'Zen: The Art of Simple Living': Habits, ideas and hints for living a happy life
"Zen: The Art of Simple Living" is a profoundly beautiful work, easy to read, encouraging deep thought and reflection, but most importantly, acting as a practical guide to Zen action.
'Contraceptive Diplomacy' review: Contextualizing women's rights in the U.S. and Japan
"Contraceptive Diplomacy" by Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci's illuminates the world of Margaret Sanger and Japanese birth control activists such as Shizue Ishimoto, tracing a history that still shapes women's health rights to ...
'Family Traits' review: A world of myth and whimsy comes to life
"Family Traits: The Fantastic Bestiary of a Father and his Sons" is a collection of watercolor illustrations by Thomas Romain, a Tokyo-based animator, and his sons' whimsical drawings that inspired ...
Wes Lang and his quest to climb Japan's top 100 mountains
A love of hiking inspired avid mountaineer Wes Lang to scale all of Japan's hyakumeizan (100 top mountains). Now, he's co-written a comprehensive and user-friendly guidebook to hiking in Japan to inspire everyone else.
'Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths' review: Pulling no punches when it comes to the realities of war
In "Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths," manga artist and veteran Shigeru Mizuki brings the Pacific front of World War II to life with unflinching realism and a grotesque and sardonic humor.
'Falling From the Floating World' review: A fast-paced underworld thriller with a twist or two
Readers who like their yakuza with a dash of morality, lead characters out of their depths and their cops dumb and bent will find much to enjoy in Nick Hurst's thriller, "Falling From the Floating World."
Enter Bunkitsu, more like a gallery than a bookstore
With its pay-to-enter system, eclectic lineup of books and artsy vibe, Bunkitsu shakes up the typical bookstore business model.
'The Missionary and the Libertine': Buruma's writing is incendiary, positively fizzling with ideas
"The Missionary and the Libertine," an eclectic collection of essays by Ian Buruma, remains as readable today as when it was first published in 1996.
Kyoko Nakajima's 'The Little House': Secrets hiding secrets, and much left unsaid
Kyoko Nakajima's "The Little House" is the story of how generations in Japan talk — or don't talk — to each other, and their inability to connect across eras.
An impeccable new biography of Richard Sorge, one of Russia's master spies
Soviet spy Richard Sorge's story remains largely unknown to the Western world, but that's about to change with the publication of a remarkable new biography, "An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin's Master Agent," by Owen Matthews.
William Gibson's 'Idoru': Tokyo sci-fi becomes full-blown reality
Satirical yet eerily plausible, William Gibson's "Idoru" is a complex sci-fi novel set in post-quake Tokyo that addresses the often negative impacts technology has on our lives.
Yusuke Kimura's 'Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa's Deluge': Tohoku refuses to be silenced
In Yusuke Kimura's two novellas, "Sacred Cesium Ground" and "Isa's Deluge," the aftermath of the 3/11 disaster plays out across two stories exploring the post-disaster relationships between humans and animals.
