{"title":"Fiction: Japan","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"9781734628784","title":"Nations from Imitations to Innovations: The history of innovation  \u0026 technology Development in Korea  \u0026 Japan","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072491651303,"sku":"Blurb","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"9798230896968","title":"Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan: Samurai Spirit to World War Surrender. The Story of Japan's Modern Empire","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072491684071,"sku":"Epic Epoch","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"9781609458461","title":"All the Lovers in the Night","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eFINALIST for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA BEST BOOK OF 2022\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eOprah\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eDaily\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e・\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eTIME Magazine\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e・\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eWashington\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ePost\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e・\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e・\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eLit Hub\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eBestselling author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eBreasts and Eggs\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eMieko Kawakami invites readers back into her immediately recognizable fictional world with this new, extraordinary novel and demonstrates yet again why she is one of today’s most uncategorizable, insightful, and talented novelists. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyuko stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko’s past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eAll the Lovers in the Night\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis acute and insightful, entertaining and engaging; it will make readers laugh, and it will make them cry, but it will also remind them, as only the best books do, that sometimes the pain is worth it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“In the skilled hands of Bett and Boyd, Kawakami’s prose is instantly recognizable—immediate, incisive, and unfailingly honest.”—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eKatie Kitamura,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(A Most Anticipated Book of 2022)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072492667111,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/91SYSRsasiL._SY425.jpg?v=1755202462"},{"product_id":"9781802794977","title":"Little Book of Tokyo Style: The Fashion History of the Iconic City","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e'If you go to Tokyo, I think it becomes very obvious that there's this almost seamless mixture of popular culture and Japanese traditional culture.' – Kazuo Ishiguro\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the youthful maximalism of Harajuku to the luxurious sophistication of Ginza, Tokyo is the city of a thousand styles. With diverse and unique subcultures like the kitsch Sweet Lolitas, the dark and dramatic goths and punks, the retro rockbillys and the elegant and traditional Wa Lolitas, Tokyo is home to an explosion of fashion like no other. This instalment of the beautiful Little Books of City Style series will look at the style evolution of this incredible capital, providing an exquisitely illustrated guide to dressing like a true Tokyoite.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072492732647,"sku":"Welbeck","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/51uAH2FXuUL._SL1500.jpg?v=1758736028"},{"product_id":"9784805314685","title":"Japanese Stories for Language Learners: Bilingual Stories in Japanese and English (Online Audio Included)","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA great story can lead a reader on a journey of discovery—especially if it's presented in two languages!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeautifully illustrated in a traditional style, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eJapanese Stories for Language Learners\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e offers five compelling stories with English and Japanese language versions appearing on facing pages. Taking learners on an exciting cultural and linguistic journey, each story is followed by detailed translator's notes, Japanese vocabulary lists, and grammar points along with a set of discussion questions and exercises.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first two stories are very famous traditional Japanese folktales: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eUrashima Taro (Tale of a Fisherman)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eYuki Onna (The Snow Woman)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. These are followed by three short stories by notable 20th century authors:\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"a-unordered-list a-vertical\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eKumo no Ito (The Spider's Thread)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eOborekaketa Kyodai (The Siblings Who Almost Drowned)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by Arishima Takeo (1878-1923)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSerohiki no Goshu (Gauche the Cellist)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReading these stories in the original Japanese script—and hearing native-speakers read them aloud in the accompanying free audio recording—helps students at every level deepen their comprehension of the beauty and subtlety of the Japanese language. Learn Japanese the fun way#8212;through the country's rich literary history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eAll audio content is alternatively accessible on the Tuttle Publishing website.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072492994791,"sku":"Tuttle Publishing","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/91p-gRFk1RL._SL1500.jpg?v=1759341725"},{"product_id":"9784805317846","title":"Japan Now! a Japanese Language Reader: Bilingual Stories and Essays about Contemporary Japan (with Free Online Audio Recordings)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eLearn about contemporary Japan while improving your language skills!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eJAPAN NOW! A Japanese Language Reader\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e contains 17 fascinating stories and essays about contemporary Japanese society in parallel Japanese and English versions on facing pages. The stories are written by a number of experienced commentators on Japan, each with a distinctive style and point of view.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eVocabulary lists, notes, exercises and discussion questions make this a great course book for classroom use or self-study, and the wide range of fascinating topics make it equally appealing for general readers. The topics covered include:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"a-unordered-list a-vertical\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eLBGTQ Rights in Japan\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — Eriko and Anna Sato explain how the Japanese courts have recently declared bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Is Japanese society finally becoming more inclusive?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eJapan's Underground Tattoo Culture\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — Brian Ashcraft, author of Japanese Tattoos, takes a deep dive into the world of Japanese tattooing, an art traditionally practiced mainly by yakuza gangsters.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eJapan's High Suicide Rate\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — Eriko and Anna Sato ask whether Japan's suicide rate has always been high? Is this due to the traditions of seppuku and kamikaze or to the stigma around seeking therapy in Japan? Or are other factors at work?