MONKEY New Writing from Japan

Winner of the Sakutaro Hagiwara Prize and the Murasaki Shikibu Prize

Caught between two cultures, award-winning author Hiromi Ito tackles subjects like aging, death, and suffering with dark humor, illuminating the bittersweet joys of being alive.

The first novel to appear in English by award-winning author Hiromi Ito explores the absurdities, complexities, and challenges experienced by a woman caring for her two families: her husband and daughters in California and her aging parents in Japan. As the narrator shuttles back and forth between these two starkly different cultures, she creates a powerful and entertaining narrative about what it means to live and die in a globalized society.

Ito has been described as a “shaman of poetry” because of her skill in allowing the voices of others to flow through her. Here she enriches her semi-autobiographical novel by channeling myriad voices drawn from Japanese folklore, poetry, literature, and pop culture. The result is a generic chimera—part poetry, part prose, part epic—a unique, transnational, polyvocal mode of storytelling. One throughline is a series of memories associated with the Buddhist bodhisattva Jizo, who helps to remove the “thorns” of human suffering.

2018 Foreword Indie Awards Winner

Going to Japan? This unfussy modern guide guarantees you keep it polite and get it right!

This guide to common courtesy, acceptable behavior, and manners is essential for any visitor to Japan. Japanese are unfailingly polite and will never tell you if you've crossed the line. But by knowing how to act in every situation you'll gain the respect of your hosts and in the end get even better service and enjoyment during your travels. Covered here are all the essentials—like travel, greetings, dining—plus subtle niceties like tone of voice, body language, cell phone usage, city vs. country styles, and attire (and what to do about your tattoos!).

The author, a 25-year resident of Japan and tourist adviser who lives on the fabled Inland Sea, knows just what foreign visitors need and delivers it in a smart, compact, and delightfully illustrated package for quick use and reference.

2023 FOREWORD INDIES BOOK OF THE YEAR GOLD WINNER FOR TRAVEL

Observations on the people, culture, and history of Japan from a long-time resident riding the rails along the less-traveled western coastline.

This journey the length of Japan takes the reader off the beaten tracks to explore some of the country's remoter regions along the Japan Sea—from Wakkanai in northern Hokkaido to Ibusuki in southern Kyushu—in a fascinating mix of travelogue, anecdote, and personal memoir. At each of the thirty stops along the journey the author, who has lived in Japan for thirty years, goes in quest of the spirit of place, determined to highlight what makes it special. Mixing comments on landscape and culture, the author was inspired by Alan Booth and Donald Richie and brings a contemporary perspective to his writing. The text provides some practical information on travel by rail and railway lines, but goes into far more depth and personal observation than a conventional guidebook for tourists.

2024 International Rubery Book Awards Winner | 2023 American Writing Awards Finalist | 2023 Foreword Indies Awards Finalist | 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist

Joiner's second novel set in the fabled Kanazawa area is an intimate yet understated look at an American who seeks recovery after his marriage to a Japanese woman has failed.

After Nozomi abandons Sedge and their marriage, taking all their money and leaving him with a ceramics shop he can’t manage alone, her brother and his wife offer him a lifeline at their Japanese hot spring inn until he can get back on his feet. As he proceeds forward from this devastation in his life, he becomes involved with the wife of the man Nozomi ran off with as well as her stepson, a troubled 16-year-old whose jealousy and potential for violence contrasts with his interest in birds, origami, and the haiku of Matsuo Basho. What unfolds in the shadow of “the immortal mountain of cranes” will change their lives forever.

Set in Kanazawa and Yamanaka Onsen near the Sea of Japan, The Heron Catchers explores the importance of recognizing suffering both in others and in oneself, of being compassionate, and of trusting those who offer love in the shattering wake of loss.

The Heron Catchers is the second in a series of novels set in and around the Japanese city of Kanazawa.

Tokyo Stroll is the best guidebook for travelers who want to wander the streets and discover the city as it unfolds before their eyes. There is no "start at point A and go to point B" prescribed route. Instead you are invited to wander as whimsy takes you. This guide includes:

• Over 600 locations to satisfy any interest including historical sites, art museums, upscale ryotei dining, traditional craft shops, shrines and temples, and remarkable architecture both traditional and stunningly modern
• 22 neighborhoods of Tokyo to experience, from the bright, bustling Shibuya to the serene shrines and temples of lesser-known Yanesen

• 150 maps to help you navigate, download the map markers for locations in Tokyo Stroll to your phone or tablet for easy access
• 75 full-page photos
• Practical advice on preparing your trip, with information on the best times of year to go, as well as how to use public transport and change money when you get there
• A primer on useful phrases and etiquette so you’re never left wondering
• Day trips to get you out of the city with advice on transportation
• A focus on history and businesses that have stood the test of time, often over 100 years
• A glossary of Japanese terms and an index

A stunning historical graphic novel depicting the lives of four Japanese immigrants living in San Francisco between 1904 and 1924.

A singular and significant achievement, a "documentary comic book" published in San Francisco in 1931, depicting the true adventures of four young Japanese men in America between 1904 and 1924. Written and illustrated by Henry Yoshitaka Kiyama (ヘンリー木山義喬)—who emigrated from Japan at the age of 19, this is a stunning historical source that depicts the immigrant experience in California in what is one of the earliest examples of the graphic novel.

Translated with copious notes and a foreword by Frederik L. Schodt, the translation works to preserve the multilingual character of the original, which included Japanese, Cantonese, and English text.