American Maverick in Japan

American Maverick in Japan PDF Author: Tony Teora
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 9780595762422
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
I first met Richard Roa in the fall of 1989. I was in the middle of researching "Tokyo Underworld" and someone had suggested I interview him because he knew the main character of the book, Nick Zapetti, and also because he worked for a time as a consultant to the "Toa-Sogo Kigyo," a real-estate/leisure outfit based in Roppongi, which was, in fact, a transmogrification of the infamous Tokyo gang, the "Tosei-kai," a yakuza organization which occupied another major part of the book. My scheduled two-hour interview with Rick Roa metastasized into several lengthy Q&A session because the stories this man had to tell were so damned interesting, starting with the chilling tale he told of being caught in a Tokyo mob run clip joint and what he had to do to get his money back. There was more

American Maverick in Japan

American Maverick in Japan PDF Author: Tony Teora
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 9780595762422
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
I first met Richard Roa in the fall of 1989. I was in the middle of researching "Tokyo Underworld" and someone had suggested I interview him because he knew the main character of the book, Nick Zapetti, and also because he worked for a time as a consultant to the "Toa-Sogo Kigyo," a real-estate/leisure outfit based in Roppongi, which was, in fact, a transmogrification of the infamous Tokyo gang, the "Tosei-kai," a yakuza organization which occupied another major part of the book. My scheduled two-hour interview with Rick Roa metastasized into several lengthy Q&A session because the stories this man had to tell were so damned interesting, starting with the chilling tale he told of being caught in a Tokyo mob run clip joint and what he had to do to get his money back. There was more

American Maverick in Japan

American Maverick in Japan PDF Author: Tony Teora
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595314287
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
I first met Richard Roa in the fall of 1989. I was in the middle of researching Tokyo Underworld and someone had suggested I interview him because he knew the main character of the book, Nick Zapetti, and also because he worked for a time as a consultant to the Toa-Sogo Kigyo, a real-estate/leisure outfit based in Roppongi, which was, in fact, a transmogrification of the infamous Tokyo gang, the Tosei-kai, a yakuza organization which occupied another major part of the book. My scheduled two-hour interview with Rick Roa metastasized into several lengthy Q&A session because the stories this man had to tell were so damned interesting, starting with the chilling tale he told of being caught in a Tokyo mob run clip joint and what he had to do to get his money back. There was more-his hilarious tale of the American Train venture, his experiences as a bartender in the Ginza's most exclusive (and expensive) hostess club, his adventures with Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston in Japan. But, unfortunately, I could not use much of the material because it did not impact directly on the central thesis of Underworld, which dealt with the corrupt side of the U.S.-Japan relationship. But I always thought that it would make a good book one day, and lo and behold, here it is. I'm sure readers will enjoy this book as much as I did. Robert Whiting, Kamakura, 2004 Author of The Tokyo Underworld

Jonathan Goble of Japan

Jonathan Goble of Japan PDF Author: Franklin Calvin Parker
Publisher: Cross Cultural Publications
ISBN: 9780940121591
Category : Missionaries
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The present book is an attempt to tell the true story of a notable pioneer who cut a conspicuous figure in Japan during those convulsive years of early confrontations with the West. Eccentric though he was, Goble's career encapsulated the full range of problems confronting missionaries, from loneliness and "nervous fever' to strategy and means. It intersected with other notable careers, exposing interpersonal jealousies and interdenominational rivalries that pushed the best of men to the edge of integrity. Goble's life was never dull. Parker explores the life of this American Baptist missionary in Japan during the late 1800s.

American Mavericks

American Mavericks PDF Author: Susan Key
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520233058
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Inspired by the San Francisco Symphony's highly successful American music festival last June, this book and its accompanying CD provide an entertaining survey of some of America's best-known composers--all of them controversial in their day.

The American Diary of a Japanese Girl

The American Diary of a Japanese Girl PDF Author: Yone Noguchi
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9781592135554
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The first American novel by a writer of Japanese ancestry, The American Diary of a Japanese Girl is a landmark of modern American fiction and Japanese American transnationalism. First published in 1902, Yone Noguchi's novel describes the turn-of-the-century adventures of Tokyo belle Miss Morning Glory in a first-person narrative that The New York Times called "perfectly ingenuous and unconventional." Initially published as an authentic journal, the Diary was later revealed to be a playful autobiographical fiction written by a man. No less than her creator, Miss Morning Glory delights in disguises, unabashedly switching gender, class, and ethnic roles. Targeting the American fantasy of Madame Butterfly, Noguchi's New Woman heroine prays for "something more decent than a marriage offer," and freely dispenses her insights on Japanese culture and American lifestyles. With the addition of perceptive critical commentary and comprehensive notes, this first annotated edition sheds new light on the creative inventiveness of an important modernist writer.

