In 1600 Adams was the first English man to step on Japanese shores - one of only nine survivors of a Dutch trading expedition. He became the shogun's advisor and ship builder, and a samurai.... read more
A collection of nine essays that elaborate on the development and themes of Mingei, the Japanese art movement that found beauty in commonplace objects.
Tokyo, an astonishly good cook and multiple murders. This is not a who-dunnit but a why-dunnit - and there is much to savour, both malicious and delicious.
The Nuremberg Trials had their counterpart in Japan. This is a thorough investigation of that process, and its significance to what happened afterwards in Asia.
A preoccupation with stillness: a survey of Sugimoto's images, selected from his work over five decades. With textual contributions by many, including Edmund de Waal and Mami Kataoka.
The art of imperfection: the work of the aged, self-taught hands of one of Japan's most highly regarded potters. Beautiful work, austere and anchored in ancient techniques of Japanese and Ko... read more
The great Japanese couturier, who once said that he never finished a garment - it was only complete when it had been worn for several years. His pioneering style was modern, functional yet l... read more
Eight decades of Japanese architecture and design, approached chronologically. More illustrations than there are pages; the author has spent four of these decades based in Japan.
An account by a London financier of her family in Japan over the last 150 years. The huge changes they have navigated are described with sympathy and careful research.
These spirits and their bizarre manifestations are not taken straight from the Japanese but rather from the English collections of the Meiji and Taisho eras, including those of Lafcadio Hear... read more
Death, divination and a succession of murders, set in the crumbling grandeur of a once great house... Another treat for those who loved The Inugami Curse and others by this master of the gen... read more
Photographs of many different subjects, by both Japanese and foreign photographers. With over 300 images, some domestic, others panoramic, this collection constitutes a unique visual record ... read more
This anthology of Japanese poetry dates from the C10th and became the basis of all later vernacular poetry including haiku. The early literary authors Shikibu and Shonagon drew from it too, ... read more
Like all well-loved nursery creatures, Teddy has lost one of his button eyes. Surely it's somewhere in the garden? A charming picture book from Japan for ages 4-6.
Shinichi Suzuki was a violinist who became more famous as an educator and philosopher; his ideas of language acquisition revolutionised musical training. He also did much to erode occidental... read more
Strange and serene novel from the great Hungarian writer: for centuries the grandson of Prince Genji has been searching for a mythical garden and now wanders the grounds of an ancient Kyoto ... read more
Bold building with timber, even in tall structures: Ban, the Japanese architect who won the Pritzker prize in 2014, also uses paper, adobe and other sustainable materials in innovative ways.... read more
The Japanese sculptor is the fourth generation of a family of bamboo masters: this is a gorgeous book on his work - some of which is huge. Delightfully, his family name means "master of the... read more
These tales of cats in a Tokyo suburb weave a beguiling portrait of the local human inhabitants. What is it with cats and the Japanese literary scene? Murakami, Hiraide, Kawamura...
A splendid guide to over a hundred museums not only in Tokyo but far beyond - in Kyoto, Hokkaido, Okinawa, Shikoku, Kyushu, etc. Includes museums of traditional arts and artist's houses, as... read more
The catalogue to accompany an exhibition at Museo delle Culture di Lugano in the Villa Malpensata, home to the Montgomery Collection. Textiles, paintings, objects of quotidian use, etc.
Pushkin Press have been having fun with these classic Japanese thrillers from the mid C20th - and so have we. A locked room mystery that deliciously echoes Christie's And Then There Were Non... read more
A young woman in Tokyo takes a few tentative steps outward after years of isolation. Kawakami's unsettling lyricism and candour about ordinary modern lives have made her one of Japan's most ... read more
What distinguished 'art' from 'Art' ? Types of display, collecting, certain kinds of knowledge becoming matters of profession, etc. A specialised and fascinating study that puts the subject ... read more
Set in post-war Japan, this is a Chandleresque tale of murder, political corruption and black marketeering, with a heavy-drinking investigator out on a limb. Familiar tropes perhaps, but in... read more
The author moved to Japan aged 21, immersing herself in language and culture with such success that she is now a literary translator. Her route there was by no means straightforward; this bo... read more
The author's father was an American soldier who fell in love with a Japanese girl on the devastated island. This affecting book probes her own complex feeling and the attitudes among which s... read more
A fascinating introduction to one of the most important Buddhis texts, balanced by Kerr's experiences in Kyoto, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea and India. Kerr has spent most of his adult life living... read more
Takes the reader from the earliest written accounts to the present in vivid portraits. The empress Masako is there, and presumably princess Murasaki Shikibu, whose diary is not only fascina... read more