Download or read book Our Man In Tokyo written by Steve Kemper and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Dillon Book Award "Gripping history, offering both drama and suspense." —Wall Street Journal A riveting, behind-the-scenes account of the personalities and contending forces in Tokyo during the volatile decade that led to World War II, as seen through the eyes of the American ambassador who attempted to stop the slide to war. In 1932, Japan was in crisis. Naval officers had assassinated the prime minister and conspiracies flourished. The military had a stranglehold on the government. War with Russia loomed, and propaganda campaigns swept the country, urging schoolchildren to give money to procure planes and tanks. Into this maelstrom stepped Joseph C. Grew, America’s most experienced and talented diplomat. When Grew was appointed ambassador to Japan, not only was the country in turmoil, its relationship with America was rapidly deteriorating. For the next decade, Grew attempted to warn American leaders about the risks of Japan’s raging nationalism and rising militarism, while also trying to stabilize Tokyo’s increasingly erratic and volatile foreign policy. From domestic terrorism by Japanese extremists to the global rise of Hitler and the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor, the events that unfolded during Grew’s tenure proved to be pivotal for Japan, and for the world. His dispatches from the darkening heart of the Japanese empire would prove prescient—for his time, and for our own. Drawing on Grew’s diary of his time in Tokyo as well as U.S. embassy correspondence, diplomatic dispatches, and firsthand Japanese accounts, Our Man in Tokyo brings to life a man who risked everything to avert another world war, the country where he staked it all—and the abyss that swallowed it.
Download or read book Ten Years in Japan written by Joseph C. Grew and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2014-12-03 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten Years in Japan is a fascinating and unique look inside the government of Japan before and during the attack on Pearl Harbour. Written from the detailed personal diaries of Joseph C. Grew the American ambassador based in Tokyo from 1932 and up until war was declared in the beginning of 1942. This book deals, as is right and proper, primarily with American-Japanese relations. But for British readers it has a special interest because it covers a period during which British and American policies in the Orient followed parallel lines; a period when the two Governments were grappling with problems always similar and sometimes identical. The interest is not lessened by the peeps that we get of what were, in fact, unremitting efforts on the part of the Japanese to sow discord between Britain and America on the principle of 'divide et impera.'
Download or read book The Book of Tokyo written by Hideo Furukawa and published by Comma Press. This book was released on 2015-06-12 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A shape-shifter arrives at Tokyo harbour in human form, set to embark on an unstoppable rampage through the city’s train network… A young woman is accompanied home one night by a reclusive student, and finds herself lured into a flat full of eerie Egyptian artefacts… A man suspects his young wife’s obsession with picnicking every weekend in the city’s parks hides a darker motive… At first, Tokyo appears in these stories as it does to many outsiders: a city of bewildering scale, awe-inspiring modernity, peculiar rules, unknowable secrets and, to some extent, danger. Characters observe their fellow citizens from afar, hesitant to stray from their daily routines to engage with them. But Tokyo being the city it is, random encounters inevitably take place – a naïve book collector, mistaken for a French speaker, is drawn into a world he never knew existed; a woman seeking psychiatric help finds herself in a taxi with an older man wanting to share his own peculiar revelations; a depressed divorcee accepts an unexpected lunch invitation to try Thai food for the very first time… The result in each story is a small but crucial change in perspective, a sampling of the unexpected yet simple pleasure of other people’s company. As one character puts it, ‘The world is full of delicious things, you know.’
Download or read book Tokyo Ueno Station National Book Award Winner written by Yu Miri and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A surreal, devastating story of a homeless ghost who haunts one of Tokyo's busiest train stations. Kazu is dead. Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Japanese Emperor, his life is tied by a series of coincidences to the Imperial family and has been shaped at every turn by modern Japanese history. But his life story is also marked by bad luck, and now, in death, he is unable to rest, doomed to haunt the park near Ueno Station in Tokyo. Kazu's life in the city began and ended in that park; he arrived there to work as a laborer in the preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and ended his days living in the vast homeless village in the park, traumatized by the destruction of the 2011 tsunami and shattered by the announcement of the 2020 Olympics. Through Kazu's eyes, we see daily life in Tokyo buzz around him and learn the intimate details of his personal story, how loss and society's inequalities and constrictions spiraled towards this ghostly fate, with moments of beauty and grace just out of reach. A powerful masterwork from one of Japan's most brilliant outsider writers, Tokyo Ueno Station is a book for our times and a look into a marginalized existence in a shiny global megapolis.
