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Stone Bridge Press was established in Berkeley, California, in 1989. We now have some 150 titles in print, many of which cover philosophy and religion in Asia. MONKEY Imprint Books A Hundred Years and a Day Tomoka Shibasaki This ground-breaking collection from Tomoka Shibasaki, author of the acclaimed novel Spring Garden, pushes the short story to a new level. Read More Dragon Palace Hiromi Kawakami Stories from a Japanese master of transformative fiction, where reality, myth, and human foibles meet shifting dimensions of gender, biology, and destiny. Read More Takaoka's Travels Tatsuhiko Shibusawa Introducing Tatsuhiko Shibusawa—Japan’s Italo Calvino—in this fantastical tale of a Japanese prince who encounters both beauty and danger on a pilgrimage to India. Read More The Thorn Puller Hiromi Ito Introducing Hiromi Ito, an award-winning Japanese author who has been compared to Haruki Murakami and Yoko Tawada. 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& RELIGION PHILOSOPHY & RELGION

Stone Bridge Press was established in Berkeley, California, in 1989. We now have some 150 titles in print, many of which cover Asian culture, food and design. Culture, Food & Design A Lateral View Donald Richie A revealing look at contemporary Japanese culture. Read More Being Japanese American Gil Asakawa A celebration of JA culture: facts, recipes, songs, words, and memories that every JA will want to share. Read More Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art Ernest F. Fenollosa Two volumes of the essential and definitive survey of Chinese and Japanese art in one book. Read More Illusory Dwellings Allen S. Weiss Essays on the nature, creation, and presentation of art, craft , and architecture in Japan, springing from the author’s experiences in Kyoto. Read More Just Enough Azby Brown How the mindset of traditional Japanese society can guide our own efforts to lead a green lifestyle today. Read More Sake Confidential John Gauntner An American sake expert takes you to a whole new level of insider knowledge and expertise. Read More A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics Donald Richie Sure to be a classic, Donald Richie's concise, profound insights into the mysteries of Japanese Aesthetics. Read More China Smart 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 Family Crests of Japan Find the beauty and meaning of over 850 family crests found in Japanese tradition. Read More Japan from Anime to Zen 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 Native American in the Land of the Shogun Frederik L. Schodt The true story of a half-Chinook, half-Scot adventurer who entered feudal Japan in 1848 and helped pave the way for its modernization. Read More Tabemasho! Let’s Eat! Gil Asakawa Your favorite Japanese foods, home-cooked, packaged, or served in restaurants, and how they came to delight the American palate. Read More Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan Amy Chavez Going to Japan? This unfussy modern guide guarantees you keep it polite and get it right! Read More Discovering Yamaguchi Sake Jim Rion A new and remarkable look at the sake produced in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture Read More Green Tea Living Toshimi A. Kayaki Homespun wisdom from Japan updated for today's "green lifestyle" choices. Read More Japanese Garden Notes Marc Peter Keane Marc Peter Keane's personal journey through 100 Japanese gardens, looking at them with a designer’s eye. Read More Of Arcs and Circles Marc Peter Keane A renowned designer of Japanese gardens contemplates wildness, humanity, beauty, the liquid state of the world. Read More Tenryu-ji Norris Brock Johnson A beloved Japanese Zen temple, viewed through its monks, gardens, prayers, and art. Read More Basho's Haiku Journeys Freeman Ng & Cassandra Rockwood Ghanem Haiku tell the story of the poet Basho and the diaries he wrote while walking throughout Japan in the 1600s. Read More Eating Wild Japan Winifred Bird A delicious collection of essays, recipes, and practical plant information exploring Japan's thriving culture of foraged foods. Read More How to Take a Japanese Bath Leonard Koren An intoxicating, illustrated guide to Japan's ritual of hot-tub bathing. Read More Japaneseness Yoji Yamakuse Can traditional Japanese life concepts--like loyalty, harmony, meticulousness--make sense in Western societies? 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 The Art of Setting Stones Marc Peter Keane Philosophical essays on the beauty and meaning of traditional Japanese gardens. 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& RELIGION PHILOSOPHY & RELGION