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eWhy I Love Japan Even More Since the Earthquake\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — journalist David McNeill, a longtime Japan resident, explores the aftereffects of the devastating 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown on Japanese society.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe Origin of Sake\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — bestselling sake experts Nancy Matsumoto and Michael Tremblay look at the history of the Japanese drink that has gained huge popularity worldwide.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIllustrated with 25 black-and-white photographs, and accompanied by free online audio recordings, this volume provides unique insights into life in 21st century Japan for students and anyone interested in Japanese culture!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072493060327,"sku":"Tuttle Publishing","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81_iy5hgukL._SY385.jpg?v=1755202451"},{"product_id":"9781507221914","title":"Book of Japanese Folklore: An Encyclopedia of the Spirits, Monsters, and Yokai of Japanese Myth: The Stories of the Mischievous Kappa, Trickster Kitsu","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eDiscover everything you’ve ever wondered about the legendary spirits, creatures, and figures of Japanese folklore including how they have found their way into every corner of our pop culture from the creator of the podcast\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eUncanny Japan\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWelcome to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Book of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eJapanese Folklore\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e: a fascinating journey through Japan’s folklore through profiles of the legendary creatures and beings who continue to live on in pop culture today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the sly kitsune to the orgrish oni and mischievous shape-shifting tanuki, learn all about the origins of these fantastical and mythical creatures. This gorgeous package is complete with stained edges and stunning four-color illustrations. With information on their cultural significance, a retelling of a popular tale tied to that particular yokai, and how it’s been spun into today’s popular culture, this handsome tome teaches you about the stories and histories of the beings that inspired characters in your favorite movies, animes, manga, and games.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdventure, mystery, and amazing tales await in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Book of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eJapanese Folklore\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072493715687,"sku":"Adams Media Corporation","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/71tZBQ51VdL._SL1500.jpg?v=1755629644"},{"product_id":"9781891011665","title":"Shortest History of Japan: From Mythical Origins to Pop Culture Powerhouse - The Global Drama of an Ancient Island Nation","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072494010599,"sku":"Experiment","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"9780679761044","title":"Snow Country","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThis masterpiece from the Nobel Prize-winning author and acclaimed writer of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThousand Cranes\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eis a powerful tale of wasted love set amid the desolate beauty of western Japan. • “Kawabata’s novels are among the most affecting and original works of our time.” —\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt an isolated mountain hot spring, with snow blanketing every surface, Shimamura, a wealthy dilettante meets Komako, a lowly geisha. She gives herself to him fully and without remorse, despite knowing that their passion cannot last and that the affair can have only one outcome. In chronicling the course of this doomed romance, Kawabata has created a story for the ages—a stunning novel dense in implication and exalting in its sadness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072504889575,"sku":"Vintage","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/91i573OByML._SL1500.jpg?v=1756416507"},{"product_id":"9780811234542","title":"The Flowers of Buffoonery","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eFor the first time in English, Osamu Dazai’s hilariously comic and deeply moving prequel to\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNo Longer Human\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Flowers of Buffoonery\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e opens in a seaside sanitarium where Yozo Oba―the narrator of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNo Longer Human\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e at a younger age―is being kept after a failed suicide attempt. While he is convalescing, his friends and family visit him, and other patients and nurses drift in and out of his room. Against this dispiriting backdrop, everyone tries to maintain a lighthearted, even clownish atmosphere: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, vying for attention, cracking jokes, and trying to make each other laugh.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhile \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNo Longer Human\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e delves into the darkest corners of human consciousness, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Flowers of Buffoonery\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e pokes fun at these same emotions: the follies and hardships of youth, of love, and of self-hatred and depression. A glimpse into the lives of a group of outsiders in prewar Japan, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Flowers of Buffoonery\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a darkly humorous and fresh addition to Osamu Dazai’s masterful and intoxicating oeuvre.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072505118951,"sku":"New Directions","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/51Mn0Uyw3ML._SL1200.jpg?v=1771530050"},{"product_id":"9780141391885","title":"Botchan (Penguin Classics)","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072508526823,"sku":"Penguin Classics","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"9780811204811","title":"No Longer Human (Revised)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePortraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNo Longer Human\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a \"clown\" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51072508592359,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/41alKvN9GwL._SL1200.jpg?v=1755628549"},{"product_id":"9780802157010","title":"Earthlings: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAn otherworldly coming-of-age tale of a woman who believes she is an alien, from the author of the international sensation\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eConvenience Store Woman\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSayaka Murata’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eConvenience Store Woman\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was one of the most unusual and refreshing bestsellers of recent years, depicting the life of a thirty-six-year-old clerk in a Tokyo convenience store. Now, in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eEarthlings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, Sayaka Murata pushes at the boundaries of our ideas of social conformity in this brilliantly imaginative, intense, and absolutely unforgettable novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs a child, Natsuki doesn’t fit in with her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut, who talks to her. He tells her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth. One summer, on vacation with her family and her cousin Yuu in her grandparents’ ramshackle wooden house in the mountains of Nagano, Natsuki decides that she must be an alien, which would explain why she can’t seem to fit in like everyone else. Later, as a grown woman, living a quiet life with her asexual husband, Natsuki is still pursued by dark shadows from her childhood, and decides to flee the “baby factory” of society for good, searching for answers about the vast and frightening mysteries of the universe—answers only Natsuki has the power to uncover.