Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter

Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter PDF Author: Amy Chavez
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462923046
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Get to know the inhabitants of a tiny Japanese island--and their unusual stories and secrets--through this fascinating, intimate collection of portraits. "This book beautifully describes the residents of tiny Shiraishi Island as well as telling how Amy herself came to be in such a fascinating little corner of Japan…Amy herself, with this book, has shown herself an integral part of this preservation. --Rebecca Otowa, author of At Home in Japan When American journalist Amy Chavez moved to the tiny island of Shiraishi (population 430), she rented a house from an elderly woman named Eiko, who left many of her most cherished possessions in the house--including a portrait of Emperor Hirohito and a family altar bearing the spirit tablet of her late husband. Why did she abandon these things? And why did her tombstone later bear the name of a daughter no one knew? These are just some of the mysteries Amy pursues as she explores the lives of Shiraishi's elusive residents. The 31 revealing accounts in this book include: The story of 40-year-old fisherman Hiro, one of two octopus hunters left on the island, who moved back to his home island to fill a void left by his brother who died in a boating accident. A Buddhist priest, eighty-eight, who reflects on his childhood during the war years, witnessing fighter pilots hiding in bunkers on the back side of the island. A "pufferfish widow," so named because her husband died after accidentally eating a poisonous pufferfish. The ex-postmaster who talks about hiking over the mountains at night to deliver telegrams at a time when there were only 17 telephone numbers on the island. Interspersed with the author's reflections on her own life on the island, these stories paint an evocative picture of the dramatic changes which have taken place in Japanese society across nearly a century. Fascinating insights into local superstitions and folklore, memories of the war and the bombing of nearby Hiroshima, and of Shiraishi's heyday as a resort in the 1960s and 70s are interspersed with accounts of common modern-day problems like the collapse of the local economy and a rapidly-aging community which has fewer residents each year.

Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter

Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter PDF Author: Amy Chavez
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462923046
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Get Book Here

Book Description
Get to know the inhabitants of a tiny Japanese island--and their unusual stories and secrets--through this fascinating, intimate collection of portraits. "This book beautifully describes the residents of tiny Shiraishi Island as well as telling how Amy herself came to be in such a fascinating little corner of Japan…Amy herself, with this book, has shown herself an integral part of this preservation. --Rebecca Otowa, author of At Home in Japan When American journalist Amy Chavez moved to the tiny island of Shiraishi (population 430), she rented a house from an elderly woman named Eiko, who left many of her most cherished possessions in the house--including a portrait of Emperor Hirohito and a family altar bearing the spirit tablet of her late husband. Why did she abandon these things? And why did her tombstone later bear the name of a daughter no one knew? These are just some of the mysteries Amy pursues as she explores the lives of Shiraishi's elusive residents. The 31 revealing accounts in this book include: The story of 40-year-old fisherman Hiro, one of two octopus hunters left on the island, who moved back to his home island to fill a void left by his brother who died in a boating accident. A Buddhist priest, eighty-eight, who reflects on his childhood during the war years, witnessing fighter pilots hiding in bunkers on the back side of the island. A "pufferfish widow," so named because her husband died after accidentally eating a poisonous pufferfish. The ex-postmaster who talks about hiking over the mountains at night to deliver telegrams at a time when there were only 17 telephone numbers on the island. Interspersed with the author's reflections on her own life on the island, these stories paint an evocative picture of the dramatic changes which have taken place in Japanese society across nearly a century. Fascinating insights into local superstitions and folklore, memories of the war and the bombing of nearby Hiroshima, and of Shiraishi's heyday as a resort in the 1960s and 70s are interspersed with accounts of common modern-day problems like the collapse of the local economy and a rapidly-aging community which has fewer residents each year.

At Home in Japan

At Home in Japan PDF Author: Rebecca Otowa
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462900003
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
"This portrait of Japanese country life reminds us that at its core, a happy and healthy life is based on the bonds of food, family, tradition, community, and the richness of nature" --John Einarsen, Founding Editor and Art Director of Kyoto Journal What would it be like to move to Japan, leaving everyone you know behind, to become part of a traditional Japanese household? At Home in Japan tells an extraordinary true story of a foreign woman who goes through an amazing transformation, as she makes a move from a suburban lifestyle in California to a new life, living in Japan. She dedicates 30 years of her life as a housewife, custodian and chatelaine of a 350-year-old farmhouse in rural Japan. This astonishing book traces a circular path from were Rebecca began, to living under Japanese customs, from the basic day to day details of life in the house and village, through relationships with family, neighbors and the natural and supernatural entities with which the family shares the house. Rebecca Otowa then focuses on her inner life, touching on some of the pivotal memories of her time in Japan, the lessons in perception that Japan has taught her and the ways in which she has been changed by living in Japan. An insightful and compelling read, At Home in Japan is a beautifully written and illustrated reminiscence of a once simple life made extraordinary.

