Showing titles in Japan

As the Japanese swept across Asia in the early years of World War II, the retreating Allies looked for ways to keep up the fight. In Malaya and Burma, agents had been left behind to stir resistance behind enemy lines, building up anti-Japanese operations from the safety of the jungle. In China, the American Office of Strategic Services helped both Nationalists and Communists in resisting the Japanese.

Since John Hersey's Hiroshima, very few books have examined the meaning and impact of World War II through the eyes of Japanese men and women who survived that conflict. Tattered Kimonos in Japan does just that: It is an intimate journey into contemporary Japan from the perspective of the generation of Japanese soldiers and civilians who survived World War II, by a writer whose American father and Japanese father-in-law fought on opposite sides of the conflict.

Embark on a captivating journey into the heart of Japanese mythology with Japanese Mythology for Beginners: Amaterasu, Susanoo, and the Kami of Shinto Legend. This audiobook offers an accessible and engaging exploration of Japan's rich mythological tapestry, delving into the stories and deities that have shaped its cultural and spiritual landscape for centuries.

Late in the Pacific War, as Americans were fighting their way to the home islands of the Japanese Empire, one of the fiercest battles of World War II was raging. The Japanese had created, perhaps, the best defended area anywhere on an island called Iwo Jima. Days into the bloody battle, casualties were high on both sides. United States Marines were taking an awful pounding out in the open from enemy-fortified positions.

More than a mere warrior code, Bushido is the moral breath defining Japan. In this seminal work, Inazo Nitobe unveils the ethical roots of the samurai, blending Buddhist calm, Shinto loyalty, and Confucian morality. Through unyielding virtues like rectitude, honor, and stoic self-control, the author shows how the "Way of the Warrior" transcended the battlefield to mold a nation's soul. Though the feudal system has vanished, discover how its spirit—fragrant and delicate as the wild cherry blossom—remains vital in modern Japan.

Japan is a single nation, but its origins are so old, and often, so fragmented, that unified mythology and folklore can be difficult to point to. Still, there are some key texts, tales, and characters we can focus on which will give us a pretty good sense of Japanese mythology. In this audiobook, you'll discover stories of mystery, horror, and romance while simultaneously learning about the Japanese culture.

During the occupation of Japan after WWII, the US had an important decision to make. Should they hold those responsible for atrocities during the war accountable or should they take the information to advance national interest? The researchers who worked at Unit 731, the biological and chemical warfare research and development unit, were given immunity in exchange for their research data. Unit 731 included factories filled with humans, tested with various diseases, as well as field tests on civilians of the Soviet Union and China.

The opening salvos of the Battle of the Coral Sea were fired one month before Midway. Gamble in the Coral Sea recounts the story of this battle from the Japanese point of view. Based on extensive Japanese-language sources, author Michal A. Piegzik challenges established Western narratives surrounding this critical engagement in the Pacific War.

Over the decades, the reputation of the samurai has grown to mythical proportions, owing to such films as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, as well as works such as James Clavell's epic Shogun. In Legends of the Samurai, Hiroaki Sato confronts both the history and the legend of the samurai, untangling the two to present an authentic picture of these legendary warriors.

In the last days of World War II, a new weapon terrorized the United States Navy in the Pacific. Told from the perspective of the men who endured this horrifying tactic, At War with the Wind is the first book to recount in nail-biting detail what it was like to experience an attack by Japanese kamikazes. Born of desperation in the face of overwhelming material superiority, suicide attacks—by aircraft, submarines, small boats, and even manned rocket-boosted gliders—were capable of inflicting catastrophic damage, testing the resolve of officers and sailors as never before.

In this scholarly study, Charles Stephenson describes the political, diplomatic, and military build-up to the Soviet offensive and its decisive outcome. He also considers to what extent Japan's capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict.

In the late hours of 15th May 1945, the radar operator aboard the destroyer Venus identified a spot of light on his screen. Captain Power was in no doubt that this was the heavy cruiser, Haguro, that they had been searching for, but how could he stop this formidable enemy ship as it steamed hard for Singapore? A trap of torpedo and naval artillery was set by the 26th Destroyer Flotilla, there was no escape for the Haguro.

The American occupation of Japan holds a singular and problematic place in the histories both of Japan and of American foreign policy. For the Japanese, the occupation marked the transition from war to peace, from authoritarianism to democracy, and from privation to plenty, making it a passage from one of the darkest chapters in Japanese history to one of the brightest.

A gripping, behind-the-scenes account of the personalities and contending forces in Tokyo during the volatile decade that led to World War II, as seen through the eyes of the American ambassador who attempted to stop the slide to war. In 1932, Japan was in crisis. Naval officers had assassinated...

In this haunting work of journalistic investigation, Haruki Murakami tells the story of the horrific terrorist attack on Japanese soil that shook the entire world. On a clear spring day in 1995, five members of a religious cult unleashed poison gas on the Tokyo subway system. In attempt to...

The idea of the sword-wielding samurai, beholden to a strict ethical code and trained in deadly martial arts, dominates popular conceptions of the samurai. As early as the late 17th century, they were heavily featured in literature, art, theater, and even comedy. This book gives listeners access to the real samurai as they lived, fought, and served. Much as they capture the modern imagination, the samurai commanded influence over the politics, arts, philosophy, and religion of their own time, and controlled Japan from the 14th century until their demise in the mid-19th century.

Japan is a land of complexity, contrast and contradictions. The world's third-largest economy, it is a powerhouse of innovation and a pioneer in technology, fashion and pop culture. But it also has a rich, ancient heritage and a deep reverence for custom, ritual and tradition. This illuminating two-part radio collection traverses the different aspects of this fascinating country, from its famous historical figures to its diverse cultural landscape.

Approximately 200,000 women and girls were forced into sexual slavery during World War 2. They were also known as comfort women, a translation of Ianfu(慰安婦), the Japanese term for "comforting, consoling woman." Although most of the women came from Korea, women from other occupied regions such as Burma, China, Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaya, Manchukuo, Taiwan, New Guinea, Portuguese Timor, and the Dutch East Indies were also taken into the military sexual slavery.

In an era of irregular labor, nagging recession, nuclear contamination, and a shrinking population, Japan is facing precarious times. How the Japanese experience insecurity in their daily and social lives is the subject of Precarious Japan. Tacking between the structural conditions of socioeconomic life and the ways people are making do, or not, Anne Allison chronicles the loss of home affecting many Japanese, not only in the literal sense but also in the figurative sense of not belonging.

Les origines du shintoïsme est une ressource inestimable pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent à l'histoire et à la culture du Japon, ainsi que pour ceux qui s'intéressent au développement et à l'évolution des religions dans le monde. Le shintoïsme est la religion indigène du Japon, qui remonte à l'ère préhistorique. Les origines du shintoïsme propose une exploration complète des racines et de l'évolution de ce système de croyance unique, depuis les temps anciens jusqu'à nos jours. Le livre commence par une introduction qui donne une vue d'ensemble des sujets abordés tout au long de l'ouvrage.