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Author: Christopher Pellegrini

Year: 2014

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Summary:

For hundreds of years, shochu and awamori have dwelled near the center of Japan's vaunted culinary traditions. Despite outselling most other alcoholic beverages in Japan, however, these premium distilled treats have largely remained hidden from the rest of the world. But that is beginning to change. Written by licensed sommelier and longtime Japan resident, Christopher Pellegrini, The Shochu Handbook is the first major reference published on the subject in a language other than Japanese. Illustrated with dozens of beautiful photographs, the book covers everything from how distilled beverages arrived in Japan to a step-by-step overview of the distilling process. There are also detailed chapters devoted to deciphering bottle labels, food pairing, serving styles, and speaking the language of these divine drinks. Packed with information, The Shochu Handbook also includes an extensive list of recommended bottles, a chapter devoted to cocktail and homemade liqueur recipes, and Japanese-English language assistance for everything from ordering shochu in a bar to telling the difference between single-distilled and multiple-distilled drinks. This book is essential for Japanese food enthusiasts, restauranteurs, distributors, journalists, retailers, beverage professionals, and everyone in between.

Book description credit: Amazon

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Students of Japanese studies, as well as casual readers, will learn a lot."

- Japan Reference

Author: Osamu Ikeno, Roger J. Davies

Year: 2002

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Summary:

Readers of this book will gain a clear understanding of what makes the Japanese, and their society, tick. Among the topics explored: aimai (ambiguity), amae (dependence upon others' benevolence), amakudari (the nation's descent from heaven), chinmoku (silence in communication), gambari (perseverance), giri (social obligation), haragei (literally, "belly art"; implicit, unspoken communication), kenkyo (the appearance of modesty), sempai-kohai (seniority), wabi-sabi (simplicity and elegance), and zoto (gift giving), as well as discussions of child-rearing, personal space, and the roles of women in Japanese society. It includes discussion topics and questions after each chapter.

All in all, this book is an easy-to-use introduction to the distinguishing characteristics of Japanese society; an invaluable resource for anyone—business people, travelers, or students—perfect for course adoption, but also for anyone interested in Japanese culture.

Book description credit: Amazon

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"Astonishing . . . breathtaking . . . You are seduced completely."

--Washington Post Book World

"A story with the social vibrancy and narrative sweep of a much-loved 19th century bildungsroman. . . . This is a high-wire act. . . . Rarely has a world so closed and foreign been evoked with such natural assurance."

--The New Yorker

Author: Arthur Golden

Year: 1997

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Summary:

Speaking to us with the wisdom of age and in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it.

In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction—at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and completely unforgettable.

Book description credit: Amazon

Memoirs of a Geisha is also a film

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Author: Wallpaper*

Year: 2010

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Summary:

Wallpaper* City Guides present a tightly edited, discreetly packaged list of the best a location has to offer the design conscious traveller. Here is a precise, informative, insider’s checklist of all you need to know about the world’s most intoxicating cities.

Whether you are staying for 48 hours or five days, visiting for business or a vacation, we’ve done the hard work for you, from finding the best restaurants, bars and hotels (including which rooms to request) to the most extraordinary stores and sites, and the most enticing architecture and design. Wallpaper* City Guides enable you to come away from your trip, however brief, with a real taste of the city’s landscape and the satisfaction you’ve seen all that you should.

In short, these guides act as a passport to the best the world has to offer.

Book description credit: Amazon

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"One of the best books of the Year"

--The Economist, The Guardian, and New Statesman

A work not only of page-turning intensity but also of touching sensitivity and deep insight."

--David Pilling, Financial Times

Author: Richard Lloyd Parry

Year: 2010

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Summary:

Lucie Blackman―tall, blond, twenty-one years old―stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave.

Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, covered Lucie's disappearance and followed the massive search for her, the long investigation, and the even longer trial. Over ten years, he earned the trust of her family and friends, won unique access to the Japanese detectives and Japan's convoluted legal system, and delved deep into the mind of the man accused of the crime, Joji Obara, described by the judge as "unprecedented and extremely evil."

