Through defining "things", this work provides an overview of 100 significant aspects of Japanese culture from mannerisms (Sumimasen) and games (Go), to food (Yakitori).

Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850?1935) first encountered Japan on a journey intended to promote the recovery of his health: he had suffered a nervous breakdown while working for Barings Bank. In May 1873, he arrived in Yokohama, and was immediately fascinated by traditional Japanese culture. The drive for modernisation had created a need for teachers of English, and Chamberlain was taken on as a tutor in the naval academy, at the same time studying the Japanese language to such good effect that in 1886 he was made professor of Japanese and philology of the Imperial University (later Tokyo University). This book, first published in 1890, and going into six editions over the next fifty years, is in the form of an encyclopaedia, with topics from 'abacus' to 'zoology'. It gives an affectionate account of aspects of Japanese culture which Chamberlain realised were disappearing under the relentless impact of Western influence.

Things Japanese, being notes on various subjects connected with Japan, for the use of travellers and others.

To have lived through the transition stage of modern Japan makes a man feel preternaturally old; for here he is in modern times, with the air full of talk about bicycles and bacilli and "spheres of influence" and yet he can himself distinctly remember the Middle Ages. The dear old Samurai who first initiated the present writer into the mysteries of the Japanese language, wore a queue and two swords. This relic of feudalism now sleeps in Nirvana. His modern successor, fairly fluent in English, and dressed in a serviceable suit of dittos, might almost be a European, save for a certain obliqueness of the eyes and scantiness of beard. Old things pass away between a night and a morning. The Japanese boast that they have done in thirty or forty years what it took Europe half as many centuries to accomplish. Some even go further, and twit us Westerns with falling behind in the race. It is waste of time to go to Germany to study philosophy, said a Japanese savant recently returned from Berlin:—the lectures there are elementary, the subject is better taught at Tōkyō. Thus does it come about that, having arrived in Japan in 1873, we ourselves feel well-nigh four hundred years old, and assume without more ado the two well-known privileges of old age,—garrulity and an authoritative air. We are perpetually being asked questions about Japan. Here then are the answers, put into the shape of a dictionary, not of words but of things,—or shall we rather say a guide-book, less to places than to subjects?—not an encyclopædia, mind you, not the vain attempt by one man to treat exhaustively of all things, but only sketches of many things. The old and the new will be found cheek by jowl. What will not be found is padding: for padding is unpardonable in any book on Japan, where the material is so plentiful that the chief difficulty is to know what to omit. In order to enable the reader to supply deficiencies and to form his own opinions, if haply he should be of so unusual a turn of mind as to desire so to do, we have, at the end of almost every article, indicated the names of trustworthy works bearing on the subject treated in that article. For the rest, this book explains itself. Any reader who detects errors or omissions in it will render the author an invaluable service by writing to him to point them out. As a little encouragement in this direction, we will ourselves lead the way by presuming to give each reader, especially each globe-trotting reader, a small piece of advice.

Japanese Now is a popular four-year learning program used in numerous American secondary schools and universities. The first two years emphasize oral-aural skills; the third and fourth years offer reading selections while expanding vocabulary and grammatical patterns through conversation and discussion of Japanese culture and appropriate styles of speech in various social setting. Tapes may be copied by an educational institution for classroom use but not for resale.

Japanese Business Culture and Practices presents detailed insights and descriptions on the proper ways to conduct business with contemporary Japanese. It focuses on the traditional and nontraditional business-related practices, including the internal mechanisms of promotion and decision-making in Japanese corporations. From advice on how to avoid cultural misunderstandings and how to develop trust with Japanese colleagues, readers will gain insights on how to communicate, negotiate, entertain, and socialize with Japanese as well as the minutiae of correct behavior. Using linguistic examples to facilitate how Japanese themselves view their work environment, authors Isao Takei and Jon P. Alston describe the social etiquette and protocols Japanese expect all foreigners to adopt in order to successfully conduct business. With a glossary of terms and practical real-life experiences, this is an essential guide for anyone who wants to forge deeper business relationships with Japanese.

"This is a truly exceptional collection of contributions on the dynamics of family relationships. The authors not only provide thoughtful state-of-the-art reviews of relevant bodies of literature and methods, but also grapple with thorny conceptual issues and present novel theoretical insights. In doing so, they demonstrate the tremendous progress in thinking about families in the past decade or two and provide guideposts for future theory and research on parent-child relationships." - Nancy Eisenberg, Regents′ Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University "This forward looking volume will be invaluable to all concerned with parent-child relationships. With chapters written by leading researchers in the field, it focuses on process, and on the agency of both parent and child. The approach is therefore dialectical, changes in either partner continuously leading to change in the other. A must for teachers, researchers and graduate students." - Robert A. Hinde, St. John′s College, Cambridge, United Kingdom Handbook of Dynamics in Parent-Child Relations provides an innovative, interdisciplinary perspective on theory, research, and methodology of dynamic processes in parent-child relations. Edited by distinguished scholar Leon Kuczynski, this accessible volume is divided into six parts. Part I concerns dyadic processes in parent-child relationships and provides the conceptual grounding for the volume as a whole. Parts II and III examine the agency of the child and the agency of the parent, respectively. Part IV considers dynamics in the parent-child dyad as they are mediated by or impact on various lifespan, cultural, and ecological contexts. Part V addresses the methodological implications of adopting a dynamic process view of parent-child relations. Part VI weighs future directions for theory, research, and practice. An eminent group of scholars and researchers present a comprehensive exploration of parent-child relationships that includes the nature of change in parent-child interactions; cognitive, behavior, and relational processes that govern parent-child relationships; what makes such interactions and relationships "work" the way they do; the dynamics of parent-child relations, including bidirectional influence and human agency; quantitative and qualitative methodology in the context of theory verification and discovery. Handbook of Dynamics in Parent-Child Relations focuses on process rather than outcomes, bi-directional influence rather than parent effects or child effects, and parents and children as agents and actors rather than as static traits or variables. This concern with dynamics represents an emerging research perspective that complements a long-standing alternative tradition primarily concerned with the products of parenting. Interdisciplinary in scope, Handbook of Dynamics in Parent-Child Relations will appeal to academics, professionals, graduate students, and senior-level undergraduates involved with Developmental Psychology, Family Science, Human Ecology, and Family Sociology.

First published in 2006. For over fifty years, the Japanese-born Western-trained author of this remarkable volume devoted himself to explaining Japanese traditions and customs to foreigners through his newspaper columns, talks and four short books. The comprehensive work presented here, drawn from all these sources deals with all aspects of Japanese life and material culture - apparel and utensils; cures and medicines; houses and buildings; fetes and festivals; fish, birds and animals; folk tales; food, sake and tobacco; living habits; marriage, funerals and memorials; natural phenomena; plants and flowers; popular beliefs and traditions; recreation and entertainment; religious rites and social customs. With over seven hundred and thirty separate entries, this unique volume is the definitive work on all Japanese things.

Horror fiction is an important part of the popular culture in many modern societies. This book compares and contrasts horror narratives from two distinct cultures--American and Japanese--with a focus on the characteristic mechanisms that make them successful, and on their culturally-specific aspects. Including a number of narratives belonging to film, literature, comics and video games, this book provides a comprehensive perspective of the genre. It sheds light on the differences and similarities in the depiction of fear and horror in America and Japan, while emphasizing narrative patterns in the context of their respective cultures.