Japan was the only non-Western nation to industrialize before 1900 and its leap into the modern era has stimulated vigorous debates among historians and social scientists. In an innovative discussion
For seven centuries, Chiang Mai has been the center of a lively culture and civilization in the hills of what is now northern Thailand. "The Chiang Mai Chronicle," one of the most important histories
"No book in English so brilliantly and elegantly depicts what the post-war epoch felt like for the social and the literary activist."--Irwin Scheiner, most recently author of The Japanese Village: Ima
Sakurai was a junior officer in the Japanese campaign against Port Arthur, Russia's ice-free port in China. His account of this relatively obscure but immensely influential conflict is an interesting
Between 1609 and 1879, the geographical, political, and ideological status of the Kingdom of Ryukyu (modern Okinawa) was characterized by its ambiguity. It was subordinate to its larger neighbors, Ch
This new edition of Japan Today has been rewritten to take account of Japan's changing fortunes in the 1990s. It describes the recent setbacks in the country's economic and financial sectors and exami
In the twelfth century, along the borders of the Japanese state in northern Honshu, three generations of local rulers built a capital city at Hiraizumi that became a major military and commercial cent
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, European Jews traveled east to seek refuge in the West. Three thousand refugees transited Japan and China, and more than 21,000 spent the war in Japanese-occupied Sh
In 1862, fifty-one-year-old Matsuo Taseko left her old life behind by traveling to Kyoto, the old imperial capital. Peasant, poet, and local political activist, Taseko had come to Kyoto to support the
Current Affairs/Asian StudiesWinner of the Overseas Press Club Award for the best book on Foreign AffairsA New York Times Notable Book of the year"A stimulating, provocative book . . . fresh and valua
Explores what the Japanese landscape can reveal about Japanese culture, identifies primary and secondary characteristics of Japanese landscape, and anticipates future cultural and geographical develop
How has the Japanese government persuaded its citizens to save substantial portions of their incomes? And to care for the elderly within the family? How did the public come to support legalized prosti
This unique history of Japanese armed martial arts?the only comprehensive treatment of the subject in English?focuses on traditions of swordsmanship and archery from ancient times to the present. G. C
Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures offers substantial new insights into early Japanese history (A.D. 100-800) through an integrated discussion of historical texts and archaeological artifacts. It conte
"This book forces a rethinking of the contentional dichotomy between tradition and modernity. The authors argue provocatively that much of Japanese 'tradition' is a modern invention."--Gail Lee Bernst
S. N. Eisenstadt, one of the world's leading social theorists, provides a monumental synthesis of Japanese history, religion, culture, and social organization. Equipped with a thorough command of the
What forces were behind Japan's emergence as the first non-Western colonial power at the turn of the twentieth century? Peter Duus brings a new perspective to Meiji expansionism in this pathbreaking
Using ceremonials such as imperial weddings and funerals as models, T. Fujitani illustrates what visual symbols and rituals reveal about monarchy, nationalism, city planning, discipline, gender, memor
General, minister of war, prime minister, and unrepentant ultranationalist, Hideki Tojo (1884–1948) was the most powerful leader in the Japanese government during World War II. From October 1941 to Ju
