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| JPGS | OlderNote | Remember
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Travel | Contact |
Useful |
Schools | FX
Rate |
Update 2011/10/25/10ba | Time |
Hello friends,
We are in the middle of a series of changes to this website. Changes are being made daily. Perhaps six months before we get the overall site the way we want it.Nothing useful will be discarded. Links will make it possible for you to reach everything. Your comments will be welcome always.
You can find our traditional Lonely Planet and other travel guide books here.
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| SHIBUYA |
large format, hardcover photo book by photographer Nguan Tan here or に ほんご |
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| If
you work in developing technical fields, these
reports by CMC International will be of
interest. Translated to English for international engineers and researchers. See report list and detail here: technical reports. |
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Not Important - is the name of a new page on this website. It does not relate to the usual topics but may explore some others that have little or no relation to Japan and Asia. Anyway we start with some info links to nursery rhymes and more here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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| Now completed. Come again in autumn 2011 |
Japan Writers Conference - October 2010 The Fourth Annual Japan Writers Conference, Tokyo at Nihon University College of Art, Ekoda campus, a short ride from Ikebukuro on the Seibu Ikebukuro line. Mark your calendar now and plan on being there on Sunday, October 10 and Monday, October 11 (a national holiday in Japan, "Sports Day"). For details see: http://www.japanwritersconference.org/ |
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| Some starting
links for info on other Asian countries. |
This area of our website has just been started. Three nearly empty pages. but they will slowly fill up with useful content and we will add dozens more country/destination pages. The focus is on links to websites and other information sources. Listings are free. Listing are subject to our acceptance and may be dropped at our sole discretion. | ||||||
| Really free. And good mags. |
Free Magazines
- here |
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| A NEW! page of authors and
editors. Use this page to see what these
authors publish and to search for more info. Can be
very useful. HERE |
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| A page of world TRAVEL
advertising links and a few BOOK and MAGAZINE links.
Mostly in English. See, click, find useful or fun info. TRY NOW |
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newly available from
CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF: English for Pilots, Books 1 and 2 The material is designed for 60 classroom hours per book. Contact us if interested. The Mariner Method Series is a series of language training material in an aviation context. A Teacher's Supplement is available. With the new ICAO English proficiency requirement, a good foundation in English has become a more important part of flight training programs. |
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TSUKUBA
travel book bargain sale |
..............Rescheduled for February 2011, 10am-4pm........... If you are located in the Tsukuba area, you will be interested in our plan to hold a Bargain Sale of older editions of Lonely Planet travel guide books. kk imcbook (that"s us) has over 1,000 LP books and plans to sell them at prices as low as Yen 100 each. This will be a great chance to buy such books as "Tibet" (current edition but we have a huge stock that we must downsize) and rare titles like "Aboriginal Australia", and many others. Yes, we will have the new Japan book, and it will be low priced but not Yen 100. We will have these books at a house (outside on the lawn) in the Teshirogi/Matsushiro area. Convenient for many people by bicycle or bus, but we do not have parking space for cars. The plan is for one or two days in mid-February. Cancel if too bad weather. We welcome all suggestions, advice, and any expression of interest. If you publish (paper or online) anything that goes to people in Tsukuba, please mention this event. We are also interested in cooperating with others in Tsukuba who may already have firm event plans that would be interested in including us We also have a selection of travel books from other publishers and expat books. If you see a book in this website, we probably have it or can get it. We had moderate success with an event in Tsukuba several years ago and would like to try again. Watch this space for further details. And, do contact us with any comments/ideas. |
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eBooks - The future of books?