Running the Shikoku Pilgrimage

Running the Shikoku Pilgrimage PDF Author: Amy Chavez
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781884244353
Category : Buddhist pilgrims and pilgrimages
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description


The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter

The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter PDF Author: Amy Chavez
Publisher:
ISBN: 9784805318140
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Get to know the inhabitants of a tiny Japanese island--and their unusual stories and secrets--through this fascinating, intimate collection of portraits. "This book beautifully describes the residents of tiny Shiraishi Island as well as telling how Amy herself came to be in such a fascinating little corner of Japan...Amy herself, with this book, has shown herself an integral part of this preservation. --Rebecca Otowa, author of At Home in Japan When American journalist Amy Chavez moved to the tiny island of Shiraishi (population 430), she rented a house from an elderly woman named Eiko, who left many of her most cherished possessions in the house--including a portrait of Emperor Hirohito and a family altar bearing the spirit tablet of her late husband. Why did she abandon these things? And why did her tombstone later bear the name of a daughter no one knew? These are just some of the mysteries Amy pursues as she explores the lives of Shiraishi's elusive residents. The 31 revealing accounts in this book include: The story of 40-year-old fisherman Hiro, one of two octopus hunters left on the island, who moved back to his home island to fill a void left by his brother who died in a boating accident. A Buddhist priest, eighty-eight, who reflects on his childhood during the war years, witnessing fighter pilots hiding in bunkers on the back side of the island. A "pufferfish widow," so named because her husband died after accidentally eating a poisonous pufferfish. The ex-postmaster who talks about hiking over the mountains at night to deliver telegrams at a time when there were only 17 telephone numbers on the island. Interspersed with the author's reflections on her own life on the island, these stories paint an evocative picture of the dramatic changes which have taken place in Japanese society across nearly a century. Fascinating insights into local superstitions and folklore, memories of the war and the bombing of nearby Hiroshima, and of Shiraishi's heyday as a resort in the 1960s and 70s are interspersed with accounts of common modern-day problems like the collapse of the local economy and a rapidly-aging community which has fewer residents each year.

Kanazawa

Kanazawa PDF Author: David Joiner
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press, Inc.
ISBN: 161172953X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
In Kanazawa, the first literary novel in English to be set in this storied Japanese city, Emmitt’s future plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of negotiations to purchase their dream home. Disappointed, he’s surprised to discover Mirai’s subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo, a city he dislikes. Harmony is further disrupted when Emmitt’s search for a more meaningful life in Japan leads him to quit an unsatisfying job at a local university. In the fallout, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law translate Kanazawa’s most famous author, Izumi Kyoka, into English. While continually resisting Mirai’s efforts to move to Tokyo, Emmitt becomes drawn into the mysterious death thirty years prior of a mutual friend of Mirai’s parents. It is only when he and his father-in-law climb the mountain where the man died that he learns the somber truth, and in turn discovers what the future holds for him and his wife. Packed with subtle literary allusion and closely observed nuance, with an intimacy of emotion inexorably tied both to the cityscape and Japan’s mountainous terrain, Kanazawa reflects the mood of Japanese fiction in a fresh, modern incarnation.

The Woman in the White Kimono

The Woman in the White Kimono PDF Author: Ana Johns
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 148803513X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
"Cinematic, deeply moving, and beautifully written." --Carol Mason, author of After You Left Inspired by true stories, The Woman in the White Kimono illuminates a searing portrait of one woman torn between her culture and her heart, and another woman on a journey to discover the true meaning of home. Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage secures her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community. However, Naoko has fallen for an American sailor, and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations. America, present day. Tori Kovac finds a letter containing a shocking revelation. Setting out to learn the truth, Tori's journey leads her to a remote seaside village in Japan, where she must confront the demons of the past to pave a way for redemption. In breathtaking prose, The Woman in the White Kimono shows how two women, decades apart, are inextricably bound by the secrets between them.