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDreamlike, sometimes shocking, and always strange and wonderful, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eEarthlings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e asks what it means to be happy in a stifling world, and cements Sayaka Murata’s status as a master chronicler of the outsider experience and our own uncanny universe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003ePraise for\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eEarthlings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Editors’ Choice\u003cbr\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eTIME\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNamed a Most Anticipated Book by the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eTIME\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eGuardian\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eVulture\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWired\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBustle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePopSugar\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eRefinery29\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Intimate, deadpan, and unflinchingly unhinged. . . . Exceptionally fun. . . . Amid all the hedgehog and alien talk is a novel that asks how happiness and freedom can be possible inside a stiflingly anxious world, and its answers, while grotesque, are worth reading.” —\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWired\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If you’re in the mood for weird, Sayaka Murata is always a reliable place to turn. . . . [\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eEarthlings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e] centers on Natsuki, a character whose story begins in childhood with her cousin in the mountains and spirals ever more darkly (and bizarrely) into adulthood and its many strange reckonings. This is a story that’s best not to spoil, but it will get into your head.” —\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSeattle Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s the book’s visceral, grim savagery, and those final shocking pages, that makes this such a vital, powerful novel. . . . \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eEarthlings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is the sort of challenging, confronting fiction that wakes you up with a jolt and leaves a lasting impression.” —\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eLocus\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51075351609575,"sku":"Grove Press","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/71_8BYrL2FL._SY466.jpg?v=1755202275"},{"product_id":"9781957363912","title":"Tokyo Noir: In and Out of Japan's Underworld","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51075352199399,"sku":"Scribe US","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/image_94da24d0-39d2-4180-932d-945e1b74d388.jpg?v=1755202261"},{"product_id":"9781770466289","title":"Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe final, Eisner Award-winning chapter of a legendary cartoonist’s history of Japan\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eShowa 1953-1989: A History of Japan\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003econcludes award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's stunning historical and autobiographical series about Japanese life in the twentieth century. The final volume picks up in the wake of utter defeat in World War II, covering the United States’ shift from enemy to ally. Jobs, money, and opportunity are funneled along in a bid to establish the country as a bulwark against Communist expansion. Japan thus reinvents itself, emerging as an economic powerhouse. Events like the Tokyo Olympiad and the World's Fair reintroduce the world to a much friendlier Japan, but this period of peace and plenty conceals a populace still struggling to come to terms with the devastation of their all-too-recent past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMizuki's own struggles mirror those of the nation during this period of recovery and reconciliation. He fights his way back from poverty, rising to the rank of cartoon celebrity beloved by millions of manga-reading children. However, prosperity cannot bring the happiness Mizuki craves, as he struggles to find meaning in the sacrifices made during the war. This visionary series, told by a true man of his time, is a magnum opus fully representative of the graphic novel as world literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated by Zack Davisson.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51085679526119,"sku":"Drawn  \u0026 Quarterly","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81LznlTaFkL._SL1500.jpg?v=1775587630"},{"product_id":"9781770466272","title":"Showa 1944-1953: A History of Japan","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA sweeping yet intimate portrait of World War II’s legacy in Japan\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShowa 1944-1953: A History of Japan\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003econtinues Eisner award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's historical and autobiographical account of Japanese life in the twentieth century. In this volume, the tail-end of the Pacific War and its devastating consequences upon the author and his compatriots loom large. Two rival navies engage in a deadly game of feint and thrust, waging a series of ruthless military campaigns across the Pacific islands. From Guadalcanal to Okinawa, Japan slowly loses ground. When the United States unleashes the atomic bomb–then still a new and now enduringly terrible weapon–it is the ultimate, definitive blow. The catastrophic fallout from both explosions surpasses the limits of popular imagination.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMizuki's own life is irrevocably changed in the shadow of history. After losing an arm during his time in service, the author struggles to forge a path into the future. Should he remain on the island of Rabaul as an honored friend of the local Tolai? Or should he return to the rubble of Japan and return to his earliest artistic inclinations? This penultimate installment of a landmark series is a searing condemnation of war, told with the deft hand of Japan's most celebrated cartoonist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated by Zack Davisson.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51085679558887,"sku":"Drawn  \u0026 Quarterly","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81EN2Vi2d1L._SL1500.jpg?v=1775584398"},{"product_id":"9781770466265","title":"Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAn Internationally-renowned cartoonist and reluctant war vet details Japan's involvement in World War II\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShowa 1939-1944: A History of Japan\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003econtinues Eisner award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's historical and autobiographical account of Japanese life in the twentieth century. This volume covers the devastation of the Sino-Japanese War and the first few years of the Pacific War–a chilling reminder of just how harsh life in Japan was during this hostile era. Pivotal events like the attack on Pearl Harbor are reframed as part of a larger context detailing the country's brutal military expansion into Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Its effects on the otherwise unseen Japanese populace similarly come to the fore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn a personal level, these years mark a dramatic transformation in Mizuki's life too. His idyllic youth in the countryside comes to an abrupt halt when he is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army against his will. On the tiny island of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea, a constant struggle for survival ensues. Not only must he fend off attacks from Allied forces, but from the harsh discipline of his own commanding officers too. It is here that Mizuki comes to understand the misery and beauty of the island itself, a place that will permanently mark and haunt him for the rest of his life.