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Non-fiction Books
Books on this
page may be ordered from IMC
(imcbook). We are in Tokyo
and you can reach us by email, fax, letter or by visiting our office in
Iriya (near Ueno and Asakusa). Books also link to
Amazon.com (via ISBN). In some cases you can click on the cover picture
to see more detail. Prices
are in Japanese Yen or US$ unless otherwise indicated.
Additional tax and
shipping charges may apply. Most books can be mailed worldwide. If you
will come to our office, call first to make sure we have the book
immediately available. Also see books in business &
communications , novels, stories,
poetry and in our
other book-list pages.
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The Blue-Eyed
Salaryman: from world traveller to lifer at Mitsubishi
by Niall Murtagh
GBP 8.99, 227pp, paperback, 129x196mm, 170g, 1861977891
In a shiny suit and with a good dose of humor, the author describes a
world that to most westerners is an utter mystery. .... He smiled when
he read the company rulebook but then realized the rules applied to him
too. It didn't take long though to learn the words of the company song
and the regulations for the company dormitories. His work impressed his
bosses and he was promoted to manager class. He had realized a Japanese
Dream: a traditional wife and a cosy apartment in the company housing
block. He thought about moving on, eventually -- but when it came to
saying sayonara, the time was never right.
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Cosplay
by Guy Vinciguerra
Yen 2,500, 60pp, paperback, 231x229mm, 0-9579094-1-1
Photographs of Japanese girls
who dress in outlandish self-created styles and hang out in places like
the Harajuku and Shibuya districts of Tokyo. Rebels in a non-rebelious
society. Slaves to their own trends. An Australian engineer and avid
photographer visits Tokyo
with his camera and a sense for dramatic photos with sharp colors. The
result becomes an exhibition at the Perth Institute of Contemporary
Arts and this fine and disquieting book. One or two photos on most
pages. This is not the
Japan of modern industry or of sun-blackened farmers raising rice. But
this is at least as real.
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The
Couch Potato's Guide to Japan: Inside the World of
Japanese TV by
Wm. Penn, illustration by Julie Morikawa
$20.00, 2003, 202pp, paperback, 148x210mm, 4-902422-01-8
Couch Potato is about watching TV. It contains nothing about
technological innovations and no insider secrets, but it is packed with
information. Here is an informative and fun book that will help anyone
to enjoy Japanese TV, and that adds up to enjoying life in Japan. The
major sections of the book are: The TV Archipelago; Japanese TV
Sociology 101; Small Screen Drama; TV Language and Linguistics 102;
Gotta Laugh, Gotta Cry; TV News File; A Vast Variety of Variety;
Favorite Japanese TV Pastimes; TV Tourism; Televiews Moments; The TV
Directory. |
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East
Asia Live 1 by Roy Garner
Yen 2,600++, 165pp, hardcover, 152x229mm, 408g, 0-595-66470-9
(also available in paperback 0-595-32053-8)
From accelerating giant, China to still-slumbering Laos; from
fun-pursuing Thailand to post-bubble Japan, East Asian societies
display an irrepressible energy and cultural depth that can be an
inspiration to all. A seasoned writer on the East Asian scene, Roy
Garner offers a personal perspective on the latest trends in lifestyles
and fashions across this immensely diverse and rapidly evolving
region. note 1
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ERO-SAMURAI by
David D. Duff, Jr.
Yen 1,500++, 138pp, paperback, 150x228mm, 0-595-37456-5
Intoxicating visions of loveliness; words that describe the
quintessential example of feminine development -- The Japanese Woman.
Perhaps in these politically correct days one dare not utter such a
thought, much less put it to paper but the author is not a timid
writer. After living thirteen years in that city of cities, Kyoto,
Japan and teaching English one to one to the Japanese, predominently
women, this American, more hippy than ex-Marine, remains convinced that
Japanese women are second to none.
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Fair
Play: Behind the Scenes of Sports Marketing
by Jack Sakazaki
Yen 1,500++, 146pp, paperback, 147x210pp, 1-933606-07-X,
285g
For more than 30 years the author has been involved in the sports
marketing business. At its earliest stages in Japan, Jack Sakazaki
recognized opportunity. Organizers of sports events were not aware of
the importance of selling events to potential sponsors and also failed
to understand the advertising and television value that came with it.