Cheaper and environmentally friendly? Search - Find - Get immediately? here Also, a large number of Japan/Asia ebooks (Kindle versions) are available from Amazon.com. Often very very cheap, instant download. Some specialized books are expensive, but they are books you can probably not find in stores here or abroad. Don't own a Kindle? Available books can be downloaded to other devices also. |
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Sam Haskins: FASHION ETCETERA, the final work by this famous fashion photographer. Originally from South Africa, Haskins work with Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Pentax, for the million-plus seller "Cowboy Kate" and other books and posters is well known throughout the world. Other Sam Haskins books (に ほんご). kk imcbook is the exclusive Japan distributor for this monumental work .... large-size 316-page, 2.9kg, hardcover compilation of over 50 years of Haskins' work. Contact Aoyama Book Center, Logos, Kinokuniya, Maruzen, Junkudo, Tsutaya or your local bookstore to order. Orders are being accepted NOW. For more on Sam Haskins see here (both English & Japanese). Sam Haskins planned to visit Japan for the opening of sales in October 2009 but that plan had to be scrapped when he suffered a stroke at his exhibition in New York in September. |
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EUROMARKET DAY FINDER -- EDF is used extensively in the banking, securities, FX and related trades and by regulatory organizations around the world. We will be happy to answer questions from both renewal and new customers in Japan. See more detail & easy-to-print order form here: PDF or HTML. Email EDF{at}imcbook.net. For more information on CoppClark publications see their website. The new edition of EDF is distributed each year from the end of September or early October. Prepublication orders accepted. If you do not now have Euromarket Day Finder, we will be happy to show you the current edition. We can visit your office anywhere in Japan. Useful for finding additional information, especially changes which may occur unexpectedly around the world, is free access for EDF 2011 customers to the goodbusinessday website. We can fax an order form to you. See KK IMCBOOK address and contact details.
KK IMCBOOK - Our new name from 2009. We still sometimes call ourselves just "IMC", but Kuniko Ito and Warren Ball are now more correctly (and with less confusion) known by the new name. Nevertheless, this website has many many old webpages that still carry the long old name. Please bear with us and have patience, and by all means remember that we are no longer who or where we were two years ago. But we are still doing mostly the same old thing selling good English technical, travel, and expat books and ebooks.
Coming soon! A Guide - Useful Current Information Sources - Relating to Japan/East Asia
Our new low cost guide. Short-term access to useful information for researchers. And we will answer questions of registered members.
| Guide to
International Schools in Japan
-
Highly
recommended
for
parents, educators and others involved with the
education of bi-lingual and international children
in Japan. See
more here. |
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Rethinking the Constitution - An Anthology of Japanese Opinion - You will find this NEW BOOK listed on Amazon.com now and the book is availbable from us and from major booksellers. Very important book, and it is readable. For educators, businessmen, researchers, and all students of Japan and East Asia. More info here.
Alexa's view of kk imcbook - See Alexa's profile on us here.
Book Resources - If you are looking for a hard-to-find book, Amazon may not have just what you need. Our Book Resources page gives you many more options for searching to find what you need and at a price that satisfies. We have updated the old links on that old reference page.
Information, not Glitz - You can help! This website has always been about supplying useful information. We are in Tokyo and thus focus on Japan, Asia and on things that are of interest to both gaijin and Japanese who travel or are otherwise concerned with the wider world. We hope that you will like the books we publicize .... perhaps buy them from us, perhaps buy through our Amazon, Google and other links. In any case we urge you to look when ever and where ever you want. We don't know who you are or where you are, and we do not pry. We do watch statistics on page "hits" because these tell us which pages are considered useful by viewers. We may make some money if you actually buy something through our links. It never costs you any more to buy through our links; so if you see something you want, click and buy. Thanks.
Bradt Travel Guide Books - Seriously excellent travel books by a specialist travel publisher. IMC has for many years sold the books of this UK publisher. We are in the process of updating (a work now in prograss) our list of Bradt titles and we will be adding the new titles and editions as they are published in 2009. See our current list here. Unfortunately we are selling off our old Bradt books at this time and are not restocking
Botandoro - By Donald Richie; available from KK IMCBOOK. In our titles list here. Cover photo and full details here. Note: Most book retailers and distributors are able to order from KK IMCBOOK but counter clerks may not always be willing/able to go to that bother.
| Internationaol Travel Destinations from
Popular to Exotic - Travel books list of
over 350 countries, destinations and topics. This
list is updated regularly. Often includes both
newest edition and older (cheaper) edition of
popular in-stock titles here |
| Shopping
-
We have several SHOPPING pages for non-book items.