The heartwarming true story of a wrong-way humpback whale who is helped and cheered back to freedom in San Francisco. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Humphrey the Lost Whale A True Story Author Wendy Tokuda Illustrator Hanako Wakiyama Author Richard Hall The heartwarming true story of a wrong-way humpback whale who is helped and cheered back to freedom in San Francisco. Humpback whales are magnificent creatures that sing beautiful songs to each other underwater. In the whole world there are very few of them, so each one is quite special. And they are intelligent. Every winter they travel south, every summer they head north, and they always know the way. But even whales can make mistakes . . . In October 1985 a forty-five-foot long, forty-ton humpback whale wandered into San Francisco Bay and for twenty-six days struggled mightily to find his way back to the ocean. This true, illustrated story of Humphrey's adventure has been a children's favorite for more than twenty-five years. The 2014 edition has updated news on whales but retains the beloved art and text for big-ocean-mammal lovers everywhere. Adopted for Reading Rainbow. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 9/29/14 PISBN PRICE 9781611720174 $12.95 GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE 9781611725117 $3.99 DIMENSIONS 8 x 10.25" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 36 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "A light-hearted approach to the problem of beached whales, Humphrey's story allows librarians to give a happy 'yes' to that often-asked question, 'Is this a true story?'" —School Library Journal "What happens to Humphrey makes a fascinating and delightful story for young and old alike." —KidsGrowth.com "A perfect gift for animal loving children." —The Portland Book Review Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Wendy Tokuda A well-known Bay Area media personality with numerous broadcasting awards. 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. Learn More Richard Hall An award-winning TV and film producer in Los Angeles, California. Learn More Hanako Wakiyama Developed a love of art early on, and her first illustration project, Wendy Tokuda's Humphrey, the Lost Whale: A True Story, was published shortly after she completed college. Learn More

This ground-breaking collection from Tomoka Shibasaki, author of the acclaimed novel Spring Garden, pushes the short story to a new level. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog A Hundred Years and a Day 34 Stories Author Tomoka Shibasaki Translator Polly Barton A MONKEY FICTION TITLE This ground-breaking collection from Tomoka Shibasaki, author of the acclaimed novel Spring Garden , pushes the short story to a new level. In these stories of human connection in a contemporary, alienated world, people come together to share pieces of their lives, then part. We meet the women who share a house after the outbreak of war before going their separate ways once it is over; the man who lives in a succession of rooftop apartments; the diverging lives of two brothers who are raised as latch-key kids by factory workers; the old ramen restaurant that endures despite the demolition of all surrounding buildings; people who watch a new type of spaceship lift off from a pier that once belonged to an island resort; and more. These 34 tales from all over the planet have the compulsive power of news reports, narrated in a crisp yet allegorical style. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 02/25/25 PISBN PRICE 9798988688730 $18.95 GENRE Literary Fiction EISBN PRICE 9798988688747 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 5 x 8" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE 9798988688754 $39.95 # OF PAGES 184 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "Missed connections and the passage of time feature in this captivating collection by Akutagawa Prize winner Shibasaki (Spring Garden ). Barton’s light touch preserves the mystery and longing in Shibasaki’s liminal tales." —Publishers Weekly Starred Review "Stories bleed together and repeat, creating a pathos-free passivity that washes over the reader, who witnesses time in a new way." —Thu-Huong Ha, The Japan Times "A Hundred Years and A Day will inevitably tug at heartstrings and cause readers to reminisce about a simpler time." —Walter Sim, The Strait Times "Each of the 34 fictional vignettes in this collection is a standalone slice-of-life that touches on the tragic beauty of mortality." —Christopher Corker, Asian Review of Books "Tomoka Shibasaki’s A Hundred Years and a Day delights in the aesthetic of gentle decline, and the collection expresses a gorgeously articulated nostalgia for people and places left behind in the past." —Contemporary Japanese Literature "Tomoka Shibasaki paints a piecemeal portrait of her Japanese homeland, an ekphrastic collection of tales whose spare language and flashing brevity muralize and memorialize Japan—its countrysides and cityscapes, its competing ascent/descent into modernity." —Alex Crayon, World Literature Today "Shibasaki makes us think about the way stories are told, what we expect, and what we think we know. She is very good at giving us the pleasure of wondering how things are going to happen rather than what is going to happen, and then she reverses this." —Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World "A Hundred Years and a Day provides something a little different from contemporary J-Lit, and in a world swimming with books about cats and coffee shops, that makes for a welcome change." —Tony's Reading List Japanese reviews of A Hundred Years and a Day “This collection offers a series of those startling moments when the lives of some