Stone Bridge Press

A handy supplement for learning 300 of the most common Japanese words, works with any textbook!

Modeled on the same winning format as his Speak and Read Chinese, teacher Larry Herzberg's latest book offers simple, fun, and imaginative ways to remember essential Japanese words and characters. Mastering basic vocabulary and kanji is one of the first challenges any Japanese learner faces. This book addresses this task head-on, complementing the content of all major Japanese textbooks and providing valuable tips to independent students. Includes three hundred essential words and kanji from the first two years of study, indexed for quick reference.

An American sake expert takes you to a whole new level of insider knowledge and expertise.

With today's sake drinkers increasingly informed and adventurous, now is the time for a truly expert guide to take you deeper into appreciation of this complex but delightful Japanese beverage, brewed from rice and enjoyed both warm or chilled. And what better mentor than John Gauntner, the "Sake Guy" and the world's leading non-Japanese sake educator and evangelist? 

Here in over two dozen no-holds-barred essays, John reveals "the truth about sake" from a connected insider's perspective. No other book or website presents such a knowledgeable, practical, and concise yet complete guide to sake idiosyncrasies, misperceptions, and controversies. 

Sake Confidential is the perfect FAQ for beginners, experts, and sommeliers. Indexed for easy reference with suggested brands and label photos.

A comprehensive volume on major directors in the history of Japanese film.

This important work fills the need for a reasonably priced yet comprehensive volume on major directors in the history of Japanese film. With clear insight and without academic jargon, Jacoby examines the works of over 150 filmmakers to uncover what makes their films worth watching.

Included are artistic profiles of everyone from Yutaka Abe to Isao Yukisada, including masters like Kinji Fukasaku, Juzo Itami, Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Miike, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Yoji Yamada. Each entry includes a critical summary and filmography, making this book an essential reference and guide.

UK-based Alexander Jacoby is a writer and researcher on Japanese film.

Essential essays by the inimitable Donald Richie, who wrote on with unparalled acuity on Japanese art and culture.

No one has written more, or more artfully, about Japan and Japanese culture than Donald Richie. Richie moved to Tokyo just after World War II. And he is still there, still writing.

This book is the first compilation of the best of Richie's writings on Japan, with excerpts from his critical work on film (Richie helped introduce Japanese film to the West in the late 1950s) and his unpublished private journal, plus fiction, Zen musings, and masterful essays on culture, travel, people, and style. With a critical introduction and full bibliography.

CEO Shigetaka Komori's own story of why Fujifilm succeeded where Kodak failed . . .

In 2000, photographic film products made up 60% of Fujifilm's sales and up to 70% of its profit. Within ten years, digital cameras had destroyed that business. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy. Yet Fujifilm has boasted record profits and continues strong.

What happened? What did Fujifilm do? What do businesses today need from their leaders? What kinds of employees can help businesses thrive in the future? Here, the CEO who brought Fujifilm back from the brink explains how he engineered transformative organizational innovation and product diversification, with observations on his management philosophy.

A celebration of JA culture: facts, recipes, songs, words, and memories that every JA will want to share.

From immigration to discrimination and internment, and then to reparations and a high rate of intermarriage, Americans of Japanese descent share a long and sometimes painful history, and now fear their unique culture is being lost.

Gil Asakawa's celebration of what makes JAs so special is an entertaining blend of facts and features, of recipes, songs, and memories that every JA will want to share with friends and family. Included are interviews with famous JAs and a look at how it's hip to be Japanese, from manga to martial arts, plus a section on Japantown communities and tips for JA's scrapbooking their families and traveling to Japan to rediscover their roots.

Winner of the 2017 - 2018 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Translation Prize

Japan's most beloved memoir, from the early 20th century, "an extraordinarily beautiful evocation of the world of childhood."

