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A critical biography of a modern Japanese literary giant, whose brilliant career ended in a spectacular ritual suicide. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Persona A Biography of Yukio Mishima Author Naoki Inose Author/Translator Hiroaki Sato A critical biography of a modern Japanese literary giant, whose brilliant career ended in a spectacular ritual suicide. Yukio Mishima (b. 1925) was a brilliant writer and intellectual whose relentless obsession with beauty, purity, and patriotism ended in his astonishing self-disembowelment and decapitation in downtown Tokyo in 1970. Nominated for the Nobel Prize, Mishima was the best-known novelist of his time (works likeConfessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion are still in print in English), and his legacy—his persona—is still honored and puzzled over. Who was Yukio Mishima really? This, the first full biography to appear in English in almost forty years, traces Mishima's trajectory from a sickly boy named Kimitake Hiraoka to a hard-bodied student of martial arts. In detail it examines his family life, the wartime years, and his emergence, then fame, as a writer and advocate for traditional values. Revealed here are all the personalities and conflicts and sometimes petty backbiting that shaped the culture of postwar literary Japan. Working entirely from primary sources and material unavailable to other biographers, author Naoki Inose and translator Hiroaki Sato together have produced a monumental work that covers much new ground in unprecedented depth. Using interviews, social and psychological analysis, and close reading of novels and essays, Persona removes the mask that Mishima so artfully created to disguise his true self. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 1/1/13 PISBN PRICE 9781611720648 $59.95 GENRE Biography EISBN PRICE 9781611725247 $19.95 DIMENSIONS 6 x 9" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE 9781611720082 $39.95 # OF PAGES 864 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) Naoki Inose A Japanese journalist, historian, social critic and biographer of literary figures such as Yukio Mishima and Osamu Dazai. His biography was published in English under the title Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima , edited and adapted by Hiroaki Sato. Learn More Hiroaki Sato A prolific, award-winning translator of classical and modern Japanese poetry into English. American poet Gary Snyder has called Sato "perhaps the finest translator of contemporary Japanese poetry into American English." Learn More

50 more must-see martial arts films. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Warring Clans, Flashing Blades A Samurai Film Companion Author Patrick Galloway From 47 Ronin to Zatoichi , samurai define Japanese cinema and the modern action film. Movie treasure hunter Patrick Galloway is back with fifty must-see martial-arts films that might have slipped into the shadows of your Netflix queue. Warring Clans , Flashing Blades picks up where Galloway's fan-favorite Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves left off, delving deeper into the samurai film and its spin-off genres—yakuza, ninja, and matatabi. Anyone who enjoys high-action historical dramas will delight in these epic films. Warring Clans, Flashing Blades is an essential reference for fans, and even the most jaded film buff will discover new films to fall in love with. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 7/1/09 PISBN PRICE 9781933330785 $19.95 GENRE Nonfiction EISBN PRICE NA NA DIMENSIONS 7 x 9" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 220 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) Patrick Galloway Film critic who won over readers with film guides Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook , and Asia Shock: Horror and Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand . Learn More

Stone Bridge Press Authors Donna George Storey Author Donna George Storey has published over a hundred literary and erotic stories and essays in Prairie Schooner, Gettysburg Review, Fourth Genre, Wine Spectator, Best American Erotica, The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica , and Best Women’s Erotica . Her work has been featured in magazines in the UK and translated into Italian and received special mention in Pushcart Prize Stories 2004. Donna is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton and holds a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Stanford.She has taught English in Japan and Japanese at Stanford and UC Berkeley. Check out Donna's blog here . http://sexfoodandwriting.donnageorgestorey.com/ Titles by Author Amorous Woman Donna George Storey An American woman's sexual awakening in Japan, testing the limits of love and sensual pleasure. Read More