distant, unknown someone become, fleetingly, your own.” —Sachiko Kishimoto, author and translator “Behold as time and space are warped through the power of words. This is a feat only literature can achieve." —Masafumi Gotoh, musician, Asian Kung-Fu Generation Praise for Spring Garden “Like a good meditation: quiet, surprising and deeply satisfying.” —New York Times Book Review “Atmospheric, meditative story of memory and loss in a gentrifying Tokyo neighborhood . . . An elegant story that is in many ways more reminiscent of Mishima and Akutagawa than many contemporary Japanese writers.” —Kirkus Reviews Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Tomoka Shibasaki Tomoka Shibasaki is a Japanese writer from Osaka. She has won the Noma Literary New Face Prize and the Akutagawa Prize, and two of her works have been adapted for film. Learn More Polly Barton Polly Barton is an award-winning translator based in the UK. Learn More

The first book-length collection by the most respected writer on anime and manga today. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Watching Anime, Reading Manga 25 Years of Essays and Reviews Author Fred Patten The first book-length collection by the most respected writer on anime and manga today. Anime’s influence can be found in every corner of American media, from film and television to games and graphic arts. And Fred Patten is largely responsible. He was reading manga and watching anime before most of the current generation of fans was born. In fact, it was his active participation in fan clubs and his prolific magazine writing that helped create a market and build American anime fandom into the vibrant community it is today. Watching Anime, Reading Manga gathers together a quarter-century of Patten’s lucid observations on the business of anime , fandom, artists, Japanese society and the most influential titles. Illustrated with original fanzine covers and archival photos. Foreword by Carl Macek (Robotech ). Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 9/22/04 PISBN PRICE 9781880656921 NA GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE 9781611725100 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 5.4 x 8.4" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 360 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "Watching Anime, Reading Manga is a worthwhile addition to your library; it makes good bathroom browsing, cover-to-cover reading, and a worthwhile reference for writing or researching anime and manga, not to mention a window into the history of fandom in the United States." —SF Site Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Fred Patten Discovered manga and anime in the 1970s and was a co-founder of the first American anime fan club in 1977. He has been writing about anime since the early 1980s for popular culture magazines like Starlog and for specialty magazines like Manga Max . Learn More

For the first time, a full-color selection of Michael Rowley's best-selling Japanese kanji mnemonics, especially for beginners! SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Michael Rowley's Kanji Pictographix Dragon Book Blood, Fire, and Spirit Author Michael Rowley THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT Kanji come to life with over 250 graphically illustrated mnemonics for learning essential Japanese characters. Colorful pages are filled with horses and tigers, palaces and pulpits, kings and lunatics, samurai and wizards. A world of soldiers, swords, spies, demons, fire, smoke, gushing blood, and dragons with claws and fangs. While the format looks and feels more like a colorful story book than a textbook, KanjiPictoGraphix Dragon Book taps powerful learning methods derived from Rowley's career as an educational therapist and professor of information design. The book begins with an "Elements" chart of the building blocks of Japanese written language. Pages are organized into clusters of characters with common elements and meanings. The result is a semantic, meaningful narrative that makes learning the complex written forms easy to understand and remember. The hundreds of visual mnemonics draw upon a combination of visuals with genuine etymological roots along with contemporary visual interpretations to help you learn to read Japanese kanji quickly and joyfully. Kanji are over 2,000 years old, so you will see some non-PC imagery that reflects ancient ideas about religion, women, men, children, animals, and old people. Rather than whitewash this, the book illustrates the meanings and ideas of an ancient, beautiful, and, at times, provocative language. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 12/11/12 PISBN PRICE 9781611720006 $9.95 GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE NA NA DIMENSIONS 4.4 x 8.8" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 80 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "Rowley has created a visual vocabulary that is striking, and most importantly, memorable." —Wired Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Michael Rowley Best-selling author of visual books for understanding complex subjects about chemistry, Japanese, and geography. Author of Kanji Pictographics , Kana Pictographix, and Michael Rowley's KanjiPictoGraphix Dragon Pack . Learn More