This is a book about his experiences in the industry.
Sakazaki has seen and been a part of the amazing growth that has
happened during the past 30 years in sporting events, televised sports,
sports advertising and related marketing. An interesting story for
anyone interested in business in Japan, but this is also the story of
Jack Sakazaki and how he struggled and how he succeeded.
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From Japan With
Love by Mary A (Kiddie) Ruggieri, $24.95, 263pp,
paperback, 253x215mm, 978-0-9798757-1-7,
A young American woman leaves college to join the WACS (Women's Army
Corps) during
WWII, and volunteers for postwar duty in Japan. Sixty years later she
shares that historic period of her life, 1946 to 1948, through
her letters, journals and photographs from a country just
beginning its recovery from war. This is an engaging account of an
American WAC, at work and at play, coping with the U.S. Army, marveling
at Japan's people, cultures and customs, lamenting the destruction and
despair of war, falling deeply in love with the soldier she would
later marry. From Japan With Love is a personal and historical
treasure, a story of East meets West, rich with details and striking,
evocative images. With over 400 photographs of postwar Japan 1946-1948
taken by the author. |
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Getting Both
Feet Wet: Experiences inside the JET
Program - David Chandler & David Kootnikoff /
editors. Yen 2,000, 202pp, paperback, A5, 4-900178-20-9
Presents a balanced view of one of the world's largest and most
successful cultural exchange, work, and teaching programs. Successful
former JETs look back and tell about their experiences. Japanese
teachers write about their success and failure in working with JETs.
The Program has made a tremendous impact on the teaching of English in
Japanese public schools, on international cultural contacts at the
local government level, on thousands of communities that had previously
never have had to interact with a resident gaijin, and most of all on
Japanese youth who will be better prepared than their elders when it
comes to international and intercultural contacts. But, rose colored
glasses are not appropriate. [link]
This is an important read for any person applying to become a JET, or
for anyone planning to teach or work with Japanese. Japanese edition
will be found if you use the Amazon.co.jp box to search for "ISBN
4491018588". Also see related book: Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's
JET Program
by David L. McConnell 0520216369
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Hyakumeizan:
Japan's 100 Mountain Challenge by Craig McLachlan
Yen 1,300+, 1998, 249pp, paperback, 110x177mm, 4-89684-262-6
Japan's 100 Famous Mountains. 100 peaks that can be summitted by anyone
willing to make the effort. Some easy, some hard. An average height of
2,200 metres, with 13 over 3,000 metres. Who on earth would try to
conquer the whole lot in 100 days? Two crazy Kiwis, that's who! In May
1997, Craig McLachlan and Travis Taiaros set out on the ultimate
adventure. As Craig said before they started out, "Overplanning kills
adventure". They didn't overplan. This is the story of their 78-day
journey to the summit of all 100 Famous Mountains, and the fascinating
experiences they had along the way. Currently out of print. See Four
Pairs of Books and Tales of a Summer Henro by the same
author.
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KOKESHI
- Wooden Treasures of Japan: by Michael Evans and Robert Wolf
$75.00, 2005, 232p, paperback, 168x277mm, 978-0-9759570-0-4
A visually exciting and intellectually engaging exploration of a
charming aspect of Japanese folk art called Kokeshi. Kokeshi are a
traditional wooden (lathe or hand-carved) doll that appeared in the
late eighteenth century or early nineteenth century as a toy, and later
became tourist wares. Formally, they are abstracted anthropomorphic
figures (either
elongated and elegant, or squat and sweet) and as toys-cum-tourist
treasures, they showcase the Japanese talent for nuanced decoration,
paired with graphic rendering of human characteristics -- all
accomplished with a delightful economy of means. Conforming to
conventions of shape and content - with sparks of innovation present in
the more contemporary work - these beguiling toys have not received the
academic attention they deserve and this dazzling book is the first in
English to provide systematic information, as well as an informative
(and stunning) visual record.
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Living
in Japan: 14th Edition, Justine Bornstein & Doug
Jackson, editors
$37.00 (+), 2004, 466pp, paperback, 149x209mm, 4-915682-23-4
This book has for decades been the most consistently excellent
guide to Japan for English-speaking expatriates living and working in
this country. Started by the ACCJ (American Chamber of Commerce in
Japan) for its members, this fourteenth edition
was edited by Carter Witt Media, the that
publishes Japanzine. The writers of each section
were chosen from among U.S., U.K., Australian, Canadian and other
native English speakers to make sure the book is useful for all. The
writers are also based in different parts of Japan so that they can
write with authority on their geographic or other specialty. LIJ is not
for travelers
who have no longterm interest in Japan. It is for all others.