Download or read book Strange Weather in Tokyo written by Hiromi Kawakami and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2017-11-01 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Asian Literary Prize, Strange Weather in Tokyo is a story of loneliness and love that defies age. Tsukiko, thirty–eight, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei," in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is thirty years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love. As Tsukiko and Sensei grow to know and love one another, time's passing is marked by Kawakami's gentle hints at the changing seasons: from warm sake to chilled beer, from the buds on the trees to the blooming of the cherry blossoms. Strange Weather in Tokyo is a moving, funny, and immersive tale of modern Japan and old–fashioned romance.
Download or read book American Ambassador written by Waldo H. Heinrichs Jr. and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1986-11-27 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Joseph Clark Grew (1880-1965) is the story of the modern American diplomatic tradition. Grew served the U.S. government for over forty years, with an impressive career that included two ambassadorships, two secretaryships, two ministerships, and every junior rank in the service. Grew was in Berlin when the U.S. went to war with Germany in 1917, was American Ambassador to Japan during the years leading up to Pearl Harbor, was Undersecretary of State during the war, and was instrumental in planning U.S. postwar strategy in the Far East. In this rich and intimate biography, Heinrichs draws on Grew's vast diary, correspondence, and several private and official collections to reconstruct the life of an extraordinary career diplomat. Here, Joseph C. Grew emerges as a man of peace who used both skill and insight to slow the world's progress toward World War II.
Download or read book Our Man in Tokyo written by Johan Markusson and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Man with No Talents written by Shirō Ōyama and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "San'ya," Tokyo's largest day-laborer quarter and the only one with lodgings, had been Oyama Shiro's home for 12 years when he took up his pen and began writing about his life as a resident of Tokyo's most notorious neighborhood. In this fascinating book, he portrays himself as an outsider both from mainstream society and from his adopted home.
Download or read book My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life written by Rachel Cohn and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-12-04 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I'm here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!" In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS -- the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity. Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her sixteenth birthday, discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahara, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington, DC, to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troop of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.
Download or read book Inferno in Tokyo written by Marianne Hering and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 1 million sold in series! The Imagination Station has been malfunctioning for several adventures now, handing out the wrong gifts and traveling unexpected paths. Patrick and Beth must use their courage, strength, and resilience to help others and survive dangers as they travel through time and space and get caught up in the 1923 earthquake, tsunami, and fire that devastated Tokyo, Japan. When kids step into the Imagination Station, they experience an unforgettable journey filled with action-packed adventure and excitement. Each book will whisk the reader away on the adventure with cousins Patrick and Beth to embark on a new journey around the world and back in time. This easy-to-read adventure, number 20 in the series, is the latest in the long-running successful series that has sold over 1 million books.