A group of people walk across, around, and all over Tokyo. They talk, talk, talk. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Tokio Whip Author Arturo Silva A group of people walk across, around, and all over Tokyo. They talk, talk, talk. This is the story of Roberta and Lang and their friends, and their experience of the great Japanese city Tokyo in all its many manifestations to their inquiring, observing, and wandering minds as they banter over the details of a party, a fillm, the Songs Common to Dreams, Tokyo’s history, the Names of Love. Tokio Whip is a distinctly stylistic Yamanote station-by-station tour-de- force discovering the City of Language, the City as Language. “Tokio Whip: Warp ’n’ Woof,” a helpful appendix to this book and a guide to its creation and understanding, is available here as a free pdf. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 5/7/16 PISBN PRICE 9781611720334 $29.95 GENRE Fiction EISBN PRICE 9781611729221 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 5.4 x 8.4" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 369 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise "One of the 10 best books about Japan in 2016 . . . 'The essential Tokyo novel.'" — The Japan Times "Tokio Whip exults in a discovery that every Tokyoite makes: that the constant sense of disorientation created by a city of such vastness and variety can offer a giddy form of liberation; that one can find oneself in being lost." —Kyoto Journal "[Arturo Silva] gives us perhaps the first Tokyo novel not by a Japanese that satisfies both in its vision of the Japanese capital and in its vision of what a novel can be... Tokio Whip we come to see, is part of the lineage of great modernist novels about cities." —David Cozy, The Japan Times "A consistently compelling and deftly crafted novel by an exceptionally gifted novelist, Arturo Silva's Tokio Whip is strongly recommended for both community and academic library Literary Fiction collections." —The Midwest Book Review Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Arturo Silva Arturo Silva spent 18 years in Tokyo and now lives in Vienna, Austria, where he teaches and writes about film. Learn More

A documentary manga biography of the influential artist and the birth and evolution of manga and anime in Japan. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog The Osamu Tezuka Story A Life in Manga and Anime Author Toshio Ban Author/Translator Frederik L. Schodt The official manga biography of Osamu Tezuka, Japan's "God of Manga," chronicling the birth and evolution of manga and anime. This graphic-format biography of Osamu Tezuka—Japan's "God of Manga"—looks at one of the twentieth century's great creative artists (Astro Boy , Kimba the White Lion , Black Jack ). It is also an anecdotal study of the evolution of Japan's early manga and anime business and its heroes. A never-before-seen popular culture history of postwar Japan, it is sure to fascinate fans and anyone interested in manga, anime, and the potential of the graphic storytelling medium. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 7/12/16 PISBN PRICE 9781611720259 $36.95 GENRE Biography EISBN PRICE 9781611729610 $19.95 DIMENSIONS 7 x 9" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 928 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise Winner of the 2016 Foreword INDIES Award for Graphic Novels & Comics "Beautifully done. . . entertaining, heartwarming, and quite sad in places, the warmth and charm that defined Tezuka’s work has been captured here... an essential book to own." —Forbes "The Osamu Tezuka Story offers a reverent and candid review of Tezuka, in a style that memorializes and mirrors his artistic sensibilities--conceptually rich landscapes, clean, complex lines and extreme attention to movement and expression. This book is a necessary reference for Tezuka fans and a historical document providing insight into the philosophy, creation and manufacture of manga." —Shelf Awareness "Dedicated fans of Tezuka Osamu’s imaginative and varied work, as well as those deeply steeped in the history of Japanese pop culture, will undoubtedly relish this book." —Education About Asia "Gr 7 Up... Absolutely worth the read... Readers will come away with an appreciation for Tezuka's influences and... creations. For fans of manga and anime, as well as anyone interested in innovative people and the creative process." —School Library Journal "It's not for nothing that [Osamu Tezuka] is known as the "god of manga..." Rich in anecdotes... [The Osamu Tezuka Story ] will be enjoyable for general readers, but this book is probably more suited for true Tezuka enthusiasts. And the growing number of manga fans all over the world suggests that the legion of true enthusiasts who will enjoy this book is large and growing." —Kyoto Journal "Fittingly massive... [with over] 900 pages of cheery cartoon action... Captures its subject's tireless genius through WWII, the lean post war years, and the emergence of Japan as a superpower. Legendary manga scholar Schodt provides a first-rate translation." —Publisher's Weekly "Thorough and well-detailed... Ban and his partners have created a landmark guide to the life and accomplishments of a master." — Foreword Reviews "Top-notch... This one's not just a must-own. It's a must-actually-read-from-start-to-finish." —OtakuUSA Magazine "This massive biography in comic form has finally been translated into English — and it's more than worth the wait." —Vox “Fascinating... Schodt does a terrific job bringing Tezuka’s story to an English-speaking audience.” —Kotaku “A must for Tezuka devotees… this near 1,000-page biography of manga artist Osamu Tezuka will spark excitement and rabid consumption.” —Library Journal “What better way to showcase the life of manga master Osamu Tezuka then with a biographical manga? This comprehensive biography shows the complexity of the artist’s life and times... A must read for anyone with a passing interest in the evolution of manga and anime.” —The Japan Times "The Osamu Tezuka Story opened my eyes. Tezuka didn’t just make manga, he created manga genres. He invented the idea of “story manga,” of moving beyond gag strips into long-format stories, aka “The way all manga is done today.” Tezuka could have lived for a thousand years and never run out of ideas. Reading this, Tezuka seems less like a human being and more like creativity incarnate—a true ‘God of Manga.’” —World Literature Today Magazine “The Story of Osamu Tezuka is a magnificent tome of a book, an illustrated history covering not only the year-by-year life of Tezuka but the development of modern manga and anime. It’s chock-full with points of technical interest, and applies passionate devotion to the telling of Tezuka’s life.” —Pop Matters 5 out of 5 "The artwork is amazingly detailed—a visual feast that incorporates samples of Tezuka’s drawings. In addition to hundreds of fascinating anecdotes about the man, the narrative also covers the history that gives context to his work, other manga artists, and a general history of manga and anime in Japan for much of the twentieth century. If you have any interest in manga, anime, or Japan, this is a great reference." —Manhattan Book Review "An unparalleled gateway to Tezuka’s life and work. A ground-breaking manga biography of one of Japan’s best-loved and best-selling creators." —Geeky Monkey Magazine "5 out of 5... A riveting biography... one that every American fan of manga or anime should read." —ICv2 "5 out of 5... Heartwarming and inspirational... This is a must buy for anyone interested in Osamu Tezuka and his work in anime and manga." —Otakus and Geeks "A must for any fan of vintage manga and Japanese pop culture." —Clutter Magazine "For anyone who was inspired by Tezuka's work and all the contributions he made to art and animation, The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime is a must buy." —Animation For Adults Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Toshio Ban Toshio Ban joined Tezuka Productions in 1974 as one of Tezuka's assistants. Learn More Frederik L. Schodt Fluent in spoken and written Japanese, is an author and translator of impressive breadth. He has written extensively on Japanese manga, as well as on pop culture, technology, and history. Learn More

