Book Description
Geography, this author contends, is the indisputably unique feature of any country. Geography and Japan's Strategic Choices begins by explaining Japan's unique location and topography in comparison to other countries. Peter Woolley then examines the ways in which the country's political leaders in various eras understood and acted on those geographical limitations and advantages. Proceeding chronologically through several distinct political eras, the book compares the Tokugawa era, the opening to the West, the Meiji Restoration, the long era of colonialization, industrialization and liberalization, the militarist reaction and World War II, the occupation, the Cold War, and finally the rudderless fin de siecle. Finally Woolley demonstrates how Japan's strategic situation in the twenty-first century is informed by past and present geo-strategic calculations as well as by current domestic and international changes. For students and scholars of U.S.-Japan relations and of Japanese history and politics, this book offers any informed reader a fresh perspective on a critical international relationship. ... Read more

Book Description
In this pioneering study, David L. Howell looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Howell illustrates how a short roster of malleable, explicitly superficial customs--hairstyle, clothing, and personal names-- served to distinguish the "civilized" realm of the Japanese from the "barbarian" realm of the Ainu in the Tokugawa era. Within the core polity, moreover, these same customs distinguished members of different social status groups from one another, such as samurai warriors from commoners, and commoners from outcasts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting, but outdated
The first edition of this book was in 1983; the second in 1990. Although the information on climate and agriculture is still relevant, I can guarantee the industrial sector in Japan is nowhere near where it was 20 years ago.

Missing in this book, then, is information on the "Lost Decade," the 1993 Kobe earthquake, the bursting of the real estate bubble in 1989, and ... (I'm trying to think of some other things) the effects of the 2002 World Cup on development.There's a lot of Japan's most modern history that's been left out.

If there was an updated version of this book somewhere, I'd recommend that.Unless, of course, you want an early 80's view of Japan, in which case this one's perfect. ... Read more

Book Description
Julia Adeney Thomas turns the concept of nature into a powerful analytical lens through which to view Japanese modernity, bringing the study of both Japanese history and political modernity to a new level of clarity. She shows that nature necessarily functions as a political concept and that changing ideas of nature's political authority were central during Japan's transformation from a semifeudal world to an industrializing colonial empire. In political documents from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, nature was redefined, moving from the universal, spatial concept of the Tokugawa period, through temporal, social Darwinian ideas of inevitable progress and competitive struggle, to a celebration of Japan as a nation uniquely in harmony with nature.The so-called traditional "Japanese love of nature" masks modern state power.
Thomas's theoretically sophisticated study rejects the supposition that modernity is the ideological antithesis of nature, overcoming the determinism of the physical environment through technology and liberating denatured subjects from the chains of biology and tradition. In making "nature" available as a critical term for political analysis, this book yields new insights into prewar Japan's failure to achieve liberal democracy, as well as an alternative means of understanding modernity and the position of non-Western nations within it. ... Read more

Book Description
Many Japanese once revered the wolf as Oguchi no Magami, or Large-Mouthed Pure God, but as Japan began its modern transformation wolves lost their otherworldly status and became noxious animals that needed to be killed. By 1905 they had disappeared from the country. In this spirited and absorbing narrative, Brett Walker takes a deep look at the scientific, cultural, and environmental dimensions of wolf extinction in Japan and tracks changing attitudes toward nature through Japan's long history. He discusses prominent Japanese naturalists, their theories of wolf extinction, and the development of Japan's scientific discipline of ecology, looking at how nation-building and industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reconfigured relationships with the natural world in ways that led to the extinction of wolves.

Grain farmers once worshiped wolves at shrines and left food offerings near their dens, beseeching the elusive canine to protect their crops from the sharp hooves and voracious appetites of wild boars and deer. Talismans and charms adorned with images of wolves protected against fire, disease, and other calamities and brought fertility to agrarian communities and to couples hoping to have children. The Ainu people believed that they were born from the union of a wolflike creature and a goddess.

In the eighteenth century, wolves were seen as rabid man-killers in many parts of Japan. Highly ritualized wolf hunts were instigated to cleanse the landscape of what many considered as demons. By the nineteenth century, however, the destruction of wolves had become decidedly unceremonious. To contrast wolf killings in the decades before and after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Walker looks at killings on the island of Hokkaido. The systematic erasure of one of the archipelago's largest carnivores--through poisoning, hired hunters, and a bounty system--elevated humans to spiritual and actual mastery over a part of the natural world.

The story of wolf extinction exposes the underside of Japan's modernization. Certain wolf scientists still camp out in Japan to listen for any trace of the elusive canines. The quiet they experience reminds us of the profound silence that awaits all humanity when, as the Japanese priest Kenko taught almost seven centuries ago, we "look on fellow sentient creatures without feeling compassion." ... Read more

Book Description
ALAN BOOTH'S CLASSIC OF MODERN TRAVEL WRITING

Traveling only along small back roads, Alan Booth traversed Japan's entire length on foot, from Soya at the country's northernmost tip, to Cape Sata in the extreme south, across three islands and some 2,000 miles of rural Japan. The Roads to Sata is his wry, witty, inimitable account of that
prodigious trek.