The fourth volume in this fun, comic-style series that explores China's move to modernization! SBP 2023-2024 Catalog The Making of Modern China (vol. 4) The Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty (1368-1912) Author Jing Liu The fourth volume in this fun, comic-style series that explores China's move to modernization! Who founded China? Are Chinese people religious? What is Chinese culture and how has it changed over time? The Understanding China Through Comics series answers these questions and more. The fourth volume in the Understanding China Through Comics seriesThe Making of Modern China,covers the stunningly productive Ming dynasty and its fall to the Manchus under the Qing, the last Chinese dynasty. The book also addresses Wang Yangming's School of Mind and the painful process of modernization and conflict with the West and Japan, including the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. Volume 1: Foundations of Chinese Civilization Volume 2: Division to Unification in Imperial China Volume 3: Barbarians and the Birth of Chinese Identity Volume 5: The Way Forward Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 11/28/17 PISBN PRICE 9781611720396 $14.95 GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE 9781611729276 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 6 x 8 HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 176 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "A great way to learn about China's vast history!" —Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club "Excels at clarifying the often-confusing transitional periods between dynasties… An excellent introduction to the large trends of early Chinese history." —School Library Journal "Chinese language is being taught in all but one state... A comic format teaching China's history is the perfect companion." —US-China Review "Combines breezy style with historical rigor to strike just the right gong-tone for a middle school audience approaching the vast scope of Chinese history." — Education About Asia 5/5 Stars "An invaluable source... Chinese history is a vast subject, but Jing Liu has a skillful ability to condense it all into an interesting and manageable narrative." —Kids' Book Buzz "The combination of silhouettes—often threatening, martial ones—with open-faced, expressively individualized figures of many social classes adds dramatic tension while neatly balancing the big-picture narrative. There's a lot to absorb even in this abbreviated form, but the visual approach lightens the load considerably." — Kirkus Reviews "The lucid, economical text makes one eager for successive volumes." — Booklist "Simple and effective…This direct, appealing introduction to the foundations of one of the world’s oldest civilizations is recommended for teens and adults." — Library Journal "Given China's superpower ambitions, it goes without saying that our politicians must pick up a copy." —HuffPost "A clear and concise survey of Chinese history and culture that is sure to please." —The Comics Grinder 4.5/5 Stars "A very nice way to establish a foundation to understanding China’s history and a possible gateway to more intense study and comprehension of a very complex subject." — Portland Book Review "The book does what it says it does: a child will come away with a basic understanding of early Chinese history, what makes the Chinese tick as a people and culture." —Asian Review of Books "It is certainly a fascinating look at Chinese history, and doing it in comics has certainly made it more accessible to people, especially for the Western world." —Radio Australia Teacher and Professor Testimonials "This book is “The Magic School Bus” for those starting to explore Chinese culture." —Dan Cao, Instructor at Confucius Institute at UC Davis "An excellent history that clearly explains the great (and ordinary) people who have made China what it is and the conflicts and debates that have shaped Chinese history. There is nothing else like it in English or Chinese." —Alan Baumler, Professor of History at Indiana University of Pennsylvania "No more burying yourself in text-heavy history books to learn about China, this comic-style book manages to be rich in information and bring Chinese history to readers in a more clear, fun, and accessible way than it’s ever been done before. Easily integrated into a social studies or Chinese culture curriculum, I can’t wait to get a copy for my class." —Grace Zeng, Chinese Teacher and Middle School Chinese Curriculum Area Leader at International School of Beijing "Jing Liu has brought to life the long and complex early period of Chinese history in this wonderful graphic novel. Foundations of Chinese Civilization is a delight to read; humorous, informative, and truly captivating." —Alexandra Pearson, Founder of The Bookworm Literary Festival "Since the 1990s, Jing Liu has been entertaining and informing foreigners about China with his cartoons. His new series of comic books is a fun, easy, accessible way to gain a basic understanding of Chinese history and culture." —Jeremy Goldkorn, Founder of Danwei "This comic series is fantastic to use in the