A luminous translation of the classic Buddhist poem. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Hojoki Visions of a Torn World (Rock Spring Collection of Japanese Literature) Author Kamo-no-Chomei A luminous translation of the classic Buddhist poem. Japan's capital city of Kyoto was devastated by earthquake, storm, and fire in the late 12th century. Retreating from "this unkind world," the poet and Buddhist priest Kamo-no-Chomei left the capital for the forested mountains, where he eventually constructed his famous "ten-foot-square" hut. From this solitary vantage point Chomei produced Hojoki , an extraordinary literary work that describes all he has seen of human misery and his new life of simple chores, walks, and acts of kindness. Yet at the end he questions his own sanity and the integrity of his purpose. Has he perhaps grown too attached to his detachment? Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 6/1/96 PISBN PRICE 9781880656228 $12.95 GENRE Poetry EISBN PRICE 9780893469856 $7.95 DIMENSIONS 5.1 x 8.6" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 96 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) Kamo-no-Chomei Along with the poet-priest Saigyō he is representative of the literary recluses of his time, and his celebrated essay Hōjōki ("An Account of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut") is representative of the genre known as "recluse literature" (sōan bungaku). Learn More

A simple guide to over 160 key spiritual concepts behind yoga and other branches of Eastern wisdom. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog Sacred Sanskrit Words For Yoga, Chant, and Meditation Author Leza Lowitz A simple guide to over 160 key spiritual concepts behind yoga and other branches of Eastern wisdom. Joseph Campbell called Sanskrit "the great spiritual language of the world." Designed by ancient Indian holy men to express the states of enlightened consciousness through syllabic sounds, Sanskrit is widely used in the West during yoga practice to channel spiritual pathways and to discuss important meditative and philosophical concepts. This book introduces 180 Sanskrit words (including chakra, karma, om, namaste, veda, nirvana) with Devanagari scripts, pronunciations, chants and brief cultural/historic explanations. A practical reference that makes an excellent gift book for any student of yoga, meditation or Eastern religion. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 9/1/04 PISBN PRICE 9781880656877 $18.95 GENRE Religion and Spirituality EISBN PRICE 9780893469832 $9.95 DIMENSIONS 5.3 x 7.3" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 224 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) Leza Lowitz Collaborated with her husband Shogo Oketani, on a book about kanji for tattoos, a collection of poetry by a pacifist Japanese soldier, and a Young Adult trilogy about a young female ninja's quest to save her ancestral land. Learn More