Perhaps the most admired childhood memoir ever written in Japan, The Silver Spoon is a sharp detailing of life at the end of the Meiji period (1912) through the eyes of a boy as he grows into adolescence. Innocence fades as he slowly becomes aware of himself and others, while scene after scene richly evokes the tastes, lifestyles, landscapes, objects, and manners of a lost Japan.

A fascinating guide to themes and films in the expanding Japanese megaverse.

For fans, culture watchers, and perplexed outsiders, this expanded edition offers an engaging tour of the anime megaverse, from older artistic traditions to the works of modern creators like Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon, and CLAMP.

Examined are all of anime's major themes, styles, and conventions, plus the familiar tropes of giant robots, samurai, furry beasts, high school heroines, and gay/girl/fanboy love. Concluding are fifteen essays on favorite anime, including Evangelion, Escaflowne, Sailor Moon, Patlabor, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Winner of the 2011 Benjamin Franklin Award in the Self-Help category | Honorable Mention at the 2011 London Book Festival | Honorable Mention at the 2011 Green Book Festival | Finalist in the Environment/Green category of the 2010 National Indie Excellence Awards

Homespun wisdom from Japan updated for today's "green lifestyle" choices.

Starting with the notion that some traditions—like drinking green tea for health and mental acuity—embody timeless wisdom for living, Toshimi A. Kayaki offers dozens of wise old Japanese ways for improving how you look and feel while respecting nature and the environment.

Carry your own pair of chopsticks, wear five-toe socks, eat salty plums, use rice water as floor wax, do “eco-laundry,” and always set aside 10 percent for savings . . . you get the idea. By leading a “green tea life,” you’ll help yourself and the planet.

A collection of 600 proverbs in Chinese and English, capturing the enduring wisdom of China, for travelers and language students.

This treasury of Chinese wisdom presents over five hundred proverbs while offering keys to culture and language. Here are both the familiar, earnest sayings of Confucius and Lao Zi ("The longest journey begins with a single step") and the homespun truths of every day ("Teachers open the door; you enter by yourself"). Designed both for inspirational browsing and for students of language and culture, the text is organized by subject (Learning, Patience, Money, Family, Food, etc.) and provides commentary plus Chinese characters and pinyin romanization for each entry. Includes an index.

In Japanese gardens, composition follows from placement of the first stone; all elements and plantings become interconnected. These eight essays on Kyoto gardens similarly begin with keen description and build into richly meditative excursions into art, Buddhism, nature, and science.

Landscape architect Marc Keane shows how Japanese gardens are both a microcosm of the natural universe and a clear expression of our humanity, mirroring how we think, worship, and organize our lives and communities. Filled with passages of alluring beauty, this is a truly transcendent book about "experiencing" Japanese design.

China's hottest literary genre brings together the traditional, the experimental, and the avant-garde.

Hugely popular in China, flash fiction is poised to be the most exciting new development in contemporary Chinese literature in a decade. Integrating both vernacular and contemporary styles while embracing new technologies such as text messaging (SMS) and blogging, contemporary Chinese flash fiction represents the voice of a civilization at the brink of a startling and unprecedented transformation.

This collection features 120 short-short stories (from 100 to 300 words each), written by some of China's most dynamic and versatile authors. Dong Rui's The Pearl Jacket offers a glimpse of the real and surreal in human evolution, Chen Qiyou's Butterfly Forever brings an ancient Chinese literary motif into a startling modern context, while Liu Jianchao's Concerned Departments mocks the staggering complexity of life in the new urban China.

Traditional, experimental, and avant-garde, The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories will reinvigorate the position of young Chinese writers as a major presence in contemporary literature. Their voices breathe new energy into modern Chinese literature, leaving the literary and societal stagnation of the Cultural Revolution behind as a distant memory.

Learn to speak and write Chinese with confidence while avoiding common mistakes!

Here is a concise guide to supplement any course of study and help with homework, travel, and test preparation. Topics include word order, time, nouns, verbs, adjectives, word choices with verbs and adverbs, and letter writing. The simple format has one goal: quick mastery and growing confidence. This volume makes an ideal companion to any popular Chinese-language textbook, such as Integrated Chinese and New Practical Chinese Reader.