Banners and links to online and storefront retailers
in USA and other places. Take
a look. ....... Were you looking for something
that you couldn't find elsewhere? Tell us and we can
perhaps help. |
Travel books ... Old Edition vs New Edition - The style is important. People, who have used Lonely Planet, will often buy a new LP book, and not a competing book of another publisher, simply because they like the style, and the arrangement. But sometimes there is no advantage to having the "newest" edition. The older edition is almost always cheaper (if still available in quantity) sometimes much cheaper. And the "new" edition is nevernew. You can be sure that prices have changed, restaurants and trendy things have changed since the writer visted the city or country. Ebooks are faster, but only in that they save printing and distribution time. At KK IMCBOOK we still have stocks of some older editions of LP. These are not used books. They may be a little shelf worn (in the box or on a shelf for 2 to 8 years) but the country/city is fundamentally the same.today as it was a dozen years ago. These books are also available for sale at school, club and other bargain-sale events. Contact us if you have any ideas
eBooks and online not-for-free books and data Here at KK IMCBOOK we are dedicated to information, not to paper. There are a growing number of online information (and entertainment) publications that are not free. Instant delivery online, especially when also cheaper than paper, sounds great. In 2010 we will offer more downloads and online products and ways to buy online products. What do you think?
kk imcbook tries doing like Amazon - We sell books ... new books - old books - used books. We sell books to distributors, who sell to other wholesalers, who sell to libraries. The economics of selling slow-selling, small-printrun, low-price books are terrible. Amazon has a solution with its Marketplace program. It sets the terms and collects the money from the buyer. The author (small press or retailer) does the shipping, and then Amazon pays the author. kk imcbook is not going to compete with Amazon and similar, but we will try to rationalize the way we sell books in 2009 - 2010. If you are smart and have experience/ideas, we would like to hear from you.
Environmental Performance Index A
collaboration between Yale and Columbia universities
resulted in this EPI data. And, one of the neatest
websites we have ever seen. Most countries in the
world are ranked. See the data here. Japan ranks
better than most but not in the top 10.
Technical Books -
| Alfa list of over
1,000 travel guide books and expat books
in-stock at Click here,
find the title or topic of interest and then to
see book details. This list is updated weekly. |
Technical Books -
Our hotel page will give you some idea of what is available in Tokyo hotels. We don't sell these rooms.
Click on the banner at the top of the hotel page and you will be able to search on the booking engine for close to 20,000 hostels around the world; find what you want; book the room/bed; pay a small deposit with your card. This is the same booking engine that is used by one of the top publishers of travel guidebooks. We provide you with the link and hope to hear back from you if all goes well or you have a bad experience. Click here to go to the hotel page and then give the hostel engine a try. No risk. Just fun. But we do hope that, when you decide to really go, you will book through our pretty banner. Yes, we will make a few cents.
We like to be helpful and think that our hotel page and the hostel link are. If they are also popular, we will upgrade them. Your comments will be most welcome.
Pacific Island countries and territories
PACIFIC magazine this month published information on such island groups as Cook Islands, CNMI, Vanuatu, and many more. We decided to create a webpage using the PACIFIC magazine data as a starter and then to do some searches to add and check all. Great links whether you just want some basic info before you take a quickie to Guam or Saipan, or whether you wonder about the commercial or living opportunities in Papua New Guinea or Tonga. See the page here. Since we wrote the above, the paper version of the magazine has been halted. The online version is, of course, faster and in this case the best way to cover the vast area of the Pacific.