classroom. My students are drawn to this book - not only do they enjoy this graphic-novel style, it also helps them understand difficult historical concepts. What a fun supplement to the regular textbook!" —Leslie Burgoine, Middle School History Teacher, Portland, Oregon "I was really impressed with how the author explained, taught, explored and visually told the story of China. Impressive and very informative. It was not only a page turner for me, but my students would run into class to get their hands on a copy to keep reading!" —Sasha Johnson, World History Teacher at Black Pine Circle School, Berkeley, CA Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Jing Liu An artist and entrepreneur from Beijing, China, currently uses his artistry to tell the story of China. Learn More

An informal yet informed journey through the classic works of Japanese cinema and their visionary directors. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Japanese Cinema A Personal Journey Author Peter Cowie An informal yet informed journey through the classic works of Japanese cinema and their visionary directors. This is a passionate, personal journey through one of the world’s greatest national cinemas, beginning with the classic directors who came to the fore in the postwar period. The book traces the common themes explored by these directors as well as the impact of important historical and cultural issues, including World War 2, the representation of women, and the revolutionary spirit of the 1960s. Finally, Peter Cowie surveys the state of contemporary Japanese film and some of its greatest living practitioners. Cowie brings a lifetime’s commitment to film to bear on the human relationships so well explored by these Japanese auteurs. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 06/07/22 PISBN PRICE 9781611720754 $18.95 GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE 9781611729566 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 5.5 x 8.5" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 204 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "Cowie's study orients these films and filmmakers around auteur and genre cinema, employing the kind of uncluttered, potted analysis that initially brought Japan to international light in studies by Donald Richie, Audie Brock, Joan Mellen, and Tadao Sato, among others." —Adam Bingham, Cinesate Magazine "An impressively well written and seminal study of Japanese film making ranging from the iconic to the obscure." —The Midwest Book Review "If you want to know why Kurosawa is the Beethoven, and Ozu the Chopin, of Japanese cinema--and much, much more—Peter Cowie’s Japanese Cinema is the book to read." —Walter Murch, three-time Academy Award winning editor and sound designer, and author of In the Blink of an Eye "Peter Cowie’s erudition is stupendous. His critical acumen is unequaled. But it’s his humanity that makes his writing as special as it is. These short accounts of great Japanese filmmakers, and of Cowie’s relationship to their work, create a portrait of Japanese cinema that is both enjoyable and indispensable." —Glenn Kenny, film critic and author of Made Men: The Story of ‘Goodfellas’ "Peter Cowie has introduced more people to the glories of foreign cinema than any living writer. Japanese Cinema: A Personal Journey is both a warm labor of love and an indispensable work of scholarship, suitable for novices and aficionados alike. It's the only book you need to read on the subject." —Mick LaSalle, author of The Beauty of the Real: What Hollywood Can Learn from Contemporary French Actresses "Peter Cowie invites us to travel along with him through decades of exceptional Japanese films. Along the way we meet many of Japan’s beloved directors and a host of others who have been influential in producing and promoting Japanese films (Madame Kawakita, Donald Richie, cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, to name a few). This “personal journey” extends from the frozen north of Hokkaidō to the warmer port cities of Hiroshima and Onomichi, and beyond. Along with Cowie, we explore Japan’s “alternating currents of violence and reflection” through his intimate, but also expansive, point of view." —Dr. Linda Ehrlich, author of Cinematic Reveries: Gestures, Stillness, Water Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Peter Cowie Peter Cowie has spent his life writing about cinema, and in particular about the prodigious talents that emerged during the 1950s and 1960s such as Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa. Learn More