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 tale of English teacher Peter Meadowes, who flees to Kyoto for a summer vacation and finds himself lusting after every woman he sees . . .

Hot and sticky describes the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto in summer. And that is just the situation Peter Meadowes finds himself in when he flees to Kyoto for his summer vacation. During the rest of the year the middle-aged Meadowes teaches in Tokyo, a circumstance which conveniently enables him to leave his commanding wife (who hates Japan) back in England.

In the old capital Meadowes also expects to find relief from Noriko, his grim Japanese mistress. But in the small wood-and-paper Japanese house he has rented, he finds something unexpected: another woman to desire. Kazumi is seductive, yet she always manages to slip away. Then Noriko arrives, oddly possessive but sharing giggles with Kazumi—perhaps about Meadowes's prowess? Next on the scene is Miss Goto, polite, apologetic, a serious lover of theater who turns an elaborately staged seduction into a comedy of errors. When wife Monica shows up from England, Meadowes must choose . . . and fast.

John Haylock's novel vividly evokes the languid torpor of summer in the fabled city of temples and gardens. Yet hidden within this steamy farce about obsessive lust is an underbelly of duplicity, discontent, and fear. When making his choice, Peter Meadowes confronts the love-hate relationship that afflicts the typical gaijin—foreigner—in Japan. Remaining in Japan may be impossible, but escaping only creates the desire to return.

A timeless classic of Japanese children's literature: One night, alone on a hilltop, a young boy is swept aboard a magical train bound for the Milky Way.

This tender fable is a book of great wisdom and adventure, offering insight into the afterlife. Kenji Miyazawa (1896–1933), little known in his lifetime, went on to be one Japan's most celebrated literary figures of the early 20th century for his children's stories. Perhaps Miyazawa's most beloved story in Japan, this translation of the Milky Way Railroad is sure to delight both children and parents, and evoke the same wonder and poignancy familiar to fans of Studio Ghibli.

An American diplomat traveling the world over is grounded by a chance encounter with a haiku group.

Abigail Friedman was an American diplomat in Tokyo, not a writer. A chance encounter leads her to a haiku group, where she discovers poetry that anyone can enjoy writing. Her teacher and fellow haiku group members instruct her in seasonal flora and fauna, and gradually she learns to describe the world in plain words, becoming one of the millions in Japan who lead a haiku life.

This is the author's story of her literary and cultural voyage, and more: it is an invitation to readers to form their own neighborhood haiku groups and, like her, learn to see the world anew.

A luminous translation of the classic Buddhist poem

Japan's capital city of Kyoto was devastated by earthquake, storm, and fire in the late 12th century. Retreating from "this unkind world," the poet and Buddhist priest Kamo-no-Chomei left the capital for the forested mountains, where he eventually constructed his famous "ten-foot-square" hut.

From this solitary vantage point Chomei produced Hojoki, an extraordinary literary work that describes all he has seen of human misery and his new life of simple chores, walks, and acts of kindness. Yet at the end he questions his own sanity and the integrity of his purpose. Has he perhaps grown too attached to his detachment?

The first book in English to apply ancient Japanese Shinto traditions to daily spiritual fulfillment.

Complementing Buddhism, Shinto is Japan's 2,000-year-old worship tradition that celebrates the relationship of humans to the natural world. This modern-day collection of Shinto-inspired devotions shows the reader how to commune directly with Great Nature for health, wisdom, and serenity.

These litanies inspired by ancient Shinto rituals are a series of calls-and-response that directly address the awesome power of the natural world to heal and restore the soul. Readers are invited to stand before rivers, stones, and trees, to listen to thunder, and to be touched by the wind and rain in order to cultivate a spirit of reverence for Nature and awaken the cosmic content within the human. Included are steps for conducting misogi (waterfall purification) and resources for learning more about Shinto practice in North America.