Roppongi Crossing

Roppongi Crossing PDF Author: Roman Adrian Cybriwsky
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820339571
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
For most of the latter half of the twentieth century, Roppongi was an enormously popular nightclub district that stood out from the other pleasure quarters of Tokyo for its mix of international entertainment and people. It was where Japanese and foreigners went to meet and play. With the crash of Japan’s bubble economy in the 1990s, however, the neighborhood declined, and it now has a reputation as perhaps Tokyo’s most dangerous district—a hotbed of illegal narcotics, prostitution, and other crimes. Its concentration of “bad foreigners,” many from China, Russia and Eastern Europe, West Africa, and Southeast Asia is thought to be the source of the trouble. Roman Adrian Cybriwsky examines how Roppongi’s nighttime economy is now under siege by both heavy-handed police action and the conservative Japanese “construction state,” an alliance of large private builders and political interests with broad discretion to redevelop Tokyo. The construction state sees an opportunity to turn prime real estate into high-end residential and retail projects that will “clean up” the area and make Tokyo more competitive with Shanghai and other rising business centers in Asia. Roppongi Crossing is a revealing ethnography of what is arguably the most dynamic district in one of the world’s most dynamic cities. Based on extensive fieldwork, it looks at the interplay between the neighborhood’s nighttime rhythms; its emerging daytime economy of office towers and shopping malls; Japan’s ongoing internationalization and changing ethnic mix; and Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown, the massive new construction projects now looming over the old playground.

Ametora

Ametora PDF Author: W. David Marx
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465073875
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
The story of how Japan adopted and ultimately revived traditional American fashion Look closely at any typically "American" article of clothing these days, and you may be surprised to see a Japanese label inside. From high-end denim to oxford button-downs, Japanese designers have taken the classic American look—known as ametora, or "American traditional"—and turned it into a huge business for companies like Uniqlo, Kamakura Shirts, Evisu, and Kapital. This phenomenon is part of a long dialogue between Japanese and American fashion; in fact, many of the basic items and traditions of the modern American wardrobe are alive and well today thanks to the stewardship of Japanese consumers and fashion cognoscenti, who ritualized and preserved these American styles during periods when they were out of vogue in their native land. In Ametora, cultural historian W. David Marx traces the Japanese assimilation of American fashion over the past hundred and fifty years, showing how Japanese trendsetters and entrepreneurs mimicked, adapted, imported, and ultimately perfected American style, dramatically reshaping not only Japan's culture but also our own in the process.

Endangered American Dream

Endangered American Dream PDF Author: Edward N. Luttwak
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439130361
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
One of America's most thoughtful and provocative strategists exposes the economic and cultural assumptions that have driven the U.S. to the brink of social and financial collapse. Edward Luttwak reveals a forceful new policy that can reverse America's decline.

American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan, 1859-73

American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan, 1859-73 PDF Author: Hamish Ion
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774858990
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 443

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Book Description
Japan closed its doors to foreigners for over two hundred years because of religious and political instability caused by Christianity. By 1859, foreign residents were once again living in treaty ports in Japan, but edicts banning Christianity remained enforced until 1873. Drawing on an impressive array of English and Japanese sources, Ion investigates a crucial era in the history of Japanese-American relations the formation of Protestant missions. He reveals that the transmission of values and beliefs was not a simple matter of acceptance or rejection: missionaries and Christian laymen persisted in the face of open hostility and served as important liaisons between East and West.

Historical Dictionary of Tokyo

Historical Dictionary of Tokyo PDF Author: Roman Cybriwsky
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 081087489X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Tokyo is Japan's largest city and its capital. It is also one of the largest cities in the world and a major center of global economic influence. The origins of human settlement in what is today Tokyo are lost in prehistory. The city started out quite modestly as a small castle town of Edo in 1457, then the center of the Tokugawa shogunate from 1603-1868, the rapidly modernizing and Westernizing capital of the nation during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), and the capital of a prosperous nation and growing empire thereafter. Tokyo was utterly devastated during World War II, but this was not the first time Tokyo had to start seemingly from new. Due to many fires and earthquakes, the city has constantly rebuilt itself and today it outdoes all its previous emanations by far. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Tokyo is a much-needed reference source on the city. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 600 cross-referenced dictionary entries on people, places, events, and other terminology about the city of Tokyo. This book is a must for anyone interested in Japan and Tokyo.