A symphony of interconnected lives and a reflection on isolation and intimacy set in Tokyo.Matsui is the driver of a taxi the colour of the night sky. Every night between the hours of 1 am and 4.30 am, Matsui guides his taxi around the streets of Tokyo, collecting passengers and their stories.Seen through the eyes of a cast of colourful characters, Goodnight Tokyo takes the reader on an intimate journey around Tokyo after dark, when Tokyo’s eccentrics and insomniacs emerge, and a small grain of madness begins to germinate in the city’s night air. Confessions of intimacy and loneliness merge with the surreal: the funeral of an old telephone, the flea-market in which objects are bartered for that don’t actually exist.Told over a number of nights - and punctuated by Matsui’s dawn arrival at his favourite canteen for a plate of their famous ham and eggs –Atsuhiro Yoshida weaves a web of stories that prove to be intimately cand compellingly connected.
Based on a close reading of Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu’s extant films, this book provides insights into the ways the director created narrative structures and used symbolism to construct meaning in his films. Against critics’ insistence that Ozu was indifferent to plot and unlikely to use symbols, Geist demonstrates otherwise, revealing the director’s subtle iconographic paradigms. Her incisive understanding of the historical and cultural context in which the films were conceived amplifies her analysis of the films’ structure and meaning. Ozu: A Closer Look guides the reader through Ozu’s early, silent films and his sound films made during Japan’s wars in Asia and the subsequent American Occupation, then takes up specific themes relevant to his later, better-known films. These themes include religion, gender, and the influence of traditional Japanese painting. Geist also examines the impact that Ozu’s films had on specific directors in Europe, America, and Japan. Intended for film
A compilation of anoted short readings which includes authentic excerpts from works by 20th-century Japanese masters Mishima, Akutagawa, Kawabata, and others.
Japanese is a notoriously difficult language to learn. There may be no easy way to learn it, but there are ways that are easier than others.Breakthrough Japanese is a lively, reader-friendly book that
In 2005, the celebrated scholar of Japanese literature Haruo Shirane published "Classical Japanese: A Grammar." Now, with "Classical Japanese Reader and Essential Dictionary," he completes his two-vol
"The Routledge Intermediate to Advanced Japanese Reader: A Genre-Based Approach to Reading as a Social Practice is designed for intermediate to advanced learners of Japanese and presents twenty five a
"The Routledge Intermediate to Advanced Japanese Reader: A Genre-Based Approach to Reading as a Social Practice is designed for intermediate to advanced learners of Japanese and presents twenty five a
While scholarly works on this topic have to date mainly concentrated on Japan's influences in economic and political terms, this volume examines Japanese influences in Asia from a broader perspective.
This book examines the trajectory and development of the Japanese religious movement Agonshu and its charismatic founder Kiriyama Seiyu. Based on field research spanning 30 years, it examines Agonshu