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51085679755495,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81YrXJHyTTL._SL1500.jpg?v=1775587670"},{"product_id":"9781770466258","title":"Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA fascinating period in Japanese history recounted by manga’s most distinguished author\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShowa 1926–1939: A History of Japan\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e lays the groundwork for Eisner award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki’s historical and autobiographical series about Japanese life in the twentieth century. Depicted against his trademark photorealistic backdrops, Mizuki effortlessly portrays a nation forced into a period of upheaval and brings history into the realm of the personal. Indeed, as a child coming of age in the Showa era, the author’s earliest memories coincide with key events of the time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt all begins with the Great Kanto Earthquake, a natural disaster that forces the country into a financial crisis. The period leading up to World War II is thus a time of economic hardship and record unemployment. Forthright descriptions of ensuing militarization reveal Mizuki’s lifelong stance as a thoughtful pacifist, critical of domestically disputed events like the Nanjing Massacre clearly painted here as an atrocity. This first volume in a four-part series is a captivating historical portrait tracking the industrial and societal developments that would come to shape Japan's foreign policy in the interwar period.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51085679788263,"sku":"Drawn  \u0026 Quarterly","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81o9U61x-sL._SL1500.jpg?v=1775587719"},{"product_id":"9781400337040","title":"Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, a Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51085684605159,"sku":"Harper Select","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"9781611806939","title":"The Spring of My Life: And Selected Haiku (Shambhala Pocket Library)","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086174552295,"sku":"Shambhala","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"9780399176005","title":"All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love","description":"","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086174617831,"sku":"TarcherPerigee","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/9780399176005_f704b0f9-4008-418b-b66e-f4c119c1e957.jpg?v=1755201647"},{"product_id":"9780520385580","title":"Basho: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Basho (World Literature in Translation)","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThis is the essential English edition of the complete poems of the eminent Japanese master of the haiku, Matsuo Bashō.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMatsuo Bashō (1644–1694) is arguably the greatest figure in the history of Japanese literature and the master of the haiku. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBashō: The Complete Haiku \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eof Matsuo Bashō\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eoffers in English a full picture of the haiku of Bashō, 980 poems in all. Andrew Fitzsimons’ translation is the first to adhere strictly to form: all of the poems are translated following the syllabic count of the originals. This book also translates a number of Bashō’s headnotes to poems ignored by previous English-language translators.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn Fitzsimons’ beautiful rendering, Bashō is much more than a philosopher of the natural world and the leading exponent of a refined Japanese sensibility. He is also a poet of queer love and eroticism; of the city as well as the country, the indoors and the outdoors, travel and staying put; of lonesomeness as well as the desire to be alone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis poetry explores the full range of social experience in Edo Japan as he moved among friends and followers high and low, the elite and the demi-monde, the less fortunate: poor farmers, abandoned children, disregarded elders. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBashō: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bashō\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ereveals how this work speaks to our concerns today as much as it captures a Japan emerging from the Middle Ages. For dedicated scholars and those coming upon Bashō for the first time, Fitzsimons’ elegant translation—with an insightful introduction and helpful notes—allows readers to enjoy these works in all their glory.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086174847207,"sku":"University of California Press","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/716zBcg07tL._SL1500.jpg?v=1778091202"},{"product_id":"9780811229289","title":"Scattered All Over the Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003eA mind-expanding, cheerfully dystopian new novel by Yoko Tawada, winner of the National Book Award    Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from the face of the earth, is now remembered as “the land of sushi.” Hiruko, its former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian): “homemade language. no country to stay in. three countries I experienced. insufficient space in brain. so made new language. homemade language.”    As she searches for anyone who can still speak her mother tongue, Hiruko soon makes new friends. Her troupe travels to France, encountering an umami cooking competition; a dead whale; an ultra-nationalist named Breivik; unrequited love; Kakuzo robots; red herrings; uranium; an Andalusian matador. Episodic and mesmerizing scenes flash vividly along, and soon they’re all next off to Stockholm.    With its intrepid band of companions, Scattered All Over the Earth (the first novel of a trilogy) may bring to mind Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or a surreal Wind in the Willows, but really is just another sui generis Yoko Tawada masterwork.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086175404263,"sku":"New Directions","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/9780811229289_85c626ac-dbf2-43d3-88ad-fa21e829b627.jpg?v=1755201616"},{"product_id":"9781593766115","title":"Under the Eye of the Big Bird: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom one of Japan's most brilliant and sensitive contemporary novelists, this speculative fiction masterpiece envisions an Earth where humans are nearing extinction, and rewrites our understanding of reproduction, ecology, evolution, artificial intelligence, communal life, creation, love, and the future of humanity\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of \"Mothers.\" Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants. The survival of the race depends on the interbreeding of these and other alien beings--but it is far from certain that connection, love, reproduction, and evolution will persist among the inhabitants of this faltering new world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnfolding over fourteen interconnected episodes spanning geological eons, at once technical and pastoral, mournful and utopic, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eUnder the Eye of the Big Bird\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003epresents an astonishing vision of the end of our species as we know it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086176092391,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/71jwglwWuHL._SL1500.jpg?v=1774973142"},{"product_id":"9780679775430","title":"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e在线阅读本书          Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.         In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat.Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo.As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.        Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace,  The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle  is a tour de force equal in scope to the masterpieces of Mishima and Pynchon.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086184120551,"sku":"Vintage","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/9780679775430_8237499f-301d-48c8-9bc5-cea4ed993dde.jpg?v=1755201408"},{"product_id":"9780679767398","title":"South of the Border, West of the Sun: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn  South of the Border, West of the Sun , the simple arc of a man's life--with its attendant rhythms of success and disappointment--becomes the exquisite literary terrain of Haruki Murakami's most haunting work.         Born in 1951 in an affluent Tokyo suburb, Hajime-- beginning  in Japanese--has arrived at middle age wanting for almost nothing. The postwar years have brought him a fine marriage, two daughters, and an enviable career as the proprietor of two jazz clubs. Yet a nagging sense of inauthenticity about his success threatens Hajime's happiness. And a boyhood memory of a wise, lonely girl named Shimamoto clouds his heart.         When Shimamoto shows up one rainy night, now a breathtaking beauty with a secret from which she is unable to escape, the fault lines of doubt in Hajime's quotidian existence begin to give way. And the details of stolen moments past and present--a Nat King Cole melody, a face pressed against a window, a handful of ashes drifting downriver to the sea--threaten to undo him completely. Rich, mysterious, quietly dazzling,  South of the Border, West of the Sun  is Haruki Murakami's wisest and most compelling fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086184153319,"sku":"Vintage","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/61kS681gETL._SL1200.jpg?v=1755201407"},{"product_id":"9780679753797","title":"Dance Dance Dance","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis wildly propulsive novel by the acclaimed author of A Wild Sheep Chase focuses on a man searching for a former lover who vanished mysteriously from a seedy hotel. But each new clue to Kiki's whereabouts leads him deeper into a labryrinth of physical violence and metaphysical dread. \"A world-class writer.\"--Washington Post Book World\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086184186087,"sku":"Vintage","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/9780679753797_d7b7ac53-3e87-4d26-94df-3b08ce0feae0.jpg?v=1755201406"},{"product_id":"9780593311189","title":"First Person Singular: Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eNATIONAL BEST SELLER\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eA mind-bending new collection of short stories from the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e•\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e“Some novelists hold a mirror up to the world and some, like Haruki Murakami, use the mirror as a portal to a universe hidden beyond it.” —\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe eight stories in this new book are all told in the first person by a classic Murakami narrator. From memories of youth, meditations on music, and an ardent love of baseball, to dreamlike scenarios and invented jazz albums, together these stories challenge the boundaries between our minds and the exterior world. Occasionally, a narrator may or may not be Murakami himself. Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhilosophical and mysterious, the stories in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eFirst Person Singular\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e all touch beautifully on love and solitude, childhood and memory. . . all with a signature Murakami twist.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086184251623,"sku":"Vintage","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/91DfMaZKxxL._SL1500.jpg?v=1775587526"},{"product_id":"9780375704024","title":"Norwegian Wood","description":"\u003cp\u003eBook Description First American Publication This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time. It is sure to be a literary event. Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman. A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love. Amazon.co.uk \"I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me\" \"Norwegian Wood\" (Lennon\/McCartney). With Norwegian Wood Murakami, best known as the author of off-kilter classics such as the Wind Up Bird Chronicle, A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard Boiled Wonderland, finally achieved widespread acclaim in his native Japan. The novel sold upwards of 4 million copies and forced the author to retreat to Europe, fearful of the expectations accompanying his new-found cult status. The novel is atypical for Murakami: seemingly autobiographical, in the tradition of many Japanese \"I\" novels, Norwegian Wood is a simple coming of age tale set, primarily, in 1969\/70, the time of Murakami's own university years. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the backdrop of the novel but the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs and the pain (and pleasure) of growing up with all its attendant losses, (self-)obsessions and crises. The novel is split into two volumes and beautifully presented here in a \"gold\" box containing both the green book and the red book. Young Japanese fans became so obsessed with the work that they would dress entirely in one or other colour denoting which volume they most identified with. And the novel is hugely affecting, reading like a cross between Plath's Bell Jar and Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women, if less complex and ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical, work. He captures the huge expectation of youth, and of this particular time in history, for the future and for the place of love in it. He also saturates the work with sadness, an emotion that can cripple a novel but which here underscores the poignancy of the work's rather thin subject matter. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Mark Thwaite Amazon.com In 1987, when Norwegian Wood was first published in Japan, it promptly sold more than 4 million copies and transformed Haruki Murakami into a pop-culture icon. The horrified author fled his native land for Europe and the United States, returning only in 1995, by which time the celebrity spotlight had found some fresher targets. And now he's finally authorized a translation for the English-speaking audience, turning to the estimable Jay Rubin, who did a fine job with his big-canvas production The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Readers of Murakami's later work will discover an affecting if atypical novel, and while the author himself has denied the book's autobiographical import--\"If I had simply written the literal truth of my own life, the novel would have been no more than fifteen pages long\"--it's hard not to read as at least a partial portrait of the artist as a young man. Norwegian Wood is a simple coming-of-age tale, primarily set in 1969-70, when the author was attending university. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the novel's backdrop. But the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs, and the pain and pleasure and attendant losses of growing up. The collapse of a romance (and this is one among many!) leaves him in a metaphysical shambles: I read Naoko's letter again and again, and each time I read it I would be filled with the same unbearable sadness I used to feel whenever Naoko stared into my eyes. I had no way to deal with it, no place I could take it to or hide it away. Like the wind passing over my body, it had neither shape nor weight, nor could I wrap myself in it. This account of a young man's sentimental education sometimes reads like a cross between Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Stephen Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women. It is less complex and perhaps ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical work. Still, Norwegian Wood captures the huge expectation of youth--and of this particular time in history--for the future and for the place of love in it. It is also a work saturated with sadness, an emotion that can sometimes cripple a novel but which here merely underscores its youthful poignancy. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Mark Thwaite From Publishers Weekly In a complete stylistic departure from his mysterious and surreal novels (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; A Wild Sheep Chase) that show the influences of Salinger, Fitzgerald and Tom Robbins, Murakami tells a bittersweet coming-of-age story, reminiscent of J.R. Salamanca's classic 1964 novel, LilithAthe tale of a young man's involvement with a schizophrenic girl. A successful, 37-year-old businessman, Toru Watanabe, hears a version of the Beatles' Norwegian Wood, and the music transports him back 18 years to his college days. His best friend, Kizuki, inexplicably commits suicide, after which Toru becomes first enamored, then involved with Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko. But Naoko is a very troubled young woman; her brilliant older sister has also committed suicide, and though sweet and desperate for happiness, she often becomes untethered. She eventually enters a convalescent home for disturbed people, and when Toru visits her, he meets her roommate, an older musician named Reiko, who's had a long history of mental instability. The three become fast friends. Toru makes a commitment to Naoko, but back at college he encounters Midori, a vibrant, outgoing young woman. As he falls in love with her, Toru realizes he cannot continue his relationship with Naoko, whose sanity is fast deteriorating. Though the solution to his problem comes too easily, Murakami tells a subtle, charming, profound and very sexy story of young love bound for tragedy. Published in Japan in 1987, this novel proved a wild success there, selling four million copies. (Sept.) Book Dimension length: (cm)20.6 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)13.9\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086184284391,"sku":"Vintage","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/41TXsO8-LnL._SY445_SX342_ControlCacheEqualizer.jpg?v=1755201404"},{"product_id":"9781400079278","title":"Kafka on the Shore","description":"\u003cp\u003eKafka on the Shore  is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.         As their paths converge, and the reasons for that convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder.  Kafka on the Shore  displays one of the world’s great storytellers at the peak of his powers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51086189330663,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/417SDeqg70L._SY445_SX342_FMwebp.webp?v=1777654492"},{"product_id":"9781250390585","title":"People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo--And the Evil That Swallowed Her Up","description":"\u003cp\u003eLucie Blackman—tall, blond, twenty-one years old—stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRichard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, covered Lucie's disappearance and followed the massive search for her, the long investigation, and the even longer trial. Over ten years, he earned the trust of her family and friends, won unique access to the Japanese detectives and Japan's convoluted legal system, and delved deep into the mind of the man accused of the crime, Joji Obara, described by the judge as \"unprecedented and extremely evil.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a book at once thrilling and revelatory, \"In Cold Blood for our times\" (Chris Cleave, author of Incendiary and Little Bee).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe People Who Eat Darkness is one of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Best Books of 2012\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51172124688615,"sku":"Picador USA","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/41mqBy-qT7L._SY445_SX342_ControlCacheEqualizer.jpg?v=1755201039"},{"product_id":"9784805317792","title":"Japan's Longest Day: A Graphic Novel about the End of WWII: Intrigue, Treason and Emperor Hirohito's Fateful Decision to Surrender","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the final days of World War II, Japan lay in ruins and the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been obliterated. 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Moving elegantly across a wide range of themes including nature, society, and her own flirtations, Sei Shonagon provides a witty and intimate window on a woman's life at court in classical Japan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51188688945383,"sku":"Penguin Classics","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/71_WISyaOHL._SL1184.jpg?v=1755200967"},{"product_id":"9780804170147","title":"Wind\/Pinball: Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 (Two Novels)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWind\/Pinball, a unique two-in-one volume, includes, on one side, Murakami’s first novel Hear the Wind Sing. When you flip the book over, you can read his second novel, Pinball, 1973. Each book has its own stunning cover.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the spring of 1978, a young Haruki Murakami sat down at his kitchen table and began to write. The result: two remarkable short novels—Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973—that launched the career of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese powerful, at times surreal, works about two young men coming of age—the unnamed narrator and his friend the Rat—are stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism. 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What he doesn’t realize is that included in the scene is a mutant sheep with a star on its back, and in using this photo he has unwittingly captured the attention of a man who offers a menacing ultimatum: find the sheep or face dire consequences.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51264137101543,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/view_archive_66193c83-2fd5-4cc2-8b5c-1608bedfcb4e.jpg?v=1755200911"},{"product_id":"9781250105790","title":"Under the Midnight Sun: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the acclaimed international bestseller Keigo Higashino (The Devotion of Suspect X) comes a sweeping novel in the tradition of Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment. This is the compelling story of a brutal crime and the two teenagers—Ryo, the son of the murdered man, and Yukiho, the daughter of the main suspect—whose lives remain inextricably linked over the twenty-year search for the truth behind the crime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Osaka in 1973, the body of a murdered man is found in an abandoned building. Investigating the crime, Detective SasagakI is unable to find the killer. Over the next twenty years, through the lens of a succession of characters, Higashino tells the story of two teens, Ryo and Yukiho, whose lives are most affected by the crime, and the obsessed detective, Sasagaki, who continues to investigate the murder, looking for the elusive truth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUnder the Midnight Sun is a complex, psychological novel about crime and its after-effects by one the most read and most accomplished contemporary mystery author. A twisting, compelling work that will astonish and delight Higashino’s old fans and new readers alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51264137232615,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/view_archive_a149fd26-5de9-4145-a6b6-d26eec3a2c20.jpg?v=1755200909"},{"product_id":"9781642733549","title":"Schoolgirl (Modern Japanese Classics; hardcover ed.)","description":"\u003cp\u003eEssentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them–a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. 