Stone Bridge Press Authors Abigail Friedman Abigail Friedman, a retired diplomat and accomplished, award-winning haiku poet, began composing haiku in a haiku group that met at the foot of Mt. Fuji, led by Japanese haiku master Momoko Kuroda. Her book, The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan (Stone Bridge Press, 2006), captures that experience and her insights into haiku. She is founder of HaikuQuebec, the first French/English bilingual haiku group in Quebec City. Her work has appeared in poetry publications in the U.S., Canada, France, and Japan, including: Frogpond ; AOI; The Asahi Weekly; Association Francophone de Haiku (AFH); The Moss at Tokeiji (Deep North Press, 2010); and Bilboquet. She has presented her haiku at the Montreal Zen Poetry Festival, the Festival international de la poesie de Trois-Rivieres, Haiku Canada, and Haiku North America. In 2012, she was commissioned to compose a haiku to mark the U.S. gift of dogwoods to Japan, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Japan’s gift of cherry trees to the U.S. Awards and Other Honors: First Prize, Mainichi International Haiku Contest (2014); Second Prize, Mainichi International Haiku Contest (2012); Grand Prize, Yamanashi Mt. Fuji haiku contest (2011); Honorable Mention, Mainichi International Haiku Contest (2008); Finalist, Kiriyama Book Prize [for The Haiku Apprentice ] (2007); Second Prize, Mainichi International Haiku Contest (2006). http://thewisteriagroup.com/about-us/ Titles by Author I Wait For The Moon Momoko Kuroda Momoko Kuroda (b. 1938) is a remarkable haiku spirit and a powerfully independent Japanese woman. Read More The Haiku Apprentice Abigail Friedman Discover the beauty of haiku in this poetic memoir of life abroad. Read More

Stone Bridge Press Authors Charles De Wolf Charles De Wolf, a resident of Japan for more than 40 years, is an accomplished translator of fiction and nonfiction as well as scholarly works. His English-translated works include In Pursuit of Lavender by Akiko Itoyama, ME by Hoshino Tomiyuki, and Eclipse by Hirano Keiichiro. He is currently a professor emeritus at Keio University in Tokyo, where he held faculty positions for more than 20 years. Titles by Author Tokyo Swindlers Ko Shinjo, translated by Charles De Wolf A contemporary Japanese crime thriller unravels an intricate web of deception and greed, inspired by recent land-fraud scandals. Read More