Download or read book Tokyo Year Zero written by David Peace and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Brilliant.' New York Times 'Remarkable.' Irish Times August 1946. One year on from surrender and Tokyo lies broken and bleeding at the feet of its American victors. Against this extraordinary historical backdrop, Tokyo Year Zero opens with the discovery of the bodies of two young women in Shiba Park. Against his wishes, Detective Minami is assigned to the case; as he gets drawn ever deeper into these complex and horrific murders, he realises that his own past and secrets are indelibly linked to those of the dead women and their killer. 'A feat of prodigious and intense imagination.' The Times 'A chilling tale of murder, corruption and post-war devastation.' Observer Books of the Year 'Part historical stunner, part Kurosawa crime film, an original all the way.' James Ellroy
Download or read book In the Cauldron written by Lew Paper and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The underbrush through which Mr. Paper cuts his way . . . would be challenging for any writer. But Mr. Paper, with an eye for character and an easy narrative style, manages to keep his subject interesting. . . . And even though we know how it’s all going to end, Mr. Paper manages to add a measure of suspense to his narrative — a tribute to his abilities as a writer.” —The Washington Times This is not just another book about Pearl Harbor. It is the story of Joseph Grew, America’s ambassador to Japan, and his frantic effort in the months before the Pearl Harbor attack to orchestrate an agreement between Japan and the United States to avoid the war he saw coming. It is a story filled with hope and heartache, with complex and fascinating characters, and with a drama befitting the momentous decisions at stake. And more than that, it is a story that has never been told. In those months before the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan and the United States were locked in a battle of wills. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's economic sanctions were crippling Japan. America's noose was tightening around Japan's neck — but the country's leaders refused to yield to American demands. In this cauldron of boiling tensions, Joseph Grew offered many recommendations to break the deadlock. Having resided and worked in Tokyo for almost ten years, Grew understood what Roosevelt and his administration back home did not: that the Japanese would rather face annihilation than endure the humiliation of surrendering to American pressure. The President and his administration saw little need to accept their ambassador’s recommendations. The administration’s policies, they believed, were sure to succeed. And so, with increasing urgency, Grew tried to explain to the President and his administration that Japan’s mindset could not be gauged by Western standards of logic and that the administration’s policies could lead Japan to embark on a suicidal war with the United States “with dangerous and dramatic suddenness.” Relying on Grew’s diaries, letters and memos, interviews with members of the families of Grew and his staff, and an abundance of other primary source materials, Lew Paper presents the gripping story of Grew’s effort to halt the downward spiral of Japan’s relations with the United States. Grew had to wrestle with an American government that would not listen to him – and simultaneously confront an increasingly hostile environment in Japan, where pervasive surveillance, arbitrary arrest, and even unspeakable torture by Japan's secret police were constant threats. In the Cauldron reads like a novel, but it is based on fact. And it is sure to raise questions whether the Pearl Harbor attack could have been avoided.
Download or read book Missing in Tokyo written by Graham Marks and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When his older sister Charlie vanishes while traveling through Asia, seventeen-year-old Adam decides he can do more to find her than the nonchalant police and his distraught parents. Without telling his family, he boards a plane for Tokyo. He suspects Charlie may have been involved in the twilight world of bar "hostessing"-or worse. With help from new friends, especially the intriguing and beautiful Aiko, Adam prowls the town. His search ultimately leads him to Tokyo's underbelly of gangsters and drug dealers. Will he learn the truth about his sister's disappearance before it's too late? Also available: Zoo 1-58234-991-6 pb $8.95 Reviews "The novel's strength derives from the pulsing slice of life, cut from Tokyo's neon landscape-from the tiny, stacked bedrooms of capsule hotels to the outré costumes of roving scenesters. The stranger-in-a-strange-land motif, spiked with sexy Japanophilia and British slang, should draw literate manga fans and Anglophiles alike." -Publishers Weekly "A vividly portrayed movie of Tokyo as seen by a sophisticated young man in his late teens. ...It's a genuine teen page-turner however, and the sex, while mostly offstage, is hot. So what do you call chick-lit for boys?"-Kirkus Reviews "The plot twists and turns in this fast-paced, intriguing novel that will keep readers guessing." -School Library Journal "Even teens who disdain youth thrillers in favor of grittier adult fare may make an exception for this noir-tinged novel." -Booklist Featured in "Cool New Books" section, www.teenreads.com, May Praise for Zoo: "Fast-paced storytelling, realistic characters, and plenty of forensic science create appeal for a wide range of readers." -VOYA "An exciting, fast-paced thriller with realistic characters and puzzling circumstances that will keep you guessing and turning the pages." -www.Teenreads.com About the Author Graham Marks was a designer, editor, and jour