The Heron Catchers

The Heron Catchers PDF Author: David Joiner
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press, Inc.
ISBN: 1611729629
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
A 2023 American Writing Awards Finalist Joiner's second novel set in the fabled Kanazawa area is an intimate yet understated look at an American who seeks recovery after his marriage to a Japanese woman has failed. After Nozomi abandons Sedge and their marriage, taking all their money and leaving him with a ceramics shop he can’t manage alone, her brother and his wife offer him a lifeline at their Japanese hot spring inn until he can get back on his feet. As he proceeds forward from this devastation in his life, he becomes involved with the wife of the man Nozomi ran off with as well as her stepson, a troubled 16-year-old whose jealousy and potential for violence contrasts with his interest in birds, origami, and the haiku of Matsuo Basho. What unfolds in the shadow of “the immortal mountain of cranes” will change their lives forever. Set in Kanazawa and Yamanaka Onsen near the Sea of Japan, The Heron Catchers explores the importance of recognizing suffering both in others and in oneself, of being compassionate, and of trusting those who offer love in the shattering wake of loss. The Heron Catchers is the second in a series of novels set in and around the Japanese city of Kanazawa.

Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko

Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko PDF Author: Gordon Vanstone
Publisher: Monsoon Books
ISBN: 191204983X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Unemployed, broke and engaged in a telepathic turf war with a feral cat behind an Okinawa convenience store, 28-year-old Fred Buchanan is hopelessly lost in life. After a fortuitous bet on the island bullfights, he boards a ferry to Kobe then a slow train to Tokyo, chasing shadows of a halogen dream. Back in Tokyo, past and present collide as an empty orchestra croons a slow dance of people and place, memory and madness, loss and love. Charging through Tokyo's neon jungle, enveloped in a boozy, nicotine-stained haze, Fred is determined to be an agent of his destiny and not another ball bearing bouncing through the cosmic pachinko. Perhaps Fred's contentment, his rainy day ramen, lies in the warm embrace of Yukie, with strips of delicious thigh and mysterious powers imbued in the etched eye on her fingernail. If only he can exit her stop and resist the self-destructive inclination to journey to the end of the line to confront the truths or lies which lay there. Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko is told in two distinct overlapping and interwoven formats. Join Fred's drunken, staggering, metaphysical odyssey from Okinawa to Tokyo, and his search for meaning beyond the physical path trodden. The novel blends Murakami-esque magical realism with a coming-of-age on-the-road story.

The Cat with Three Passports

The Cat with Three Passports PDF Author: CJ Fentiman
Publisher: Silver Vine Press
ISBN: 0648851915
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
A girl struggling to fit in. A homeless kitten. An unexpected job offer in an unfamiliar country that changes everything. CJ had a long history of escaping places and people she wasn't fond of. But for the sake of a silver tabby, she decided to stay in Japan for a while. This decision helped her open up her heart and mind, revisit her way of thinking, and reconnect with her estranged family. Let this heartwarming memoir take you to the land of cats and cherry trees as you read about CJ's adventures - from the craziness of the naked men festival, the experience of forest bathing and the significance of finding a life purpose or ikigai, to the temples of Takayama, and wonders of Cat Island - you'll see what a homeless kitten found outside a temple in Japan taught her about an old culture and new beginnings

Things Remembered and Things Forgotten

Things Remembered and Things Forgotten PDF Author: Kyoko Nakajima
Publisher: Sort of Books
ISBN: 1908745975
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
'If we want to understand what has been lost to time, there is no way other than through the exercise of imagination ... imagination applied with delicate rather than broad strokes'. So wrote the award winning Japanese author Kyoko Nakajima of her story, Things Remembered and Things Forgotten, a piece that illuminates, as if by throwing a switch, the layers of wartime devastation that lie just below the surface of Tokyo's insistently modern culture. The ten acclaimed stories in this collection are pervaded by an air of Japanese ghostliness. In beautifully crafted and deceptively light prose, Nakajima portrays men and women beset by cultural amnesia and unaware of how haunted they are - by fragmented memories of war and occupation, by fading traditions, by buildings lost to firestorms and bulldozers, by the spirits of their recent past.