Shutting Out the Sun

Shutting Out the Sun PDF Author: Michael Zielenziger
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307490904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The world’s second-wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Equally as troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of “parasite singles,” the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children. In Shutting Out the Sun, Michael Zielenziger argues that Japan’s rigid, tradition-steeped society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of individuality and the expression of self are stifling economic revival, political reform, and social evolution. Giving a human face to the country’s malaise, Zielenziger explains how these constraints have driven intelligent, creative young men to become modern-day hermits. At the same time, young women, better educated than their mothers and earning high salaries, are rejecting the traditional path to marriage and motherhood, preferring to spend their money on luxury goods and travel. Smart, unconventional, and politically controversial, Shutting Out the Sun is a bold explanation of Japan’s stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.

Shutting Out the Sun

Shutting Out the Sun PDF Author: Michael Zielenziger
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307490904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The world’s second-wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Equally as troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of “parasite singles,” the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children. In Shutting Out the Sun, Michael Zielenziger argues that Japan’s rigid, tradition-steeped society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of individuality and the expression of self are stifling economic revival, political reform, and social evolution. Giving a human face to the country’s malaise, Zielenziger explains how these constraints have driven intelligent, creative young men to become modern-day hermits. At the same time, young women, better educated than their mothers and earning high salaries, are rejecting the traditional path to marriage and motherhood, preferring to spend their money on luxury goods and travel. Smart, unconventional, and politically controversial, Shutting Out the Sun is a bold explanation of Japan’s stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.

Japan

Japan PDF Author: C. W. Nikoru
Publisher: Kodansha International
ISBN: 9784770020888
Category : Japan
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Original photographs and insightful commentary introduce Japan's natural beauty and rich cultural heritage. These classic images only hint at the story of the seasons in Japan. Nature is not just admired; it is incorporated into every aspect of life, from festivals and the fine arts to the design of homes and the arrangement of seasonal delicacies at the table. The splendors of the landscape have shaped the ancient culture and ongoing traditions of modern Japan. Here, gathered in one opulent volume, are more than two hundred and fifty full-color photographs carefully culled

Five Gentlemen of Japan

Five Gentlemen of Japan PDF Author: Frank Gibney
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462913334
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
A newspaperman, an ex-Navy vice-admiral, a steel worker, a farmer, and the 124th Emperor of Japan himself--these are the fascinating heroes of Gibney's brilliant book about modern Japan. Strongly individual, every one of them, the five yet share the common inheritance of Japan's precocious but unstable past. Through their lives and attitudes, Gibney gives us an invaluable analysis of this new sovereign nation so suddenly thrown into the world's power conflicts. He helps us understand the historical and social forces which make Japan what she is today--the old contracts and loyalties from which each of the Five Gentlemen is struggling to break away from his country. Their courageous efforts to weld a new Japan from the remains of the old society, and to come to terms with the present, are as exciting as it is important.

Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan

Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan PDF Author: William E. Deal
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195331265
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
This book is an introduction the Japanese history, culture, and society from 1185 - the beginning of the Kamakura period - through the end of the Edo period in 1868.

Japan in Print

Japan in Print PDF Author: Mary Elizabeth Berry
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520237668
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
“Anyone interested in the history of media and communications should read Beth Berry's extraordinary book. Learned, lucid, and lively, it has much to teach students of premodern societies in Europe and elsewhere.”—Anthony Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Princeton University “In Japan in Print, Mary Elizabeth Berry crisply condenses a remarkable amount of primary research on difficult and little-known materials, and it interprets those materials in a highly original framework. The scholarship is superb, and the writing is as masterful as the research. Anyone interested in East Asian cultural production will find this compelling reading.”—Kären E. Wigen, author of The Making of a Japanese Periphery, 1750-1920 “This is a very important book, not only for its insights into a vast body of previously overlooked texts, but also for its methodology. While historians have known that early modern Japan produced maps, for example, no one has heretofore compared them to their medieval predecessors or examined them for what they say about an emerging Japanese cartographic imagination. This is a highly original work, and it will change the field.”—Anne Walthall, author of The Weak Body of a Useless Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji Restoration

