Japanese Style

Enter the world of the stylish Japanese house, where every object in sight is a work of art. Japan Style introduces 20 special residences. With more than 200 color photographs, this book showcases Japanese design in the stunning beauty of old homes and reveals how they are cared for by their owners. Traditional Japanese homes, with superbly crafted fine wood, great workmanship and seasonal interior arrangements, have an aesthetic of infinite simplicity. Unlike Japanese inns and historical buildings, the Japanese architecture featured in this book is on private property not open to public viewing. Japan Style offers a rare glimpse into the intimate world of everyday Japanese culture and fascinating insight into the traditional architecture of Japan.

Japanese interiors focus primarily on one simple philosophy, Zen. All the rooms in a traditionally furnished Japanese home strive to achieve a balance of peace and simplicity; their interiors are steeped in centuries of cultural influence, and a sense of calm is key to the whole aesthetic. This handbook shows how to create a tailor-made Japanese home. Working through the house one room at a time, it highlights classic items of furniture and signature accessories, from tatami mats and paper lanterns to shoji (dividing screens). In-depth case studies demonstrate the essential elements and provide inspiration, while colour combinations are explored to help personalize this iconic style for the home. Anyone who hankers after the Japanese look and is eager to bring it to their own home will find this book a valuable resource.

Illustrates how to connect with and incorporate Japanese design traditions into western homes. Adept at compact living and masters of elegant simplicity, the Japanese embody the principle of doing more with less.

Japanese Style Companion Planting brings the techniques of a master farmer in Japan to home gardeners all over the world, with over 175 easy-to-follow color illustrations and detailed texts. Japanese gardeners typically work with small plots and are experts at making the most efficient use of available garden space. They have long understood that when compatible vegetables and fruits are grown together, the result is increased yields, healthier plants, fewer pest problems and better taste. Vegetables from small gardens are the mainstay of Japan's famously healthy cuisine and movement towards farm-to-table dining tradition. Author Toshio Kijima is head of the Biotechnology Department at Tochigi Agricultural Station in Japan and principal of the Nogyo Daigakko School of Natural Farming. In this book, he provides 88 different plant pairings, including common favorites such as: Tomato with basil Eggplant with green beans Carrots with edamame Iceberg lettuce with broccoli Strawberries with garlic Green beans with arugula Blueberry bushes with mint …and dozens of other pairings that yield tasty, nutritious vegetables and fruits, all grown without the need for pesticides or chemical fertilizers. This book also covers excellent combinations for relay planting, such as watermelon followed by spinach, spinach followed by broccoli, broccoli followed by potato, and many more. Clear and precise instructions are given for each combination--from planning and preparing your plot to planting depths and spacing--all accompanied by detailed color drawings and photographs. Information on the theory and basics of companion planting will ensure a smooth transition to sustainable gardening techniques that millions of home gardeners are using!

This beautifully illustrated guide by the author of Japanese Farm Food includes essential Japanese pantry tips and 125 recipes. In Preserving the Japanese Way, Nancy Singleton Hachisu offers step-by-step instructions for preserving fruits, vegetables, and fish using the age-old methods of Japanese farmers and fishermen. The recipes feature ingredients easily found in grocery stores or Asian food markets, such as soy sauce, rice vinegar, sake, and koji. Recipes range from the ultratraditional— Umeboshi (Salted Sour Plums), Takuan (Half-Dried Daikon Pickled in Rice Bran), and Hakusai (Fermented Napa Cabbage)— to modern creations like Zucchini Pickled in Shoyu Koji, Turnips Pickled with Sour Plums, and Small Melons in Sake Lees. Hundreds of full-color photos offer a window into the culinary life of Japan, from barrel makers and fish sauce producers to traditional morning pickle markets. More than a simple recipe book, Preserving the Japanese Way is a book about community, seasonality, and ultimately about why both are relevant in our lives today. “This is a gorgeous, thoughtful—dare I say spiritual—guide to the world of Japanese pickling written with clarity and a deep respect for technique and tradition.” —Rick Bayless, author of Authentic Mexican and owner of Frontera Grill

Japanese Street Style by Pat Lyttle is the first book to showcase innovative and cutting-edge fashions from Tokyo, one of the strongest and fastest-growing style capitals in the world. Tapping into Japan's rich culture, its fashion scene is an exciting blend of traditional dress and innovative modernity. The book features stunning one-of-a-kind photographs of all the major fashion tribes, from Gothic Lolita and Harajuku to Dolly Kei, Ganguro, and Kigurumi to the popularity of the furry tail. Inspiring and thought-provoking, Japanese Street Style provides an unprecedented look at an enormously influential current trend in the fashion world— Galliano, Dior, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, and Alexander McQueen have all looked to Tokyo for inspiration from its rich visual culture, fine textiles, and craftsmanship techniques. This first-look guide to contemporary Japanese fashion is a must-read for anyone interested in fashion, trends, and culture.

Introduction. Nihonga and the historical inscription of the modern -- Exhibitions and the making of modern Japanese painting -- In search of images -- The painter and his audiences -- Decadence and the emergence of Nihonga style -- Naturalizing the double reading -- Transmission and the historicity of Nihonga -- Conclusion

This innovative and interdisciplinary book on style shifting in Japanese brings together a wide range of perspectives and methodologies—including discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, and functional linguistics—to look at a variety of types of style shifting in both spoken and written Japanese discourse. Though diverse in approach, the contributions all reflect the belief that language use is inextricably linked to both context and language structure in mutually constitutive relationships. Topics covered include shifting between "polite" and "plain" styles, the emergence of a "semi-polite" style, speakers' strategic use of gendered styles or regional dialects, shifting between different deictic expressions, and prosodic shifting. This careful and detailed examination advances our understanding of the complex phenomenon of style shifting not only in Japanese, but also more generally, and will be of interest to researchers and students in fields such as linguistics, linguistic anthropology, communication studies, and second language acquisition and teaching.