Enjoy Japanese traditional and cutting-edge pop culture

Tokyo, February 2, 2015 - The Japan Times, Ltd. has released a new Japanese/English bilingual book introducing Japan's rich and diverse culture. The book covers diverse aspects of Japan, from traditional culture to the latest trends.

“The Japan Culture Book” is primarily designed as an English-language learning resource for Japanese readers who want to talk about their culture in English, but it is also usable for all English readers who are interested in Japanese culture.

Highlights:

1) 12 chapters: music / art / manga / literature / performing arts / anime, games, characters / religion and spirituality / geido, the way of the arts / cinema / cuisine / fashion / architecture (Appendices: geography / periods of Japanese history)

2) Each chapter contains various topics: from traditional topics such as ukiyo-e, Kabuki, Bunraku (puppet theater) and Ozu’s films, to recent ones such as manga, otaku and kawaii fashion.

3) The book is richly illustrated, with photos, film stills and manga and anime character images that will help readers understand the contents visually.

4) The content focuses on the diversity of Japanese culture and stereotypes about Japan. This will help readers consider Japanese culture from several perspectives.

5) Stylish design, pocket-sized

*This book is printed on environmentally friendly, FSC-certified paper.

Product details:

Title: “The Japan Culture Book” (Japanese title: Eigo de Nihon Bunka no Hon)

Date of publication: On sale in bookstores in Japan after late January

Price: 2,160 yen (including sales tax)

Size: 128 mm×188 mm, 308 pages in two colors

ISBN: 978-4-7890-1580-6

Authors:

Miura Fumiko was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. While studying the theory and practice of art and design at university in Tokyo, she began traveling to various parts of the world, and later spent a year in London. In Japan she has worked as a commercial building interior designer, a book and magazine editor on culture and the arts, a researcher for overseas journalists on international issues, as well as a nonfiction writer and photographer. She has interviewed hundreds of people, ranging from artists to scientists to astronauts. Her interest in the migration of cultures has inspired her to study such phenomena as the Japanese immigrant culture of Hawaii. Among her publications is the book Fair Trade Trail (3A Corporation, 2008), an inquiry into the fair trade movement around the globe.

Alan Gleason was born in the United States and spent his childhood in Tokyo, Japan.

Returning to Tokyo in his twenties to study traditional Japanese and Okinawan music, he also began working as a translator. Since then he has translated and edited many works on Japanese music, art, drama, history and politics. He has also translated numerous manga, and served as editor of the English translation of the internationally acclaimed manga series Barefoot Gen, a ten-volume account of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He currently lives in Tokyo, where he edits and writes for the web magazine Artscape Japan and the Japanese literature website Books from Japan.


About The Japan Times

The Japan Times is the nation’s biggest selling English-language newspaper, offering unrivalled diversity and depth of original English-language reporting on Japan. With our coverage of politics, business, culture, society and sports, The Japan Times has served as the world’s window on Japan since the newspaper’s establishment in 1897.

From October 2013, The Japan Times embarked on a new phase in its 117-year history with the launch of “The Japan Times / International New York Times”. By packaging The Japan Times with the global edition of widely respected newspaper The New York Times, we offer our readers the best in English-language journalism available in Japan and the world.


Press Enquiries:Corporate Communications Div. Japan Times, Tel: +81 3 3453 5312;

E-mail: [email protected]

General Enquiries:Publications Sales Div. Japan Times, Tel: +81 3 3453 2013

E-mail: [email protected]


The press release may be downloaded in PDF format