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Masako's Story: Surviving
the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: by Kikuko Otake,
$15.00 (+), 2007, 93pp, paperback, 147x210mm, 978-0-9781414-6-2
On August 6,
1945, when the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, the Furuta family was living about one mile away from the
hypocenter. Five-year-old Kikuko, her mother, Masako, and her two
brothers barely escaped with their lives. However, their soldier father
was not so fortunate. Masako never talked about her family’s
experiences on that day and the days following the bombing. Then one
day, Masako started to talk about what happened — breaking a silence of
nearly fifty years . .
Kikuko Otake was five years old when the atomic bomb was
dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. In this book she offers
a survivor's perspective. Professor Otake was born on February 22, 1940
in Osaka,
Japan. She earned her B.A. from Tsuda College of Tokyo, Japan in 1962
in English Literature. In August of 1968, she came to the US and in
September 1987 earned her M.A. in Education from California State
University in Los Angeles. She is an award-winning poet who regularly
publishes tanka and haiku.
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Princess
Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, By Ben
Hills
$25.95, 2006, 336pp, hardcover, 1585425680
From Booklist:
True tragedy or simply a bad marriage decision? That is
up to the
readers--if they decide to make the effort to slog through this
less-than-compelling portrait of Princess Masako. Initially packaged as
the "Japanese Princess Di," Masako was an intelligent Western-educated
woman who probably should have known better than to consign her life to
the stringent imperial dynasty of Japan. Intelligence aside, the lure
of the royal life proved to be too much, and Masako gave up her budding
diplomatic career to marry Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito. She soon
discovered, like Diana before her, that life in a fishbowl can be
incredibly deflating. Unsuccessful in her efforts to modernize the
monarchy, unable to produce a male heir, and hounded by a relentlessly
curious public, she currently suffers from serious bouts of depression
and lives the life of a virtual recluse. Unable to secure any
interviews with the principals themselves, Hills' effort lacks depth
but will nevertheless appeal to inveterate royal watchers. Margaret
Flanagan -Copyright © American Library Association. All
rights reserved |
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Rediscovering
the Old Tokaido: In the Footsteps of Hiroshige by
Patrick Carey $55.00 (++), 147pp, (2000 reprint 2005), hardcover,
136x215mm, 1-901903-10-9
All fifty-five prints from
Hiroshige's "Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido" are reproduced in
full-colour, supporting a detailed and intriguing account of the
author's rediscovery on foot of the historic 303-mile road from Edo
(Tokyo) to Kyoto. Most Japanese imagine that the 'Old Tokaido',
connecting the two ancient capitals, no longer exists. It is assumed
that the road has been almost entirely obliterated by twentieth-century
modernization. Fired by some clues obtained from old books
and maps, the author set out to investigate whether this was really so.
More importantly, he followed 'in the footsteps of Hiroshige' and armed
with copies of the famous woodblock prints that Hiroshige produced
after his own journey in 1832, he tried to identify, in the modern
landscape, the sites that Hiroshige had depicted. This is his full and
frank account supported
by many parallel photographs of the Hiroshige locations as they are
today, bringing the old and new Japan together for real-time and
armchair travellers alike.
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The Russian Far
East: A Reference Guide for Conservation and Development
by Josh Newell; 2004, 486pp,
paperback, 215x279mm, $60.00 1-880284-75-8
(paperback); $100.00 1-880284-76-6
(hardcover)
The most comprehensive English-language reference text on the region to
be published in more than ten years. With contributions from an
interdisciplinary team of ninety specialists from Russia, the United
States, and the United Kingdom, the book overviews and analyzes the
region’s geography and ecology, natural resources, major industries,
infrastructure, foreign trade, demographics, protected area system, and
legal structure. Particular attention is devoted to how the region can
develop in an environmentally sustainable way.
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Self-Publishing in Japan:
What you need to know to get started by
Kathleen Morikawa
$18.00, 2006, 84pp, Paperback, 147x210mm, 4-902422-12-3 See larger cover photo here.