An American girl of Japanese ancestry is exiled in her own country after Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.

After Pearl Harbor, little Marie Mitsui, who considers herself a typical American girl, sees her life of school and playing with friends in San Francisco totally upended. Her family and 120,000 others of Japanese ancestry are forcibly relocated to internment camps far from home. Living conditions in the camps are harsh, life after camp is similarly harsh, but in the end, as she and her family make their way back to San Francisco, Marie sees hope for the future.

Told from a child’s perspective, The Little Exile deftly conveys Marie’s innocence, wonder, fear, and outrage. Though names and some details have been altered, this is the author's own life story. She believes that underlying everyone's experience, no matter how varied, are threads of humanity that bind us all. It is her hope that readers of all ages are able to find those threads in her story.

A simple guide to over 160 key spiritual concepts behind yoga and other branches of Eastern wisdom.

Joseph Campbell called Sanskrit “the great spiritual language of the world.” Designed by ancient Indian holy men to express the states of enlightened consciousness through syllabic sounds, Sanskrit is widely used in the West during yoga practice to channel spiritual pathways and to discuss important meditative and philosophical concepts.

This book introduces 180 Sanskrit words (including chakra, karma, om, namaste, veda, nirvana) with Devanagari scripts, pronunciations, chants and brief cultural/historic explanations. A practical reference that makes an excellent gift book for any student of yoga, meditation or Eastern religion.

Winner of the PEN Center USA Award for translation

Award-winning author Junzo Shono weaves a stunning tapestry of everyday life in this collection of short stories.

A young man, having failed his college entrance exams, becomes obsessed with a family card game. A businessman stays overnight at an inn and drinks with the innkeeper. A family parakeet seems to be dead but then climbs back on its perch.

This delicate collection of thirteen linked tales reveals the flow of daily life in the modern Japanese family. Junzo Shono's artful layering of commonplace events, images, and conversations has been compared to haiku poetry crossed with an Ozu film.

A masterpiece of quiet lyricism set against a backdrop of change and renewal in suburban Tokyo.

The most celebrated work by one of Japan's master literary stylists, Evening Clouds is a book filled with delicate images of ordinary life, richly and precisely observed. A family moves into a new home on a windswept hilltop in western Tokyo. Around them are forests and farms. But the developers are coming, and the children are growing up. There are meals, quandaries, conversations...Life appears comfortable and serene, yet Shōno's portrayal has a strange and evocative undercurrent, as the most minute details slowly resonate out through a universe that is changing and unforgiving. Evening Clouds combines the crafted naturalism of haiku with the Ozu-like clarity of film to produce a story that is wistful and real. Read Shōno slowly, a luxuriate in his vision.

A handy supplement to studying characters in class or independently that teaches useful tricks for remembering words and tones.

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 pinyin, tones, and characters of essential Chinese words.

Students and teachers rate pinyin, tones, and characters as some of the most difficult aspects of learning Chinese. This book addresses this issue by organizing easy memorization tricks for the three hundred most basic characters in popular textbook series like Integrated Chinese and New Practical Chinese Reader.

An unforgettable memoir of the horrors suffered by a Japanese family trapped in Changchun, China, at the end of WW2.

Over 150,000 innocents died of starvation in Changchun, northeastern China, after the end of WW2 when Mao's army laid siege during the Chinese Civil War. Japanese girl Homare Endo, then age seven, was trapped in Changchun with her family. After nomadic flight from city to city, Homare eventually returned to Japan and a professional career.

This is her eyewitness, at times haunting account of survival at all costs and of unspeakable scenes of barbarity that the Chinese government today will not acknowledge.

Can traditional Japanese life concepts—like loyalty, harmony, meticulousness—make sense in Western societies?

This little book offers readers a provocative tour through seventy-six core life concepts that are at the foundation of Japanese behavior, belief, and beauty.