J-Boys presents an appealing depiction of young boys in mid-1960s Tokyo, a time of lingering social & cultural recovery. SBP 2023-2024 Catalog J-Boys Kazuo's World, Tokyo, 1965 Author Shogo Oketani THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT Kazuo Nakamoto's life in inner-city Tokyo is one of tea and tofu, of American TV and rock 'n' roll. Kazuo is nine. It is the mid-1960s, just after the Japan Olympics, and Kazuo dreams of being a track star. He hangs out with his buddies, goes to school, and helps with household chores. But Kazuo's world is changing. This bittersweet novel is a deft portrait of a year in a boy's life in a land and time far away, filled with universal concerns about fitting in, escaping the past (in this case World War II's lingering devastation), and growing up. Preview Goodreads Details PUBLISH DATE 6/17/11 PISBN PRICE 9781933330921 $9.95 GENRE Memoir EISBN PRICE 9781611725131 NA DIMENSIONS 5.5 x 8" HARDCOVER ISBN PRICE NA NA # OF PAGES 212 AUDIOBOOK ISBN PRICE NA NA Praise “J-Boys gives readers a chance to time travel . . . Rich with details of day-to-day life in 1960s Japan, and enhanced with photographs and notes, J-Boys offers deep and lasting insights into family and school life, foods, seasonal rituals, and the all-important sense of community.” —Holly Thompson, author of Orchards, The Wakame Gatherers , and Ash “Boys, boyhood, innocence, and friendship in the rich landscape of Tokyo, 1965 . . . a fascinating and endearing work.” —Graham Salisbury, author of Under the Blood-Red Sun , winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction “These stories are a sushi plate of delicious morsels, consisting of all flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami, and hanbaagaa. Deftly told and delicately translated, these stories capture the crazy aspirations, the naughtiness, the tenderheartedness, and the irrepressible spirit of the J-boys.” —Margi Preus, author of Heart of a Samurai , a 2011 Newbery Honor Book “Shogo Oketani's intimately detailed view of life through the eyes of young Kazuo captures the excitement of the 1960s Westernization of Japan in the 1960s, while at the same time delivering the penetrating sorrow of an ancient culture slowly slipping away. Lyrics by the Beatles in a communal bath house, longing for Wimpy burgers while carrying ice-cold tofu home in a bowl—the paradox is amusing, astringent . . . yet loving. Oketani’s gift of writing is deeply appreciated.” —Satsuki Ina, PhD, award-winning documentary filmmaker, Children of the Camps and From a Silk Cocoon “We all have an attachment to our childhood, particularly to the narrow passage of adolescence that renders the malleable child into the semblance of an adult. The nostalgia for this lost state is particularly strong in Japan and has resulted in an entire literary genre, which has given us such classics as Kenji Miyazawa’s Matasaburo, The Wind God , Kojin Shimamura’s The Story of Jiro , and Joji Tsubota’s The Four Seasons of Children . To this select and beloved group we now welcome Shogo Oketani’s J-Boys, an episodic novel in interlocking stories about two brothers, Kazuo and Yasuo, their impending adolescence and their loss of the past as they enter the brave new world of post-Olympics Tokyo, 1965. Here, created with affection and skill, is the whole lost world of the present generation, that childhood the memory of which still lives within us.” —Donald Richie, culture critic and author, The Inland Sea and many other works about Japan Video Book Photos Retail Outlets Books sold at E-Books sold at Audiobooks sold at About the Author(s) Shogo Oketani Works at Dobunsha Publishers, editing college textbooks in the fields of nutrition, bio-technology and food science. In his spare time, he writes fiction and publishes literary translation. He is at work on an historical novel about a revolutionary samurai in medieval Japan. Learn More

Stone Bridge Press Authors Basil Hall Chamberlain From his wikipedia page: Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850 – 15 February 1935) was a professor of Japanese at Tokyo Imperial Universityand one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late 19th century. (Others included Ernest Satow and W. G. Aston.) He also wrote some of the earliest translations of haiku into English. He is perhaps best remembered for his informal and popular one-volume encyclopedia Things Japanese , which first appeared in 1890 and which he revised several times thereafter. His interests were diverse, and his works include an anthology of poetry in French. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Hall_Chamberlain Titles by Author Things Japanese Basil Hall Chamberlin An erudite voyage through the details and customs of Japanese life. Read More

Stone Bridge Press Authors Florence Temko Florence Temko (d. 2009) was the most prolific author on origami in the English language and a pioneer in spreading the art in the United States. She loved to share origami through her books and hands-on demonstrations in schools, colleges, museums, including the Metropolitan Museum in New York, libraries, in corporate settings and in seminars at the National Science Foundation, national teachers conventions of reading, math, art, gifted and learning disabled. Florence appeared many times on television in the U.S., England and Japan. She was the creator of more than 250 original origami designs and traveled in 31 countries where she met with many local artists and artisans. Her books have received numerous awards and are widely recommended by librarians for their clear step-by-step directions that make folding easy for adults and children. Consultant: Mingei International Museum, San Diego, the major resource of origami on the West Coast. Contributor: national and international magazines and newspapers, including the NY Sunday Times, Boston Globe, American Craft, Delta Airlines Magazine, London Daily Telegraph, Paris Figaro . Founder and Board Member of ORIGAMI USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Temko Titles by Author A Thousand Cranes Florence Temko How to fold the famous Japanese Paper Crane and string 1,000 cranes, inspired by the story of Sadako and Hiroshima. Read More