The result is a book at once thrilling and revelatory, "In Cold Blood for our times" (Chris Cleave, author of Incendiary and Little Bee).

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Author: Koushun Takami

Year: 1999

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Summary:

Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller envisions a nightmare scenario: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan—where it became a runaway best seller—Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world.

A new translation by Nathan Collins.

Book description credit: Amazon

This book is also a film

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"Engrossing. . . . fast-paced."

--The Atlanta-Journal Constitution

"A journalist's memoir unlike any I've ever read."

--Dave Davies, Fresh Air 

Author: Jake Adelstein

Year: 2009

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Summary:

A riveting true-life tale of newspaper noir and Japanese organized crime from an American investigative journalist.
 
Jake Adelstein is the only American journalist ever to have been admitted to the insular Tokyo Metropolitan Police Press Club, where for twelve years he covered the dark side of Japan: extortion, murder, human trafficking, fiscal corruption, and of course, the yakuza. But when his final scoop exposed a scandal that reverberated all the way from the neon soaked streets of Tokyo to the polished Halls of the FBI and resulted in a death threat for him and his family, Adelstein decided to step down. Then, he fought back. In Tokyo Vice he delivers an unprecedented look at Japanese culture and searing memoir about his rise from cub reporter to seasoned journalist with a price on his head.

Book description credit: Amazon

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"The book offers a rare woman's view of Japan's criminal underbelly."

--The Independent

"[Tendo's] story...shines a light into a dark and little understood corner of modern Japan."

--The Guardian

Author: Shoko Tendo

Year: 2004

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Born to a wealthy and powerful yakuza boss, Shoko Tendo lived the early years of her life in luxury. However, when she was six, everything changed: her father was jailed, and the family fell into debt. Bullied by her classmates because of her father's activities, and terrorized at home by her father, who became a drunken, violent monster after his release from prison, Tendo rebelled. As a teenager she became a drug addict and a member of a girl gang. At the age of 15 she spent eight months in a juvenile detention center after getting into a fight with another gang.

During Japan's bubble economy of the eighties, Tendo worked as a bar hostess, attracting many rich and loyal customers, and earning money to help her family out of debt. But there were also abusive clients, one of whom beat her so badly that her face was left permanently scarred. Her mother died, plunging Tendo into a depression so deep that she tried to commit suicide.

Somehow, Tendo overcame these tough times. A turning point was getting a full-body tattoo with a design centered on a geisha with a dagger in her mouth, an act that empowered her to change her life. She quit her job as a hostess. On her last day at work, she looked up at the full moon, which became a symbol of her struggle to become whole, and the title of the book she wrote as an epitaph for herself and her family.

The paperback edition of Yakuza Moon features 16-pages of never-before-seen photos of Tendo’s youth, family, and tattoos, as well as a new foreword by the author, describing her life since the book was first published four years ago.

Description credit: Amazon

Director: Angelina Jolie

Notable Actors: Jack O’Connell , Domhnall Gleeson

Year: 2014

IMDB Score: 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 50%

Photo-credit: IMDB

Based on the biography Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, this film follows the true story of Louis Zamperini an Olympian and Captain in the Army Air Force who survived on a life raft for 47 days after his B-24 bomber went down over the Pacific during the Second World War. After being on the life raft, he is captured by the Japanese and sent to several different POW camps where he is tortured and beaten for several years.

Subscribe to TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/sxaw6h Subscribe to COMING SOON: http://bit.ly/H2vZUn Like us on FACEBOOK: http://goo.gl/dHs73 Unbroken Official Trailer...

Director: Lucy Walker

Year: 2011

IMDB Score: 7.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Photo-credit: IMDB

This short documentary follows the aftermath and survivors of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami as they look for hope and recovery while preparing for the cherry blossoms.

2012 ACADEMY AWARD® Nominated - Documentary (Short Subject) 2012 Sundance Film Festival - Winner - Jury Prize, Short Film Non-Fiction 2012 Environmental Film...