During The Rains Flowers In The Shade

Nagai Kafu was one of the most important Japanese writers of fiction during the first half of the twentieth century. He is best known for his evocative descriptions of the moods and fancies of Tokyo: its gardens and canals, its streets and alleys, its people, and above all its women - especially the kept women, geisha, and prostitutes. During the Rains and Flowers in the Shade, which appear here in English for the first time, are set in the Tokyo of the 1930's. Most of the seedy neighborhoods that Kafu so lovingly describes have long since vanished, either in the bombing raids of 1945 or in the rebuilding that followed. Kafu's sympathies are clearly with the women that figure in these stories. A man wedded to the past, happy only in retrospect, Kafu saw in the world of the demimondaine the last tattered vestiges of the old Tokyo, when it was called Edo. He also saw in their day-to-day life the only honest way to live, the love with the least falsehood, in a materialistic, hypocritical society. During the Rains (1931) is the story of the vicissitudes of an amiable and lascivious Ginza cafe girl. It is considered to be among Kafu's masterpieces by many writers, critics, and scholars, including Donald Keene: "One of Kafu's finest achievements....The exceptional praise that During the Rains won from discriminating critics was occasioned chiefly by the novelistic interest. The detached analysis of a group of people makes the story read like a work of French Naturalism, though a few passages...evoke the beauty of place and season in the typical Kafu manner." Flowers in the Shade might almost be called a continuation of During the Rains. Its hero, kept by a wealthy woman in his student days, ends up in his forties being supported by a prostitute. Donald Keene says that Kafu "makes us see and all but smell the dingy rooms he describes, without ever allowing us to pass judgment on them or their inhabitants. Kafu neither approves or disapproves of his characters, and if he tells us in detail about their past it is not in order to demonstrate how environment and heredity have determined their lives...but to assuage our curiosity as to how Jukichi came to live off women, how a particular woman happened to become a prostitute or a procuress, and so on." The present volume contains a Preface by the translator that briefly summarizes Kafu's life and career.

Global climate change threatens human existence through its potential impact on agriculture and the environment. Agriculture is climate-sensitive, and climate variability and climate change have net negative impact on it. Additionally, the agricultural landscape is affected by monoculture and agro-biodiversity loss, soil fertility depletion and soil loss, competition from biofuel production, crop yield plateaus and invasive species. Nevertheless, the global agricultural production system has to meet the food demands from the growing human population, which is set to exceed 10 billion by 2050. This book discusses the impacts of climate change on agriculture, animal husbandry and rural livelihoods. Further, since agriculture, forestry and other land-use sectors contribute about 10–12 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent per year, it argues that agricultural policy must dovetail adaptation and mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. This calls for a reformative and disruptive agricultural strategy like climate-smart agriculture, which can operate at all spatio-temporal scales with few modifications. The book also redefines sustainable agriculture through the lens of climate-smart agriculture in the context of the sustainability of Earth's life- support system and inter- and intra-generational equity. The climate-smart agriculture approach is gaining currency thanks to its inherent positive potential, and its goal to establish an agricultural system which includes "climate-smart food systems", "climate-proof farms", and "climate-smart soils". Climate-smart agriculture provides a pathway to achieve sustainable development goals which focus on poverty reduction, food security, and environmental health.

Jerry shares is secrets on soil preparation, selection, fertilizing, pruning, composting, and weed and pest control. In addition, you get Jerry's list of favorite tried-and-true plants. You'll also learn about your favorite plant's soil, sun, and watering needs, along with its height, blossom color, and flowering time, all of which will make your garden planting a snap.

Medicinal and aromatic crops (MACs) are high-value crops since the natural products obtained from them are low-volume high-value commodities that have numerous applications in various sectors such as the food, beverage, food supplement, flavor and fragrance, perfumery and cosmetics, pharmaceutical and aromatherapy industries. In addition, the plant biomass is used in the production of teas and medical applications in traditional and also modern medicines. MACs are important mainly because they contain plant secondary metabolites such as essential oils, alkaloids, glygosides, saponins, tannins, vitamins and other bioactives. Plant secondary metabolites are differentiated from plant primary metabolites of photosynthesis and respiration since they are directly involved in growth and development of plants. Some MACs are used as spices and culinary herbs since they contain mainly essential oils, and are used as tonic to the digestive system, appetite modification and other systems and may facilitate nutrient uptake and utilization from various foods. A significant amount of MACs and their natural products have also demonstrated antimicrobial, antifungal and bactericidal activity and significant antioxidant capacity. In the past, MACs and their natural products have been used as a source for various medicines, in food and beverage production and in aroma products. Essentials of Medicinal and Aromatic Crops summarizes the current knowledge on medicinal and aromatic crops, including the agronomical practices of important MACs and their products, their beneficial effects and utilization of MAP and their products. The chapters provide a comprehensive guide to the most important and used medicinal and aromatic crops and their use in functional foods, nutraceuticals and as bioactives against various ailments, providing researchers, teachers, chemists, food scientists, agronomists and agroecologists in academia, industry and government a fully up to date singular source on this important topic.