Marc Peter Keane describes the history, design, and aesthetics of tea gardens, from T'ang China to the present day... SBP 2023-2024 Catalog The Japanese Tea Garden Author Marc Peter Keane Award-winning Japanese landscape architect Marc Peter Keane traces the history and design of tea gardens from T'ang China to present day. Almost every Japanese garden is influenced by the tea garden. Drawing on his impressive career of garden construction across the United States and Japan, Marc Peter Keane describes the history, design, and aesthetics of tea gardens, from T'ang China to the present day, with over 115 stunning photographs, floor plans, and illustrations. The most extensive book on this genre ever published in English, The Japanese Tea Garden is a rich resource for garden lovers, historians, and landscape architects. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 4/15/14 PISBN PRICE 9781611720150 $85 GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE NA NA DIMENSIONS 8 x 10" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 296 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "When Marc Peter Keane describes, with poetry and erudition, the experience of the Japanese garden today, he has no peer." —Leonard Koren, author of Wabi-Sabi "Marc Peter Keane is the undisputed American master of Japanese garden scholars. . . . Since tea gardens have had a major impact on the design of Japanese gardens in general, this book is a necessary addition to the library of any serious student. The rest of us will enter with humility —mindful of the small door through which one must crawl into the tea room—and sip slowly." —New York Times Sunday Book Review "Impeccably written, erudite without being burdensomely intellectual, what sets Keane’s beautifully measured and considered prose style apart from other garden writers is the carefully created mood of his text, which aspires at times to verbalized contemplation. . . . Likely to remain the standard work on the subject for a very long time to come" —Stephen Mansfield, Kyoto Journal "An incredibly beautiful and extremely detailed look at one of the world's most transcendent landscape arts." —The Avant Gardener (NY) "For anyone with a serious interest in Japanese gardens this is an essential purchase." —Graham Hardman , Japanese Garden Society (UK) "A thoroughly engaging, insightful observer." —Booklist Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Marc Peter Keane Lived in Japan for 20 years, designing gardens for individuals, companies, and temples. Author of The Japanese Tea Garden , The Art of Setting Stones and Japanese Garden Design (Tuttle Publishing, 2000). He is co-author (with Jiro Takei) of Sakuteiki: Visions of the Japanese Garden , (Tuttle, 2001). Learn More

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. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog The Heron Catchers Author David Joiner 2024 International Rubery Book Awards Winner | 2023 American Writing Awards Finalist | 2023 Foreword Indies Awards Finalist | 2023 Next Generation Indie Book 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. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 11/21/2023 PISBN PRICE 9781611720815 $19.95 GENRE Literary Fiction EISBN PRICE 9781611729627 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 8.5 x 5.5" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 280 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "Full of pastoral beauty…with characters who feel full and human, and whose dramas, in their quiet way, will leave a lasting impression." —Kirkus Reviews "A couple navigates their doomed marriage while living in Yamanaka Onsen, a beautiful yet claustrophobic town where gossip is rife and private lives are public knowledge." —Iain Maloney, The Japan Times "A multi-sided geometry of love and pain set in rural Ishikawa." —DC Palter, Japonica "[The Heron Catchers ] is an emotional drama about the daily lives of ordinary people, but it also manages to be at times amoral, violent, and sensual, and it keeps the reader engaged…reminiscent of the works of Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, and other great writers of the Showa period.” –Daiya Hashimoto, Editor for Booklogia "An enjoyable look at life outside the major Japanese tourist haunts, and an examination of the issues faced by those who attempt to make a life for themselves there." —Tony's Reading List "The Heron Catchers , is at once a novel about a particular place, but is also a novel for us all, as our fates and feelings are intertwined with the natural world. Joiner's deeply felt and sensitive rendering of the inner lives of men and women in midlife, who are more affected by the place they live than they are aware, shifts in subtle waves, like the ocean that borders the town of Kanazawa where much of the novel is set. Closely observed and with care paid to emotional nuances, Joiner has written a book about adult life, and the endless striving we feel for meaningful connection." —Marie Mutsuki Mockett, author of Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye and The Tree Doctor "This slow burn of a novel sears itself into your consciousness with equal parts tension and poignancy. The Heron Catchers skillfully captures one blended, broken family's experience of growth and healing amidst the beauty and precariousness of Kanazawa's natural world." —Leza Lowitz, author of In Search of the Sun: One Woman's Quest to Find Family in Japan "Joiner reels the reader in with characteristic fine plotting, carefully crafted writing, vivid imagery and descriptions of life in the Japanese countryside, and a tone of authenticity belonging to a writer who knows and loves Japan. A riveting and worthy follow-up to Kanazawa.” —Amy Chavez, The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island “David Joiner’s The Heron Catchers introduces