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Check out what Stone Bridge Press will be publishing for the upcoming 2023 season as well as recent titles, backlist, and e-books! New books include: Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan by John Dougill: Observations on Japan's people, culture, and history from a resident exploring the lesser-known western coastline by rail. The Heron Catchers by David Joiner: 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. Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami: A collection of transformative fiction stories by a Japanese master, blending reality, myth, and human foibles across shifting dimensions of gender, biology, and destiny. The second book published under our imprint MONKEY. To view the catalog in your internet browser click here. The Heron Catchers By David Joiner Available November 2022 ISBN: 9781611720815 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. Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan : A Journey from Hokkaido to Kyushu By John Dougill Available November 2023 ISBN: 9781611720822 This journey the length of Japan takes the reader off the beaten tracks to explore some of the country's remoter regions along the Japan Sea—from Wakkanai in northern Hokkaido to Ibusuki in southern Kyushu—in a fascinating mix of travelogue, anecdote, and personal memoir. At each of the thirty stops along the journey the author, who has lived in Japan for thirty years, goes in quest of the spirit of place, determined to highlight what makes it special. Mixing comments on landscape and culture, the author was inspired by Alan Booth and Donald Richie and brings a contemporary perspective to his writing. The text provides some practical information on travel by rail and railway lines, but goes into far more depth and personal observation than a conventional guidebook for tourists. Dragon Palace By Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen Available September 2023 ISBN: 9781737625353 From the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo comes this otherworldly collection of eight stories, each a masterpiece of transformation, infused with humor, sex, and the universal search for love and beauty—in a world where the laws of time and space, and even species boundaries, don’t apply. Meet a shape-shifting con man, a goddess who uses sex to control her followers, an elderly man possessed by a fox spirit, a woman who falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor, a kitchen god with three faces in a weasel-infested apartment block, moles who provide underground sanctuary for humans who have lost the will to live, a man nurtured through life by his seven extraordinary sisters, and a woman who is handed from husband to husband until she is finally able to return to the sea.

Stone Bridge Press is thrilled to share the next lineup of books for our upcoming Fall 2023 - 2024 season including David Joiner's follow up to Kanazawa and the second release under our MONKEY imprint. The Heron Catchers By David Joiner Available November 2023 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. Dragon Palace A MONKEY FICTION TITLE By Hiromi Kawakami Translated by Ted Goosen Available September 2023 Stories from a Japanese master of transformative fiction, where reality, myth, and human foibles meet shifting dimensions of gender, biology, and destiny. Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan By John Dougill Available January 2024 Observations on the people, culture, and history of Japan from a long-time resident riding the rails along the less-traveled western coastline.

Stone Bridge Press is thrilled to share that Tokyo Stroll: A Guide to City Sidetracks and Easy Exploration by Gilles Poitras is now available in both print and digital everywhere. And to celebrate we've put together a discounted eBook bundle perfect for anyone heading to Japan! Tokyo Stroll is for travelers who want to walk and wander the streets and discover the city as it unfolds before their eyes. Select neighborhoods are profiled with detailed maps identifying locations and landmarks of interest. Food, shopping, and sights at every turn are provided with descriptions and over 150 maps to aid discovery. Also included are detailed notes on etiquette, money, and travel to make your trip to Tokyo as smooth as possible. Look no further, the ultimate guide to enjoying everything from popular destinations to the hidden gems of Tokyo is here. To celebrate the release of Tokyo Stroll, the ultimate guide to enjoying everything from popular destinations to the hidden gems of Tokyo, we've put together a digital guidebook bundle perfect for your next trip to Japan! For a limited time get epub editions Exploring Kyoto, Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan, Japan from Anime to Zen, and of course, Tokyo Stroll for 50% off!

SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Details Publish Date 6/1/93 # of Pages 266 Dimensions 5.2 x 8.23" Price (Print/Ebook) $22.95/$9.95 PISBN 9781880656020 EISBN 9780893469900 Still Life and Other Stories ​ Author Junzo Shono A stunning tapestry of everyday life. A young man, having failed his college entrance exams, becomes obsessed with a family card game. A businessman stays overnight at an inn and drinks with the innkeeper. A family parakeet seems to be dead but then climbs back on its perch. The thirteen stories in the collection by Japanese writer Junzo Shono are linked by the daily life of a husband and wife and their children. The stories are like the back of a tapestry where threads seem to cross randomly. Births, weddings, school activities, a suicide attempt—all occur out of view. Readers understand crucial events through ordinary days. But these quiet, modern tales have a cumulative power. Toys, birds, and playing cards relate to human lives as portents, parallels, parodies. The mother, with her secret sorrows, and the puzzled, bemused father savor reveries and survive unexplained misfortunes. Shono’s vivid “snapshot” technique, the layering of images, events, and conversations, creates an effect Western readers may find more akin to an Ozu film crossed with haiku than to traditional short stories. As Shono describes the mystery and sensuality of the everyday, readers come to feel, with the father in the stories, that not enough attention has been paid the little things that make up our lives. Thornton Wilder wrote in Our Town: “So all that was going on, and we didn’t even notice.” Shono makes us notice—and an inconclusive final note keeps us listening beyond the end of each story. Preview Goodreads "Shono is one of the leading writers of postwar Japan, a master of simplicity and subtlety. The placid surfaces of his stories conceal a painful uncertainty about contemporary Japanese life. Lammers’s sensitive translations convey both the pain and the placidity with moving clarity." —Van C. Gessel, Professor of Japanese, Brigham Young University "Junzo Shono describes domestic scenes with airy sophistication and charm. Almost diary-like, his stories flow with “a sweet attractive kind of grace,” to borrow Matthew Royden’s words. Begin any of his narratives, and you become Junzo Shono, an amused observer of daily occurrences. Wayne Lammers’s translations recreate Shono’s unique voice with natural precision. Reading Lammers is reading Shono." —Hiroaki Sato, author of Forty-Seven Samurai: A Tale of Vengeance and Death Books sold at E-Books sold at About the Author(s) Junzo Shono Won the 1954 Akutagawa Prize for his book Purusaido Shokei (Poolside Scene ). Shōno's other award-winning books include Seibutsu (Still Life ), for which he won the Shinchosha literary prize, Learn More