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A short, engrossing novel that captures the essence of obsessive fandom.¡¨ -- Kirkus (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"What's impressive about this novel is the author's ability to empathize with Akari's all-consuming love for Masaki while showing just how damaging this relationship is to Akari and everyone around her. The book left me heartbroken yet hopeful, and excited for more Usami novels to come.\" -- NPR.org\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e¡§Haunting and sincere, Idol, Burning subverts and astonishes. Rin Usami balances humor, obsession, heartbreak, and sacrifice in her debut, crafting a story that's both enveloping and expansive. Usami's writing is thrilling and deft, and her novel illuminates the shadows cloaking our digital lives, leaving us with honesty and grace in equal measures. 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It is a devotion that borders on the religious: Masaki is her savior, her backbone, someone she believes she cannot survive without¡Xeven though she¡¦s never actually met him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen rumors surface that her idol assaulted a female fan, social media explodes. Akari immediately begins sifting through everything she can find about the scandal, and shares every detail to her blog¡Xincluding Masaki¡¦s denials and pleas to his fans¡Xdrawing numerous readers eager for her updates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut the organized, knowledgeable persona Akari presents online is totally different from the socially awkward, unfocused teenager she is in real life. As Masaki's situation spirals, his troubles threaten to tear apart her life too. Instead of finding a way to break free to save herself, Akari becomes even more fanatical about Masaki, still believing her idol is the only person who understands her.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51285877752039,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81JMAsBlAjL._SL1500.jpg?v=1755635717"},{"product_id":"9781935548089","title":"Schoolgirl (Modern Japanese Classics)","description":"\u003cp\u003eEssentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them¡Va theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. 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But the influence of his book has made \"people of the setting sun\" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51285884207335,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/41EPS8q999L._SL1200.jpg?v=1755635726"},{"product_id":"9780063095731","title":"The Cat Who Saved Books: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eAN INDIE NEXT PICK!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the #1 bestselling author in Japan comes a celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for¡Xor rather, demands¡Xthe teenager¡¦s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eTheir mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, the cat and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge¡Xthe last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter . . .\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eAn enthralling tale of books, first love, fantasy, and an unusual friendship with a talking cat, The Cat Who Saved Books is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eTranslated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51285932769511,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/A19JlPFFmGL._SL1500.jpg?v=1755635760"},{"product_id":"9781250379825","title":"Under the Midnight Sun: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the acclaimed international bestseller Keigo Higashino (The Devotion of Suspect X) comes a sweeping novel in the tradition of Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment. This is the compelling story of a brutal crime and the two teenagers_Ryo, the son of the murdered man, and Yukiho, the daughter of the main suspect_whose lives remain inextricably linked over the twenty-year search for the truth behind the crime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Osaka in 1973, the body of a murdered man is found in an abandoned building. Investigating the crime, Detective SasagakI is unable to find the killer. Over the next twenty years, through the lens of a succession of characters, Higashino tells the story of two teens, Ryo and Yukiho, whose lives are most affected by the crime, and the obsessed detective, Sasagaki, who continues to investigate the murder, looking for the elusive truth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUnder the Midnight Sun is a complex, psychological novel about crime and its after-effects by one the most read and most accomplished contemporary mystery author. A twisting, compelling work that will astonish and delight Higashino¡¦s old fans and new readers alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51285932835047,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81iuzxR57-L._SL1500.jpg?v=1755635763"},{"product_id":"9781642861143","title":"Solo Dance","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA powerful novel about the LGBTQ rights movement and gay love in Japan and Taiwan, from the most important queer voice of East Asia's millennial generation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCho Norie, twenty-seven and originally from Taiwan, is working an office job in Tokyo. While her colleagues worry about the economy, life-insurance policies, marriage, and children, she is forced to keep her unconventional life hidden―including her sexuality and the violent attack that prompted her move to Japan. There is also her unusual fascination with death: she knows from personal experience how devastating death can be, but for her it is also creative fuel. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSolo Dance\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e depicts the painful coming of age of a gay person in Taiwan and corporate Japan. This striking debut is an intimate and powerful account of a search for hope after trauma.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51307026252007,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/71WK8NTH66L._SL1500.jpg?v=1755890438"},{"product_id":"9780802161345","title":"Life Ceremony: Stories","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe long-awaited first short story-collection by the author of the cult sensation\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eConvenience Store Woman\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e, tales of weird love, heartfelt friendships, and the unsettling nature of human existence\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eLife Ceremony\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humor and horror to portray both the loners and outcasts as well as turning the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them. Whether the stories take place in modern-day Japan, the future, or an alternate reality is left to the reader’s interpretation, as the characters often seem strange in their normality in a frighteningly abnormal world. In “A First-Rate Material,” Nana and Naoki are happily engaged, but Naoki can’t stand the conventional use of deceased people’s bodies for clothing, accessories, and furniture, and a disagreement around this threatens to derail their perfect wedding day. “Lovers on the Breeze” is told from the perspective of a curtain in a child’s bedroom that jealously watches the young girl Naoko as she has her first kiss with a boy from her class and does its best to stop her. “Eating the City” explores the strange norms around food and foraging, while “Hatchling” closes the collection with an extraordinary depiction of the fractured personality of someone who tries too hard to fit in.