This is the new and definitive guide book to Tokyo for expat resident families, women, children and men. KK IMCBOOK now distributes this excellent book to Kinokuniya (both Shinjuku stores), Maruzen(main store in Marunouchi, across from north exit Tokyo Station, and Nihonbashi branch across from Takashimaya), Tower Records (Shibuya), National Azabu Supermarket, Aoyama Book Center (Roppongi), and on order from other bookstores. Those who know Tokyo and Japan will find that this book greatly supplements info previously found in Being A Broad in Japan, Living in Japan, TELL and other info sources aimed at English-speaking residents and others who come on extended study or work stays. THH is also available from Amazon.com, from Amazon.co.jp, and from us.....MORE INFO here
Losing Kei by Suzanne Kamata
$14.95 (+), 2008, 195pp, 152x227mm, 270g, 978-0-9728984-9-2
Told with tenderness, humor. and an insider's knowledge of contemporary Japanese family life. The story of a young American woman who comes to Japan, marries a Japanese man, has a son (Kei), .... Few books in English look honestly at the realities of Japanese family/social life, and far fewer with a real and caring understanding of the further complications when cultural expectations clash. An enjoyable read that will also educate. More here.
Japanese Bookstores Around the WorldWe
have started a list of Japanese booksellers overseas. A
small list that we will add to in future. Branches of
chains such as Kinokuniya, independent stores, and
others. here
Outdoor Activity Books We have just created a list of books for those who cycle or dive and snorkel. More books in the areas of climbing, hiking and walking will be added and this may become a very big list eventually. Links with Amazon or other places for more info. Nice cover photo of each book. We have these books in stock. See list here
500+ JAPAN books There are perhaps over 70,000 Japan books in the Amazon.com ( database; so, with Amazon's help we at IMC (imcbook) put together a "store" with over 500 titles. The result is a rather ramshackle collection of titles with themes from arts and crafts to literature and lifestyle to martial arts and researching and remembering past wars. A little boring clicking through the pages but each cover pic-with-title makes it easy to understand. If you buy a book, you will be buying through an Amazon cart, not from us at kk imcbook. Shipping will be from Amazon or from an Amazon Marketplace seller (mostly in USA but not always). Most of the books listed are low cost popular titles published several years ago. astore1 is here In general, the main books on our kk imcbook book website will not be found in our Amazon astore. The astore thus can give you a whole new perspective on the many many Japan-related books that are available. Faster than random searching and can be a lot of fun.
Our best list of TRAVEL Guide Books and more Why, why yet another list of travel guides and maps etc? Using 364 key categories .... continents, country names, etc .... we have listed each available book under one or more categories. The edition number and publication dates show which books are new. The publisher is usually indicated (AULO = Lonely Planet, UKBT = Bradt, etc.). The ISBN provides a link to Amazon where you can easily find more info including such details as number of pages, page size, etc. You will not be able to decipher the series of numbers that follows the publication year, but as a general rule the numbers give some indication of our sales in the past. A book that is "0,0,0" and published this year is probably not yet being sold by us but will be soon. An old book would not be listed that way as that would indicate the book is permanently out of stock, probably out-of-print. Books of that sort are quickly dropped from our lists. The Japan page is long because it includes literature, poetry, business and other non-travel books. NOW EXPANDED AND IMPROVED. « See the list here » and click on the destination country or territory that interests you. Lonely Planet books tend to have a short lifespan because travelers may be more interested in hotel and restaurant info than in basic country or city data. If you are studying, but not immediately going, you may get better value by buying the older edition. Ask us at kk imcbook if you have any questions.