Japan

Japan PDF Author: Nancy K. Stalker
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520962834
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
Japan: History and Culture from Classical to Cool provides a historical account of Japan’s elite and popular cultures from premodern to modern periods. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship across numerous disciplines, Nancy K. Stalker presents the key historical themes, cultural trends, and religious developments throughout Japanese history. Focusing on everyday life and ordinary consumption, this is the first textbook of its kind to explore both imperial and colonial culture and offer expanded content on issues pertaining to gender and sexuality. Organized into fourteen chronological and thematic chapters, this text explores some of the most notable and engaging aspects of Japanese life and is well suited for undergraduate classroom use.

The Samurai Series

The Samurai Series PDF Author: Miyamoto Musashi
Publisher: Digital Pulse Publishing
ISBN: 9781934255797
Category : Bushido
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Samurai Series brings together three of the most important books dealing with the Samurai path and philosophy into one deluxe, illustrated hardcover volume. The Book of Five Rings was written by Miyamoto Musashi, a Samurai of legendary renown, about 1645. It is a masterpiece of simple exposition written by a master swordsman, who, near the end of his spectacular life, tried earnestly to explain the essentials of individual combat and the essence of being a Samurai. His book is widely considered to a cornerstone of the philosophy of Bushido. Hagakure - The Way of the Samurai, which means: "Hidden by Leaves," was composed from dialogs by the famous Samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo, by a scribe, Tashiro Tsuramoto, about 1716 AD. It explains the major ideas and philosophy that are essential to the "way of the Samurai", by which is meant the "way of dying". It contains numerous tales of various Samurai and their deeds which illustrate their philosophy and practice. Bushido - The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe was first published 1899. It is an extremely literate presentation by a Japanese intellectual who wished to present Japan and its fundamental philosophy in a way that could be understood by Westerners. It describes how the Shinto religion and Buddhism are the underpinnings of the essentially militaristic view of honor and life that are inherent in Bushido, the Samurai code. Excerpt from The Book of Five Rings. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Gaze in Strategy The gaze should be large and broad. This is the twofold gaze, "Perception and Sight". Perception is strong and sight, weak. In strategy, it is important to see distant things as if they were close, and to take a distanced view of close things. It is important in strategy to know the enemy's sword, yet not be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword. You must study this. The gaze is the same for single combat and for large-scale strategy. It is necessary in strategy to be able to look to both sides without moving the eyeballs. You cannot master this ability quickly. Learn what is written here; use this gaze in everyday life and do not vary it...

The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard Taylor (Classic Reprint)

The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard Taylor (Classic Reprint) PDF Author: Russell H. Conwell
Publisher: BEYOND BOOKS HUB
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Life, Travels, and Literary Career of Bayard Taylor The author cannot do less than acknowledge, in this place, his great obligations to the father and mother of Mr. Taylor, to Mrs. Annie Carey, his sister, and to Dr. Franklin Taylor, his cousin, for their generous courtesy and most important assistance in gathering the facts for this volume. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Maker of Modern Japan

The Maker of Modern Japan PDF Author: A L Sadler
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136924698
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Tokugawa Ieyasu founded a dynasty of rulers, organized a system of government and set in train the re-orientation of the religion of Japan so that he would take the premier place in it. Calm, capable and entirely fearless, Ieyasu deliberately brought the opposition to a head and crushed in a decisive battle, after which he made himself Shogun, despite not being from the Minamoto clan. He organized the Japanese legal and educational systems and encouraged trade with Europe (playing off the Protestant powers of Holland and England against Catholic Spain and Portugal). This book remains one of the few volumes on Tokugawa Ieyasu which draws on more material from Japanese sources than quotations from the European documents from his era and is therefore much more accurate and thorough in its examination of the life and legacy of one of the greatest Shoguns.

Wrong about Japan

Wrong about Japan PDF Author: Peter Carey
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 1740513258
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
In 2002, the author travelled to Japan, accompanied by his twelve-year-old son Charley, on a special kind of pilgrimage. In a stunning memoir-cum-travelogue he charts this journey, inspired by Charley's passion for manga and anime.