Artist Toshiko Akamatsu's depiction of the horrors of World War II earned her renown, but it was her earlier work that came back to haunt her.

If you’re curious about “world-renewing” gods, Takashi Miura’s “Agents of World Renewal: The Rise of Yonaoshi Gods in Japan” has you covered.

The 17th century provided boundless material for the setting of Ryotaro Shiba’s final novel, “The Tatar Whirlwind.”

From exotic animals to spectacles and chandeliers, Michael Laver’s “The Dutch East India Company in Early Modern Japan” shows how well-placed gifts were essential in opening up Japan to early European traders.

In "The Japanese Discovery of Chinese Fiction," William C. Helberg delves into Japan's fascination with "The Water Margin," and how its influence spread beyond the confines of pure literature.

Refusing to be bound by tradition or convention, Hokusai bent rules and sought inspiration from all corners — but how did such audacity influence his own students and followers?

"Japanese Woodblock Prints" exhibits classic ukiyo-e artwork in near-original size, allowing readers to examine them in all their splendid detail. Its 200 reproductions embrace the entire history of the genre and also cover the new print movements of the early 20th century.

The National Gallery of Canada showcases Showa Era (1926-89) photographers, whose documentation and interpretation of politics, culture, social issues and even the quotidian changed the face of modern photography in Japan.

Utamaro is justly remembered as one of the greatest ukiyo-e print designers of the 18th century. The Folio Society's reproduction of his "Studies from Nature" reminds us why.

"Peak Japan" provides a painstaking overview of the country's social, economic and political trajectory since the 1990s.