Japaneseness will be of particular interest to students of ethics and humanism as well as those living, working, or traveling in Japan. And it raises an intriguing question: Can traditional Japanese values—like loyalty, meticulousness, sensitivity, reverence, hierarchy, trust, and harmony—make sense in modern Western societies? You are encouraged to think about how Japanese virtues can cultivate inner strength, mindfulness, and long-lasting relationships at your own homes and workplaces.

A powerful and thought-provoking novel that raises important questions about World War II, war memory, and US imperialism and blowback.

In the Woods of Memory is a powerful, thought-provoking novel that focuses on two incidents during the Battle of Okinawa, 1945: the sexual assault on Sayoko, 17, by four US soldiers and her friend Seiji’s attempt at revenge.

Narrations through nine points of view, Japanese and American, from 1945 to the present day reveal the full complexity of events and how war trauma inevitably ripples through the generations.

Tokio Whip is a distinctly stylistic tour-de-force that asks you to navigate language and meaning as you would the backalleys and train lines of Tokyo.

This is the story of Roberta and Lang and their friends, and their experience of the great Japanese city Tokyo in all its many manifestations to their inquiring, observing, and wandering minds as they banter over the details of a party, a film, the Songs Common to Dreams, Tokyo’s history, the Names of Love.

Arturo Silva is an author and film scholar who lived in Tokyo for 18 years. Tokio Whip is the culmination of that experience. The author's notes, charts, and images—available on his website—add yet another layer to this intricate novel . . . even its title is a puzzle to be solved.

Japanese characters served up with histories and cultural clues to help you decorate your skin/body/life with just the right word!

Bold, visual, profound, symbolic: Japanese kanji characters communicate powerful graphic messages that look great on skin, walls, stationery, T-shirts, and more Here are dozens of edgy, targeted characters hand-picked to help you find the inner you and express yourself in a distinctive stylish way. With cultural clues, readings, font varieties, and ideas for proper use. Don't embarrass yourself with bad ink!

Of special interest to scholars and students of Zen classics, a glossary of specialized vocabulary to aid understanding and practice.

Over the course of Zen's development in China and Japan, the sayings and episodes of the masters have formed a huge collection of literature. Designed to put these writings within easy reach of serious students for inspiration and understanding, this glossary provides 5,500 entries on Zen terms, names of persons, texts, idiomatic expressions, references to Chinese classics, general Buddhist terms, and even particles and other parts of speech considered important in grasping the original intent and meaning.

Hisao Inagaki received a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and is a professor at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan.

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.

This updated edition of the best-selling travel guide to China is your ticket to the trip of a lifetime.

Compact, affordable, reliable, a delight to read—these qualities are what has made China Survival Guide so popular with first-time and seasoned China travelers.

This third edition has a brand new section on train travel, plus updates and fresh recommendations. Includes practical strategies for lodging, walking, haggling, medical and bathroom emergencies, etiquette, crowds, and learning the twin arts of patience and persistence.

The little-known true story of how a flamboyant circus promoter helped introduce Japan to the West in the late 19th century.

"Professor" Risley (Richard Risley Carlisle) introduced the Western circus to Japan in 1864. Three years later, this former acrobat gave many in the West their first glimpse of Japan when he took his "Imperial Japanese Troupe" of acrobats and jugglers on a triumphant tour of North America and Europe. Over the next few years, the Troupe performed before presidents, monarchs, and ordinary citizens.

Frederik L. Schodt argues compellingly that such early popular entertainments helped stir a curiosity about all things Japanese that eventually led to japonisme, The Mikado, and, in our time, the boom in manga and anime. Schodt's depiction of Risley and his troupe is enlivened by portraits of the circus demimonde and supported by nineteenth-century photographs, posters, and drawings, many in color.

His accounts of these first meetings between Westerners and Japanese shed new light on how different cultures meet, mingle, and influence each other. Descriptions of crowds, dazzling routines, and superstar troupe performers like the famous Little All Right are a delightful revelation to anyone interested in Asia, the circus, and popular entertainment.

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.