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This volume is a tribute to Professor Vovin’s research and a summary of the latest developments in his fields of expertise.
"Drawing on work in a range of disciplines-including history, anthropology, demography, development, environmental studies, political studies, health, sociology and the arts-this work approaches East Asia from new perspectives.The book looks at contemporary Japan and Korea and focuses on many facets of Chinese culture, artistic production, economic development, digital issues, education and international collaboration" -
Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and thorough introduction to the history, sociology, and musicology of contemporary Korean popular music. Each essay covers the major figures, styles, and social contexts of pop music in Korea, first presenting a general description of the history and background of popular music in Korea, followed by essays, written by leading scholars of Korean music, that are organized into thematic sections: History, Institution, Ideology; Genres and Styles; Artists; and Issues.
The continuing success of this series, highly regarded by scholars and the general reader alike, has prompted The Japan Society to commission this fourth volume, devoted as before to the lives of key people, both British and Japanese, who have made significant contributions to the development of Anglo-Japanese relations. The appearance of this volume brings the number of portraits published to over one hundred. The portraits cover diplomats (from Mori Arinori to Sir Francis Lindley), businessmen (from William Keswick to Lasenby Liberty), engineers and teachers (from W. E. Ayrton to Henry Spencer Palmer), scholars and writers (from Sir Edwin Arnold to Ivan Morris), as well as journalists, judo masters and the aviator Lord Semphill. In all, there are a total of 34 contributions.
First published in 1926, this classic survey, which includes nearly 250 photographs, examines the traditional farming methods of the densely populated lands of China, Korea and Japan and shows how fertility can be maintained over many centuries through conserving and utilizing natural resources. In the Introduction, the author notes: ‘The United States as yet a nation of but few people widely scattered over a broad virgin land with more than twenty acres to the support of every man, woman and child, while the people whose practices are to be considered are toiling in fields tilled more than three thousand years and who have scarcely more than two acres per capita, more than one-half of which is uncultivable land.’ Researchers and scholars in the fields of human geography, regional studies and earth sciences, as well as social and economic history will welcome this landmark study being returned to print.
Book seventeen of the Man’yōshῡ (‘Anthology of Myriad Leaves’) continues Alexander Vovin’s new English translation of this 20-volume work originally compiled between c.759 and 782 AD. It is the earliest Japanese poetic anthology in existence and thus the most important compendium of Japanese culture of the Asuka and Nara periods. Book seventeen is the fifth volume of the Man’yōshῡ to be published to date (following books fifteen (2009), five (2011), fourteen (2012) and twenty (2013)). Each volume of the Vovin translation contains the original text, kana transliteration, romanization, glossing and commentary.
This book deals with Chinese and Japanese inscriptions (8th century AD) about the footprints of Buddha. The language of the Japanese inscription reflects the contemporary dialect of Nara. Its writing system presents a special interest being practically monophonic.
This book explores the growth and operations of the Japanese restaurant in Australia since the early 2000s from perspectives of both restaurant workers and consumers. Through first-hand testimonies, collected from chefs, restaurateurs, gourmets and casual diners, it demonstrates how Japanese restaurants act as cultural hubs, connecting a diverse community of migrants, Australian citizens and international tourists, while also disseminating knowledge of Japanese culinary cultures. The ethnographic evidence presented challenges the colonialist and essentialist understandings of the ‘exotic’ and ‘Japaneseness’ as the ‘inferior other’ to the West. In so doing, the book highlights the complex manifestations of cross-cultural desires, translating practices and the performative racial-ethnic mimesis of Japanese ethnicity. Featuring critical investigation into the fixed notions of otherness, race, ethnicity and authenticity, this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Japanese society and culture, particularly Japanese food culture.
Although an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, Japan adamantly refused to accede to German demands to deal harshly with the some 40,000 Jews living under its control. While there was anti-Semitism in Japan since the early 1920s, there was also philo-Semitism and great admiration for Jewish power, influence and achievements. Japan-Israel relations were very strained and tense from 1952 to the early 1990s due to Japan's dependence on Arab oil. But since 1990 the policy of Japan has changed radically and the country is now a close friend of Israel in East Asia. Meron Medzini compares and contrasts Israeli and Japanese society, foreign policy, and above all economic and technological ties. He analyzes the presence of Jews in Japan since the 1860s and the absence of any Jewish influence, power, and involvement in Japanese arts, media, academia, politics, labor unions, and industry.
Monsters, ghosts, fantastic beings, and supernatural phenomena of all sorts haunt the folklore and popular culture of Japan. Broadly labeled yokai, these creatures come in infinite shapes and sizes, from tengu mountain goblins and kappa water spirits to shape-shifting foxes and long-tongued ceiling-lickers. Currently popular in anime, manga, film, and computer games, many yokai originated in local legends, folktales, and regional ghost stories. Drawing on years of research in Japan, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the history and cultural context of yokai, tracing their roots, interpreting their meanings, and introducing people who have hunted them through the ages. In this delightful and acces...