Journalist/author learned self-publishing-in-Japan the hard way. After
two decades of writing for others she launched her own novel onto the
fickle Japan market. Self financed, self promoted, but thoroughly
researched, Morikawa's first book (see Couch Potato above) succeeded
where many have failed and more have hesitated too long. Self
publishing is not for everybody but if you have faith in your book and
determination, Self-Publishing in Japan will save you money, weeks of
searching for the best answers to common questions, and perhaps protect
you from being a proud author of 1,000 books under the bed. (This
book is available at TOWER RECORDS (Shibuya), at our office near Ueno
(Iriya), and at selected outlets. It is NOT available on Amazon.)
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Tales of a Summer Henro
by Craig McLachlan
Yen 1,300, 1997, 240pp, 110x175mm, 220g, 4-89684-257-X
Pilgrims, or henro as they are known in Japanese, have been
walking
clockwise around Shikoku, Japan's fourth largest island, for well over
one thousand years. They follow in the footsteps of the great Buddhist
saint Kobodaishi, searching for the ever elusive enlightenment that he
found there. They visit the 88 sacred temples, and in overcoming the
hardships of the journey they become better for it. Or so the theory
goes! Nowadays nearly all henro travel in cars, taxis or buses,
and
physical hardship doesn't come into it! I was a henro in the
sweltering
summer of 1995 and this book contains the tales of my journey. CRAIG
McLACHLAN |
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The
Thames and I: A Memoir of Two Years at Oxford
by
Crown Prince Naruhito, translated by Sir Hugh Cortazzi $45.00,
2006, 150pp, 137x216mm, 1-905246-06-4
In 1993 Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito published a memoir about his life
and experiences during his two years at Merton College, Oxford, in the
mid-1980s, where he studied the history of transport on the river
Thames, hence the title of this book. The original Japanese edition
(Thames to tomoni) was published by Gakushuin Kyoyoshinsho to mark the
125th anniversary of the founding of Gakushuin University, Tokyo, which
is the Crown Prince's own Alma Mater. Now in English translation by
former British Ambassador to
Japan, Sir Hugh Cortazzi, this sensitive, engaging and informative
account of English University life, customs and mores -- as seen from
the perspective of a young Japanese student, albeit Japan's heir to the
imperial throne -- is a most welcome contribution to cross-cultural
studies in the broader context; it is also a rare record of a life
lived by one who normally experiences 'life above the clouds' as a
member of the Japanese imperial family. 'It is twenty years since I
left Oxford,' notes the Crown
Prince in his Preface, 'but I recall fondly the days I spent there
[1983-85] as if they took place yesterday. What I learned and
experienced whilst I was studying in England during those brief two
years have been of great benefit to me.' |
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the single
tone: a personal journey into
shakuhachi music by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
$15.00, 2005, 167pp, Paperback, 140x215mm, 1-933175-09-5
The quintessential insider's view of Japan's culture
and music. Originally written in Japanese and winner of the Rennyo
Award for non-fiction, the author, an American
who has resided in Japan since 1972, writes about his experiences
studying, performing and teaching the traditional shakuhachi bamboo
flute. His encounters with various Japanese -- from world-famous
artists, wealthy patrons, respected scholars to arrogant diplomats --
provide thoughtful insight into the Japanese mind. He also demonstrates
the universal appeal of the shakuhachi by performing it around the
world: in the jungles of Guatemala, the ancient banquest halls of the
Republic of Georgia, and the wind-swept Indian reservations of New
Mexico.
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TOKYO:
Here and
How!
new
2007
An expat's guide
to finding your path in the city and beyond ...
This new book is the bible for the newly arrived (or arriving)
foreigner. Put together by the Women's Group of the Tokyo American
Club, the book is family-centered but not American centric. The book is
now available. 350 pages and weighing in at 925 grams, spiral
bound with a semi-hardcover with foldout, this is
not a book to be carried around in your knapsack but is the best
reference for those who want current info on most all aspects of living
in Tokyo. I compared it today
with the current Lonely Planet Tokyo book, Perhaps not a fair
comparison, but the TAC book is by far the better for a resident expat.
978-49900-7916-1.
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NOTES:
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note 1 - If you are in Japan, be
sure to look for this book using the Amazon.co.jp link in the right
column of this page.
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