us to the quiet green abundance of the Japanese mountains, the slow beauty of pottery, and the pain of love ended. We follow wounded characters, Sedge and Mariko, as they learn to heal after each has suffered from devastating betrayals. Like the herons they ultimately rescue from injuries incurred by natural and human calamities, they too strike out at those who seek to help them. Not unlike the wandering poet Matsuo Basho who steps into the frame of the story here and there, Joiner offers flashes of insights as sharp and beautiful as a heron taking flight. Readers will find in this elegiac, imaginative work, space for reflection and discovery.” —Rebecca Copeland, author of The Kimono Tattoo , co-editor of Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch "An intimate, rewarding novel of people linked by misfortune who search for redemption, wholeness, and purpose. Joiner evokes his protagonist’s inner world vividly among descriptions of the life, culture, festivities, and natural environment of a small hot-spring town near Kanazawa. The Heron Catchers is an engrossing sojourn in one of Japan’s most charming off-the-beaten-path destinations." —Jeffrey Angles, translator of Hiromi Ito’s The Thorn Puller and author of My International Date Line (Winner of the Yomiuri Prize for Literature) Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) David Joiner David Joiner's writing has appeared in literary journals and elsewhere, including Echoes: Writers in Kyoto 2017 , The Brooklyn Rail , Phoebe Journal , The Ontario Review , and The Madison Review. His first novel, Lotusland , set in contemporary Vietnam, was published in 2015 by Guernica Editions. Learn More

An erudite voyage through the details and customs of Japanese life. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Things Japanese Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan Author Basil Hall Chamberlain An early account of Japan's culture and customs, already vanishing as Japan lept into modernity in the late 20th century. Basil Hall Chamberlain left Britain after suffering a nervous breakdown. His destination: a Japan no less than 5 years into the Meiji period. There he studied the Japanese language and worked as a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University. Things Japanese, written like a glossary detailing everything from the abacus to zoology, is his attempt to document the distinctive elements of Japanese culture under the impact of Western-style modernization. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 04/01/07 PISBN PRICE NA NA GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE 9780893469689 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 5.2 x 7.4" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 540 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Basil Hall Chamberlain A professor of Japanese at Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British. Japanologistsactive in Japan during the late 19th century. Learn More

Memoirs of a Geisha meets Sex and the City in this stimulating guide to intimacy. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog The Japanese Art of Sex (Out of Print) Author Jina Bacarr THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT Attention to detail, small gestures with profound meaning, brilliantly intuitive . . . these are the hallmarks of Japanese art, and they apply equally to the Japanese art of sex. Here for the first time is a practical guide that shows you how to use the ancient and modern Japanese sexual practices of court ladies, courtesans, and geisha to spark romance and deliver an erotic "floating world" of pleasure to you and your partner. Japanese sex is not about the orgasm. In Japan, honest and healthy sex is at one with a love of nature and purity. But it is often the woman who knows more and cares more about extending passion into the realm of spirituality, using all of the senses. In The Japanese Art of Sex you’ll practice aromatherapy, bathing and erotic meditation for calming; explore the art of conversation to stimulate the mind and expose the heart, roleplay to fulfill your fantasies; and, finally, use your fingers and tongue to tease and caress before choosing a position to make love. Chapters with titles like "The Nine Points of Beauty," "Iki: The Art of Cool," and "Bathhouse Games and Sexy Cuisine" lead you step by step through over a thousand years of Japanese explorations into sex and love. While explicit, the discussions are tasteful and resolutely nonexploitive. For like-minded modern Western women, eager to explore new ways of lovemaking and pleasure-giving, this book will be a welcome respite from all the other manuals that emphasize technique over the art of sex. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 5/1/04 PISBN PRICE 9781880656846 $16.95 GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE 9781611725056 $16.95 DIMENSIONS 7 x 7" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 256 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Jina Bacarr Author of The Blonde Geisha and numerous other books and articles, was previously the Japan-based consultant on KCBS-TV and MSNBC. She lives in Southern California. Learn More