JUNGLE CROWS: a Tokyo expatriate anthologyBelieve it or not, expats in Tokyo and throughout Japan don't just work for embassies, corporate giants, or teach English. Every couple years the writers assemble some of the best recent stories, poems, comments and assorted bits and pieces, and they publish a best selling book that is a sure sellout. The latest in this irregular series is a 227-page paperback titled JUNGLE CROWS. Tokyo is the jungle, and the writers are the familiar crows that peck at the garbage bags before the cleaners come. As a longtime Tokyo subway and train commuter (plenty of reading time) I found several gems in JUNGLE CROWS. The book is now available on Amazon.com, and at Amazon.co.jp, Maruzen, Kinokuniya, from us at kk imcbook, and at Tokyo's English lit events (small but frequent), and . here
Outdoor Activity Books We have just created a list of books for those who cycle or dive and snorkel. More books in the areas of climbing, hiking and walking will be added and this may become a very big list eventually. Links with Amazon or other places for more info. Nice cover photo of each book. We have these books in stock. See list here
500+ JAPAN books There are perhaps over 70,000 Japan books in the Amazon.com ( database; so, with Amazon's help we at IMC (imcbook) put together a "store" with over 500 titles. The result is a rather ramshackle collection of titles with themes from arts and crafts to literature and lifestyle to martial arts and researching and remembering past wars. A little boring clicking through the pages but each cover pic-with-title makes it easy to understand. If you buy a book, you will be buying through an Amazon cart, not from us at kk imcbook. Shipping will be from Amazon or from an Amazon Marketplace seller (mostly in USA but not always). Most of the books listed are low cost popular titles published several years ago. astore1 is here In general, the main books on our kk imcbook book website will not be found in our Amazon astore. The astore thus can give you a whole new perspective on the many many Japan-related books that are available. Faster than random searching and can be a lot of fun.
Our best list of TRAVEL Guide Books and more Why, why yet another list of travel guides and maps etc? Using 364 key categories .... continents, country names, etc .... we have listed each available book under one or more categories. The edition number and publication dates show which books are new. The publisher is usually indicated (AULO = Lonely Planet, UKBT = Bradt, etc.). The ISBN provides a link to Amazon where you can easily find more info including such details as number of pages, page size, etc. You will not be able to decipher the series of numbers that follows the publication year, but as a general rule the numbers give some indication of our sales in the past. A book that is "0,0,0" and published this year is probably not yet being sold by us but will be soon. An old book would not be listed that way as that would indicate the book is permanently out of stock, probably out-of-print. Books of that sort are quickly dropped from our lists. The Japan page is long because it includes literature, poetry, business and other non-travel books. NOW EXPANDED AND IMPROVED. « See the list here » and click on the destination country or territory that interests you. Lonely Planet books tend to have a short lifespan because travelers may be more interested in hotel and restaurant info than in basic country or city data. If you are studying, but not immediately going, you may get better value by buying the older edition. Ask us at kk imcbook if you have any questions.
JUNGLE CROWS: a Tokyo expatriate anthologyBelieve it or not, expats in Tokyo and throughout Japan don't just work for embassies, corporate giants, or teach English. Every couple years the writers assemble some of the best recent stories, poems, comments and assorted bits and pieces, and they publish a best selling book that is a sure sellout. The latest in this irregular series is a 227-page paperback titled JUNGLE CROWS. Tokyo is the jungle, and the writers are the familiar crows that peck at the garbage bags before the cleaners come. As a longtime Tokyo subway and train commuter (plenty of reading time) I found several gems in JUNGLE CROWS. The book is now available on Amazon.com, and at Amazon.co.jp, Maruzen, Kinokuniya, from us at kk imcbook, and at Tokyo's English lit events (small but frequent), and . here
New Travel Guidebooks Books - New cover
picsHere we just show you what some of the newest LP and
other books look like. China
+, Japan
& Korea +, Thailand,
Singapore +, compact Encounter
city guide series, World
Food and Healthy Travelguides, guides,
Diving
& Snorkeling guides, the big books to Europe
and a long list of Phrasebook
& Language / Culture guides. You will see the
book covers and usually there is a link for more info.
Most of these books are always in stock at IMC. Also,
check the list of expat books below. Books by some of
the finest English writers working in or on Japan today.
New list of books by expat authors and Japanese who write in English. It is important to make paper and online "lists"; so I have been doing just that. Some of these books belong in the "Japan" corner of a bookstore (if the store has such a corner), others in whichever culture/literature section is appropriate for the store or library. This list is intended to show what we at IMC are selling. Please look at these books. You may actually benefit by buying one (or more). If not from us, then buy from Maruzen, Kinokunia, Barnes & Noble, Amazon or from any intelligent bookseller who knows Japan & East Asia. If he doesn't have these books and is disinterested in trying to get them, look for a better store or come to us. Expat Japan - English Novels, Stories, Poetry and Nonfiction.