Although he was a city person-he was brought up in London and spent most of his adult life in Tokyo - Booth had an extraordinary ability to capture the feel of rural Japan in his writing. Throughout his long and arduous trek, he encountered a variety of people who inhabit the Japanese
countryside-from fishermen and soldiers, to bar hostesses and school teachers, to hermits, drunks, and tramps. His wonderful and often hilarious descriptions of these encounters are the highlights of these pages, painting a multifaceted picture of Japan from the perspective of an outsider, but with
the knowledge of an insider.

The Roads to Sata is travel writing at its best, illuminating and disarming, poignant yet hilarious, critical but respectful. Traveling across Japan with Alan Booth, readers will enjoy the wit and insight of a uniquely perceptive guide, and more importantly, they will discover a new face of an often
misunderstood nation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Outstanding
Even better than 'Looking For The Lost,' 'The Roads To Sata' is a profoundly honest and deeply charming look into a Japan that few people see and even fewer ever understand. Not afraid to hit where it hurts when necessary, Mr Booth's book is still relevant, even 20 years later, and remains one of the best travel books ever written about Japan. Defiantly candid and often very funny, Mr Booth reveals a Japan quite different to the one most people who've never been there probably imagine, but his insights are spot-on and his honesty is refreshing and fair. Highly recommended.

Funny, sad, touching, real...
Alan Booth decided to go from Cape Soya in the North to Cape Sata in the South.A journey of more than 2,000 miles.But not only did he decide to walk the whole way he also decides to stick to the back roads, the rural areas of Japan, to get in touch with the real Japan and to stay only in Japanese style inns.In some places he is treated like family and in other places like an invader.After spending seven years in Japan, having a Japanese wife and learning about Japan you would think a walk, even if it is a hard one, would not be so bad.But in some cases it is terrible.
He runs into silent tramps, barking dogs, snotty high school boys, polite high school girls, nervous inn keepers, loud businessmen and giggling maids.He makes mistakes, he founds wonderful discoveries and he founds sad scenes of life and death in 20th Century Japan.Did he learn anything?No.Did he enjoy himself?Yes.Yet, no matter how hard he tried, much of the time he was treated like a foreigner.

Ryokan adventures
Alan Booth, an intrepid British writer who came to Japan to live when he was a young man, walked from Cape Soya, in Hokkaido, to Cape Sata, in Kyushu, a journey ofapproximately 2000 miles. (The Appalachian Trail, which runs from northern Maine to Georgia, is 2174 miles long.) Booth loved Japan and spoke fluent Japanese, but he never ceased being "the foreigner" to the many people he met along the way. As a result, his account of life on the road (he would never accept a lift, to the puzzlement of many Japanese, who couldn't conceive of anyone hiking from one end of Japan to the other) is often pretty funny, particularly when beer is involved or lodgings are scarce, as they sometimes are. In one encounter, a woman at a ryokan lists the reasons why she could not possibly have a room for a foreigner, and he repudiates them point by point, only to have the woman point out that she doesn't speak English: " `I don't suppose that will bother us,' Booth sighs. `We've been speaking Japanese for the last five minutes.'" Don't miss this book.

A Glimpse Into Japan
I loved this book. I never really thought I would be into books about travel simply because they are usually so dry. The Roads to Sata is a absolute exception. The dry wit and humor of Alan Booth makes this book a joy to read. As someone very interested in Japan this is a great primer for anyone trying to get a glimpse into the real Japanese lifestyle versus the ones portrayed through the media. There are some very funny moments, some very sad moments and some very real moments, all told through the words of an amazing writer and someone very familiar with the Japanese lifestyle. I will never have the pleasure to meet Mr. Booth, but I have had the pleasure of meeting his daughter. I do suggest you read this book, if you have any interest in Japan at all, it is a definitive handbook.

One man's entertaining journey through Japan
British writer Alan Booth decided to walk (he refused any rides!) all the way from the north of Japan to Sata in the south of Japan. He did this in the mid 1980s when Japan was already becoming a powerful economy. Along the way he encounters many odd and interesting people. Being married to a Japanese woman and speaking Japanese he was able to communicate with the natives. I really enjoyed this book because I have lived in Japan for almost ten years and I can relate to most of Alan's experiences. Japan is a country where a foreigner can feel very alone despite being around thousands of people, which is not always a bad thing. So it's nice to share the experiences of other foreigners. One problem that some people may have with this book is that Alan's writing sometimes seems a bit negative or sarcastic at times, but after living in Japan for several years I can understand why. ... Read more

Product Description
Brown cloth over boards cover, green cloth over binding, gilt lettering - approx. 8 1/2" x 5". Black and white photo illustrations. ... Read more