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn these strange and wonderful stories of family and friendship, sex and intimacy, belonging and individuality, Murata asks above all what it means to be a human in our world and offers answers that surprise and linger.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51330493874407,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/71piTmOW2cL._SL1500.jpg?v=1756401179"},{"product_id":"9781770466302","title":"Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe book that brought pre-eminent Manga-ka Shigeru Mizuki to the English-speaking world\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKokopo, 1943. A platoon of soldiers is ordered into battle. The objective is death. The alternative is certain execution as a consequence of survival. Inspired by Eisner Award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's own mandatory tour of duty as an active combatant in the Imperial Japanese Army, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eOnward Towards Our Noble Deaths\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e portrays a flailing infantry unit on its last legs near the end of the Second World War.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis deeply personal and landmark anti-war work could only have been made by a pacifist. The desperation and moral depravity on display is devastating. Mizuki's fanciful characters must make do against a photo-realistic backdrop teeming with tropical life that remains inhospitable. Indeed, commanding officers prove even more ferocious than the wild unknown of Papua New Guinea. And yet the human instinct endures, seeing through the absurdity of such a rigid and outdated command structure with gallows humor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTranslated by Jocelyne Allen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51345116954855,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81V8alrdqML._SL1500.jpg?v=1756841377"},{"product_id":"9798217187188","title":"The Passengers on the Hankyu Line","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eWelcome aboard the Hankyu Line train!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCome along on a heartwarming, funny, and perfectly cozy voyage with the charming and relatable passengers—including one dashing dachshund—whose lives intersect and affect each other on one of Japan’s most romantic railway lines from international bestselling author Hiro Arikawa.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetween the two beautiful towns of Takarazuka and Nishinomiya, in a stunning mountainous area of Japan, rattles the Hankyu Line train. Passengers step on and off, lost in thought, contemplating the tiny knots of their existence. On the outward journey, we are introduced to the emotional dilemmas of five characters, and on the return journey six months later, we watch them find resolutions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA young man meets the young woman who always happens to borrow a library book just before he can check it out himself, a woman in a white bridal dress boards looking inexplicably sad, a university student heads home after class, a girl prepares to leave her abusive boyfriend, and an old lady discusses adopting a dog with her granddaughter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith stories that crisscross like the railway lines, the Hankyu train trundles on, propelling the lives and loves of its passengers ever forward.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367880556775,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81YeMYeXmjL._SL1500.jpg?v=1757690355"},{"product_id":"9780451491336","title":"The Travelling Cat Chronicles","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA book that “speak[s] volumes about our need for connection—human, feline or otherwise” (\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Travelling Cat Chronicles\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e life-affirming anthem to kindness and self-sacrifice that \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eshows how the smallest things can provide the greatest joy—the perfect gift for cat lovers and travelers!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWe take journeys to explore exotic new places and to return to the comforts of home, to visit old acquaintances and to make new friends. But the most important journey is the one that shows us how to follow our hearts...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn instant international bestseller and indie bestseller, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Travelling Cat Chronicles\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e has charmed readers around the world. With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru's longtime friends. Or so Nana is led to believe... \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith his crooked tail—a sign of good fortune—and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude, of loyalty and love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e's Required Reading List\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51383115874535,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81SJPwn97ZL._SL1500.jpg?v=1758053932"},{"product_id":"9780375726057","title":"Sputnik Sweetheart: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003ePart romance, part detective story,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eSputnik Sweetheart\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etells the story of a tangled triangle of uniquely unrequited love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow with a new introduction from the author.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eK is madly in love with his best friend, Sumire, but her devotion to a writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments. At least, that is, until she meets an older woman to whom she finds herself irresistibly drawn. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join the search party—and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous visions. Subtle and haunting, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSputnik Sweetheart\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a profound meditation on human longing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51418301137127,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/81HFDLY6JKL._SL1500.jpg?v=1758833495"},{"product_id":"9780679743460","title":"Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eFrom the #1\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003ebestselling author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e1Q84\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eand\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003ecomes a relentlessly inventive novel that dives deep into the very nature of consciousness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e“Fantastical, mysterious, and funny . . . a fantasy world that might have been penned by Franz Kafka.”—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcross two parallel narratives, Murakami draws readers into a mind-bending universe in which Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, a split-brained data processor, a deranged scientist, his shockingly undemure granddaughter, and various thugs, librarians, and subterranean monsters collide to dazzling effect. What emerges is a hyperkinetic novel that is at once hilariously funny and a deeply serious meditation on the nature and uses of the mind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51418320666855,"sku":"Fiction: Japan","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/files\/71CaaYWb7vL._SL1500.jpg?v=1758833207"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0724\/3680\/9959\/collections\/Fiction_Japan-removebg-preview.png?v=1755717310","url":"https:\/\/jfbooks.org\/collections\/fiction-japan.oembed?page=5","provider":"JF Books | 季風書園","version":"1.0","type":"link"}