New list of books by expat authors and Japanese who write in English. It is important to make paper and online "lists"; so I have been doing just that. Some of these books belong in the "Japan" corner of a bookstore (if the store has such a corner), others in whichever culture/literature section is appropriate for the store or library. This list is intended to show what we at IMC are selling. Please look at these books. You may actually benefit by buying one (or more). If not from us, then buy from Maruzen, Kinokunia, Barnes & Noble, Amazon or from any intelligent bookseller who knows Japan & East Asia. If he doesn't have these books and is disinterested in trying to get them, look for a better store or come to us. Expat Japan - English Novels, Stories, Poetry and Nonfiction.
Miscellaneous Websites - Japan
& EnglishWe frequently stumble across websites that
have relation to Japan. They may not relate to anything
that we do or that interests us, but we feel we should
remember them. A small start but I know this list will
grow and grow. here
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 BARGAIN! |
Sign up to get news from You do not need or want a daily email from kk imcbook, but perhaps you are in the USA and are interested in books relating to Japan, or you are in Japan and interested international petroleum technology. We promise no more than one email per month per subject, perhaps far fewer. Sign up here. Our older address book lists will be phased out as we develop the new free news subscription service.
Our updated and easy to use list of travel guide books here - Why is this list good, better, best. Well, it includes a huge number of fine books separated in easy-to-navigate regions. We work with many of the best travel books, so our in-office database is current and daily being updated. We don't force you, or even strongly encourage you to buy from us. Our focus in "international" and "independent" travel. Thus there are lots of local travel books that we don't list. Our focal point is JAPAN, so we include the best on Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, etc. Both foreign residents and Japanese travel the whole world, so we include all major world destinations, the latest book on each. We have several other lists of travel books on this website, but I suggest you look here first.
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Masako's Story The true story of a Japanese family devastated by the A-bombing of Hiroshima. The English edition published by ahadada Books, July 2007. The original Japanese version published by Maruzen, 2003. The author, Masako's daughter, is an award winning haiku and tanka poet. Soon available at Tower Records, Maruzen, Kinokuniya, Yurindo and other fine retailers throughout Japan, from ahadada Books in the USA and Canada, from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.jp, and at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. more here |
| Member's Suggested Books This is a new group of books that we stock, that are very good quality and that we offer at excellent prices. More info on each book than is in our usual lists. Price is listed for both Japan and overseas customers. And, we toss in an Amazon link that will suggest several other books on the key topic. Books are in English but we may also add description and other info in Japanese. here |
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| Travel by Freighter to/from
Japan For strictly personal
reasons we decided that the next time we leave
Japan, we would like to go by boat. No fancy cruise
ships. Cheap, tolerably comfortable and decent food,
any nationality freighter or ferry will do.
Destination? Los Angeles. Singapore. Vladivostok.
Shanghai. North Korea. Alaska? A Google search shows
that people do travel freighter, and a friend
promised to recommend the travel agency he uses, but
he didn't. Your thoughts and experiences are
welcomed. We put up a webpage and will be happy to
include links and stuff that people send to us. This
website is interested in travel to and from Japan
only. Our starter webpage is not very useful but
should give you a start here.
Do a Google search too. Try search wording something
like:"freighter passenger
travel Japan". Copy and paste
those search words in the search box at the bottom
of this page. |
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New Lists of Travel Guide Books plus books by expatriate and Japanese authors. These lists differ from our usual lists in being more up-to-date. In total there are over 1,000 titles. Though not detailed in themselves, the lists contain a link for every title to Amazon. A good deal for us because we don't have to explain everything about each book. Good for Amazon (USA or Japan) because you just may order from them. These books are also available on the shelf or on order at all major English bookstores throughout Japan. If you are in Hokkaido or Kyushu and want to order from your local bookstore or university coop, do. They can get the book quickly from us at IMC.
JAPANESE