Travel Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan by Amy Chavez Going to Japan? This unfussy modern guide guarantees you keep it polite and get it right! Read More Exploring Kyoto by Judith Clancy The Japan travel classic and cultural guide gets you wandering from downtown quarters to remote mountaintop temples.... Read More Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan John Dougill Observations on the people, culture, and history of Japan from a long-time resident riding the rails along the less-traveled western coastline. Read More China Smart by Larry and Qin Herzberg Essential essays on all things Chinese that inform and entertain travelers, students, and anyone working or living in China. Read More Japan from Anime to Zen By David Watts Barton An accessible compendium of the most important aspects of Japanese arts, culture and history, for quick reference or a longer, in-depth read, for actual and armchair travelers alike. Read More The Inland Sea by Donald Richie The complete version of the travel writing classic with photography by Yoichi Midorikawa. Read More China Survival Guide by Larry and Qin Herzberg This updated edition of the best-selling travel guide to China is your ticket to the trip of a lifetime. Read More Kyoto Machiya Restaurant Guide by Judith Clancy Enjoy delicious Japanese food in some of Kyoto's most tucked-away and spectacular townhouses. Read More Tokyo Stroll by Gilles Poitras The ultimate guidebook to walking the streets of Tokyo that Japan lovers and the curious have been waiting for. Read More Discovering Yamaguchi Sake Jim Rion A new and remarkable look at the sake produced in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture Read More Kyoto Stories By Steve Alpert An American student in 1970s Kyoto rambles among the city’s beauties and traditions, learning as he goes. Read More Load More Titles Collections JAPAN JAPAN LANGUAGE LANGUAGE CHINA CHINA LITERATURE LITERATURE TRAVEL TRAVEL CULTURE FOOD & DESIGN CULTURE FOOD & DESIGN FILM ANIME & MANGA FILM ANIME & MANGA PHILOSOPHY & RELGION PHILOSOPHY& RELIGION

Stone Bridge Press Authors Wendy Tokuda Wendy Tokuda is an award-winning journalist who worked as a primetime anchor in local TV news for almost 40 years, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her signature series on low-income kids, ""Students Rising Above"" earned a Peabody, a national Emmy award, the national Sigma Delta Chi Award, the NAB Education Foundation Service to America Award and the Templeton Award for Creative Altruism. She has won 7 regional Emmy Awards for reporting, and numerous lifetime achievement awards including the NATAS S.F./N. Cal Chapter Governor's Award, the NORCAL Radio and TV News Directors Lifetime Achievement Award, and the AP Stan Chambers Award for Extraordinary Achievement. Tokuda started as a reporter at KING5 News in Seattle and went on to anchor prime time evening newscasts for KPIX CBS5 and KRON4 in San Francisco, and NBC4 in Los Angeles. Tokuda was the first Asian American to anchor weekday primetime newscasts in San Francisco and one of the first journalists to report on the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. For 17 years, Tokuda profiled low-income kids overcoming extraordinary obstacles for "Students Rising Above". Viewers would donate to a scholarship fund to help send these teenagers to college. This project eventually developed into a multi-million dollar non-profit by the same name. Tokuda wrote two children's books with Richard Hall: Shiro in Love and Humphrey the Whale , which remains in print after more than 20 years. She also wrote Samson the Hot Tub Bear and collaborated on "Generations", on the history Japantown, San Francisco. Wendy Tokuda retired from television in 2016 but volunteers with Students Rising Above, mentoring and speech coaching. She now works primarily on environmental restoration- removing invasive plants, planting natives and reducing fire risks. Titles by Author Humphrey the Lost Whale by Wendy Tokuda & Richard Hall The heartwarming true story of a wrong-way humpback whale who is helped and cheered back to freedom in San Francisco. Read More