer Muso Soseki, Norris Brock Johnson presents the first full-length "biography" of a Zen temple garden.

The Gundam creator's own vision of his spectacularly successful cult franchise, new fans and old will find something in this essential reimagining of Mobile Suit Gundam.

In the world of the near future, an epic war rages between the Earth Federation and the rebel space colonies that call themselves the Principality of Zeon. The most fearsome weapons of the new era are the robotic vehicles known as mobile suites, armored giants with the firepower of battleships.

The Federation has pinned its hopes for victory on its advanced mobile suit prototypes, but when a young cadet named Amuro Ray becomes the pilot of the Gundam mobile suit, he discovers that machines alone will not be the decisive factor in the conflict. For a new stage of human evolution is dawning, and the future—if humanity has a future—may well belong to the Newtypes.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation returns to the Universal Century timeline, following the characters of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable. Tomino, Gundam's creator, provides a new take on the events of the original series in this novelization.