Don O'Keefe - The Japan Times

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Mar 9, 2019

'Japan in the World': A comprehensive analysis of Japan's international image

Published near the height of Japan's global economic power in 1993, 'Japan in the World' brings together essays that reflect on the country's place in international affairs.

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Oct 6, 2018

'Studies in Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan': Chronicling the political theory of the Edo Period

In "Studies in Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan," leading postwar political scientist Masao Maruyama chronicles the ideas and debates of scholars throughout the Edo Period (1603-1868).

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Apr 28, 2018

'Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process': A must-read to understand Japanese architecture

Dana Buntrock's fieldwork highlights the collaborative nature of architecture, manufacturing and construction in Japan.

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Sep 30, 2017

'The Making of Urban Japan': The best introduction to Japanese urban planning in English

In "The Making of Urban Japan," professor Andre Sorensen explains the genesis of modern Japanese cities, from bustling stations to intimate alleyways. Published in 2002, while he was a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, it remains the best introduction to Japanese urban planning in English.

CULTURE / Books

Apr 8, 2017

'MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975': Revisiting Chalmers Johnson on the U.S.-Japan relationship

May 15 will mark the 45th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese control, again reminding us of how drastically the U.S.-Japan relationship has changed over the years.

LIFE / Travel

Mar 4, 2017

Culture and commerce thrive under Japan's elevated train tracks

At dusk, the bars and restaurants that crowd the underside of the tracks at Yurakucho Station come alive.

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Feb 18, 2017

'Edo and Paris: Urban Life and the State in the Early Modern Era': Essays on growth and bureaucracy

"Edo and Paris" compares the development of these two great cities of the early modern era. It compiles 19 essays by American, European and Japanese academics, edited by James L. McClain, John M. Merriman and Kaoru Ugawa, professors of history at Brown, Yale and Rikkyo universities, respectively.

CULTURE / Books

Dec 10, 2016

'Between Land and Sea': Disentangling architect Kiyonori Kikutake from metabolism

Kiyonori Kikutake (1928-2011) was a leading Japanese architect of the postwar period and is best known for his central role in metabolism, the avant-garde architectural movement. "Kiyonori Kikutake: Between Land and Sea" disentangles Kikutake from the legacy of metabolism and provides new perspectives on his work and influence.

CULTURE / Books

Oct 29, 2016

Are Japanese really 'docile'?: challenging an enduring myth

A common perception abroad is that Japanese society is docile. This is partly thanks to Western writers who tried to create a single profile of the Japanese in the early to mid-20th century, such as Ruth Benedict in her 1946 book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword." Today, this dangerous myth of consensus is still propagated by similar outside observers — and welcomed by Japan's right.

CULTURE / Books

Sep 17, 2016

'One Hundred Million Philosophers': The life and times of Japan's Science of Thought group

In "One Hundred Million Philosophers," Historian Adam Bronson profiles "one of the longest lasting and most influential intellectual groups" of the postwar era: Science of Thought (Shiso no Kagaku). He focuses on the tumultuous period between its founding in 1946 and the 1960 Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan security alliance.

CULTURE / Books

Sep 10, 2016

'Postmodernism in Japan': Critics, historians and writers analyze the contemporary age

"Postmodernism and Japan" opens with editors H.D. Harootunian and Masao Miyoshi declaring that postmodernism is a Western phenomenon that cannot be exported globally. The essays that follow draw connections and expose dissonances between postmodernism and Japan. Topics range from close readings of works of literature to sweeping analyses of technology and culture.

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Jul 30, 2016

'Japan-ness in Architecture': Arata Isozaki and the search for a national identity

In "Japan-ness in Architecture," architect and theorist Arata Isozaki chronicles the search for a Japanese identity through design. Isozaki begins by outlining Japan's architectural discourse in the 20th century, in which he played a key role. He writes honestly about his contemporaries who grappled with modernization, imperialism and war. He then looks backward to examine three historically significant buildings — Ise Shrine in Mie, Todaiji Temple's south gate in Nara and the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto — drawing on extensive evidence to contextualize his analysis. All were "constructed amidst turmoil," which provided space for experimentation before aesthetic norms were "restabilized by a cultural Japanization."

CULTURE / Books

Jun 18, 2016

'As We Saw Them': Masao Miyoshi and the dawn of U.S.-Japan relations

In "As We Saw Them," literary critic and academic Masao Miyoshi looks at the 1860 Japanese embassy to the United States, the first sent to a Western power after centuries of seclusion.

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

May 28, 2016

'Neighborhood Tokyo' dispels myths about the megacity

"Neighborhood Tokyo" is a portrait of an average Tokyo neighborhood in Shinagawa Ward where Harvard Anthropologist Theodore Bestor did fieldwork from the late 1970s to early '80s. Though the book is a rigorous study of social life, Bestor's wit and candor open it up to general readers.

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Apr 23, 2016

'Off Center' tries to pull Japan out of America's shadow

"Off Center" is Japanese-born U.S. academic Masao Miyoshi's exposition of the asymmetrical relationship between Japan and the West.

CULTURE / Books

Mar 12, 2016

Recurring views of Tokyo's utopian dream

When the Nakagin Capsule Tower opened in Tokyo in 1972, it embodied the energy and optimism of Japan's postwar boom. Considered architect Kisho Kurokawa's opus, its completion was also a major moment in the development of metabolism, the much publicized Japanese avant-garde architectural movement that believed cities could cope with rapid modernization by mimicking biological systems. Beginning in 1960 with their founding manifesto, the metabolists relied on hypothetical proposals, both drawn and written, to disseminate their ideas. The Capsule Tower made these proposals a reality: Each unit — or capsule — could be added, subtracted or replaced in a manner approximating organic growth. While it was not the first realized metabolist project, its scale and charisma brought the movement international fame.

CULTURE / Books

Aug 1, 2015

'Allegories of Time and Space' tunnels into the history of modern Japanese aesthetics

In "Allegories of Space and Time," Columbia University Professor Jonathan M. Reynolds charts the discourse surrounding tradition and modernity in Japanese aesthetics from the 1940s to '80s.

CULTURE / Books

Jun 13, 2015

Sou Fujimoto's 'Architecture Works 1995-2015' prioritizes visuals over insight

All of architect Sou Fujimoto's projects to date are methodically presented in "Architecture Works 1995-2015." This is essentially a reference book, prefaced only by Fujimoto's one page introduction.

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