Download or read book A Tokyo Romance written by Ian Buruma and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic memoir of self-invention in a strange land: Ian Buruma's unflinching account of his amazing journey into the heart of Tokyo's underground culture as a young man in the 1970's When Ian Buruma arrived in Tokyo in 1975, Japan was little more than an idea in his mind, a fantasy of a distant land. A sensitive misfit in the world of his upper middleclass youth, what he longed for wasn’t so much the exotic as the raw, unfiltered humanity he had experienced in Japanese theater performances and films, witnessed in Amsterdam and Paris. One particular theater troupe, directed by a poet of runaways, outsiders, and eccentrics, was especially alluring, more than a little frightening, and completely unforgettable. If Tokyo was anything like his plays, Buruma knew that he had to join the circus as soon as possible. Tokyo was an astonishment. Buruma found a feverish and surreal metropolis where nothing was understated—neon lights, crimson lanterns, Japanese pop, advertising jingles, and cabarets. He encountered a city in the midst of an economic boom where everything seemed new, aside from the isolated temple or shrine that had survived the firestorms and earthquakes that had levelled the city during the past century. History remained in fragments: the shapes of wounded World War II veterans in white kimonos, murky old bars that Mishima had cruised in, and the narrow alleys where street girls had once flitted. Buruma’s Tokyo, though, was a city engaged in a radical transformation. And through his adventures in the world of avant garde theater, his encounters with carnival acts, fashion photographers, and moments on-set with Akira Kurosawa, Buruma underwent a radical transformation of his own. For an outsider, unattached to the cultural burdens placed on the Japanese, this was a place to be truly free. A Tokyo Romance is a portrait of a young artist and the fantastical city that shaped him. With his signature acuity, Ian Buruma brilliantly captures the historical tensions between east and west, the cultural excitement of 1970s Tokyo, and the dilemma of the gaijin in Japanese society, free, yet always on the outside. The result is a timeless story about the desire to transgress boundaries: cultural, artistic, and sexual.
Download or read book Code Name Ginger written by Steve Kemper and published by H B S Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the journey behind Dean Kamen's invention of an electric-powered human transporter, explaining the machine's innovative engineering and relationships with investors.
Download or read book My Asakusa written by Sadako Sawamura and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-06-21 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written near the end of Sadako Sawamura's remarkable life, My Asakusa (Watashi co Asakusa) is a charming collection of autobiographical essays by a truly self-made woman. Recalling Japan at a time of great political turmoil and rapid cultural change, Sawamura shares with us her vignettes of growing up in Asakusa—one of the last of the old downtown Shitamachi neighborhoods of incessantly modernizing Tokyo—and her keen insight into the characters of those who populated her world. Author Sadako Sawamura (1908-1996) was by turns a diligent youth who worked her way through a private secondary school as a tutor, a radical university scholarship student, a Communist youth league worker, a prisoner of conscience, and a star of Japanese theater, cinema, and television. She was beloved in Japan for her forthright convictions and her rare independence, which she expressed in interviews and essays. She is also the author of Kai-no-Uta (The Song of a Shell), which was subsequently produced as a television play.
Download or read book TOKYO written by Michael Mejia and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel in three parts, linked by a single narrative of disaster, loss, and longing. TOKYO is an incisive, shape-shifting tour de force, a genre-bending mix of lyric prose, science fiction, horror, and visual collage exploring the erotic undercurrents of American perceptions of Japanese culture and identity. By turns noir, surreal, and clinical in its language and style, TOKYO employs metaphors of consumption, disease, theater, gender fluidity, monstrousness, and ecological disaster in intertwined accounts touching on matters of cultural appropriation, fiction's powerful capacity to produce immersive realities, and the culturally corrupting late capitalist excesses that entangle both the United States and Japan. The novel opens with a fantastic, slyly comic report written by a Japanese executive, describing the anomalous bluefin tuna his company purchased at Tokyo’s iconic fish market, as well as the dissolution of the executive’s marriage to his Japanese-American, or Sansei, wife. But when an American writer—whose own Sansei wife was previously married to a Japanese executive—begins investigating the report’s author and his claims, assisted by a mysterious Japanese correspondent the American suspects may once have been his wife’s lover, identities begin to scramble until it’s uncertain who is imagining who, and who is and isn’t Japanese. Meanwhile, a secret plot to establish pure Japaneseness through the global distribution of genetically engineered bluefin tuna seems to be rushing toward its conclusion like a great wave.
