“The more deeply you go into a long-held tradition, the more secrets and surprises it yields up. Mighty Ontake is like that. The mountain’s inexhaustible treasury of riches is like some endless storybook with its pages uncut. As one follows the rambling plot along, one is always looking forward to reading more. Every page yields things never found in other books. Ontake is that kind of mountain.” One Hundred Mountains is that kind of book. “Nowhere in the world do people hold mountains in so much regard as in Japan,” observed the author, Kyūya Fukada, in the afterword to his most famous work. “Mountains have played a part in Japanese history since the country’s beginnings, and they manifest themselves in every form of art. For mountains have always formed the bedrock of the Japanese soul.” In One Hundred Mountains, Fukada pays tribute to his favorite summits. Published in 1964, the book became an instant classic. Consisting of one hundred short essays, each celebrating one notable mountain and its place in Japan’s traditions, the book is an elegantly written eulogy to the landscape, literature, and history that define a people. More recently, Japan’s national broadcasting company has turned it into a memorable TV series. Fukada himself was bemused by his book’s success: “In the end, the one hundred mountains represent my personal choice and I make no claims for them beyond that.” Yet, half a century after he set down those words, his mountains have become a cultural institution. Marked on every hiking map and enshrined in scores of spin-off books, his One Hundred Mountains are today firmly embedded in the mountain traditions they grew out of. Now available in English for the first time, One Hundred Mountains of Japan will serve as a vade mecum to the Japanese mountains for a new cohort of hikers and mountaineers. It will also open up novel territories for students of Japan’s literature, folklore, religions, and mountaineering history—in short, for mountain-lovers everywhere.

''Nowhere in the world do people hold mountains in so much regard as in Japan,'' writes Fukada Kyuya in the afterword to this book. ''Mountains have played a part in Japanese history since the country's beginnings, and they manifest themselves in every form of art. For mountains have always formed the bedrock of the Japanese soul.'' In One Hundred Mountains of Japan, Fukada pays tribute to his favorite summits. Originating as a series of magazine articles about a personal selection of mountains, the work became an instant classic when it was first published in book form in 1964. Consisting of one hundred short essays, each celebrating one notable mountain and its place in Japan's traditions, the book is an elegantly written eulogy to the landscape, literature, and history that define a people. More recently, Japan's national broadcasting company has turned the original Nihon Hyakumeizan into a memorable TV series. Fukada himself was bemused by his book's success: ''In the end, the one hundred mountains represent my personal choice and I make no claims for them beyond that.'' Yet, half a century after he set down those words, his mountains have become an institution. Marked on every hiking map and enshrined in scores of spin-off books, his Hyakumeizan are today firmly embedded in the mountain traditions they grew out of. Now available in English translation, One Hundred Mountains of Japan will serve as a guide for a new cohort of hikers and mountaineers. It will also open up novel territories for students of Japan's literature, folklore, religions, and mountaineering history - in short, for mountain-lovers everywhere.--Amazon.com.

Political economy, in its various guises and transfigurations, is a research philosophy that presents both social commentary and theoretical progress and is concerned with a number of different topics: politics, regulation and governance, production systems, social relations, inequality and development amongst many others. As a critical theory, political economy seeks to provide an understanding of societies – and of the structures and social relations that form them – in order to evoke social change toward more equitable conditions. Despite the early influence of critical development studies and political economy on tourism research, political economy has received relatively little attention in tourism research. Political Economy and Tourism the first volume to bring together different theoretical perspectives and discourse in political economy related to tourism. Written by leading scholars, the text is organised into three sequential Parts, linked by the principle that ‘the political’ and ‘the economic’ are intimately connected. Part one presents different approaches to political economy, including Marxist political economy, regulation, comparative political economy, commodity chain research and alternative political economies; Part two links key themes of political economy, such as class, gender, labour, development and consumption, to tourism; and Part three examines the political economy at various geographical scales and focuses on the outcomes and processes of the political act of planning and managing tourism production. This engaging volume provides insights and alternative critical perspectives on political economy theory to expand discussions of tourism development and policy in the future. Political Economy and Tourism is a valuable text for students, researchers and academics interested in Tourism and related disciplines.

This significant and timely volume focuses on the unique trajectory of tourism development in Japan, which has been characterized by an historical emphasis on promoting both domestic and international tourism to Japanese tourists, followed by the more recent policy of competing aggressively in the international incoming tourist market. Initial chapters present an overview of past and present tourism, including policy and research perspectives. Thematic perspectives on tourism and specific contexts and places in which tourism occurs are then examined. Strains of Japanese tourism such as sport, surf, forest, mountain, urban, tea, pilgrimage and even whaling heritage tourism are among those analyzed. The book also explores tourism’s role in confronting difficult pasts and presents, and the challenges facing the development of tourism in contemporary Japan. A short postscript outlines some of the challenges and possible future directions tourism in Japan may take in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Written by a team of well-known editors and contributors, including academics from Japan, this volume will be of great interest to upper-students and researchers and academics in development studies, cultural studies, geography and tourism.

A guidebook to 13 short treks and 14 day walks in the Japan Alps and on Mount Fuji. Routes are graded by difficulty and range from relatively short walks on easy terrain to strenuous mountain excursions, sometimes involving scrambling, aided sections and considerable exposure. The routes cover the North , Central and South Alps, with each chapter offering information on local bases and public transport access. Also included are the four main ascent routes on Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain. The treks range from 2–8 days and the day walks from 4 to 20km (3–15 hours). 1:50,000 mapping provided for each route GPX files available to download All you need to know about visiting the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji Comprehensive information on the region’s excellent facilities, which include mountain huts and hot-spring baths Japanese glossary

New from Bradt is the first-ever, standalone English-language guide to Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island and northernmost prefecture. Home to under 5% of the country’s population, this is a land of vast, wild expanses which demands exploration at any time of year – and feels a world away from Tokyo. Penned by an outdoors-loving travel writer resident in Japan, Bradt’s Hokkaido delves far deeper into this frontier land than country-wide guidebooks can possibly do. Author Tom Fay provides detailed coverage of the island’s history, unique wildlife, local food, the Ainu (indigenous people), outdoor activities, skiing logistics, hiking courses and the practicalities of visiting in winter, when deep snow carpets the ground and the sea turns to ice. Hokkaido’s varied landscapes include remote mountain ranges, fertile lowland plains, sweeping forests and enormous wetlands home to rare birds and other wildlife. Even for the Japanese, Hokkaido has a somewhat wild and exotic aura – place names have distinct Ainu origins and the capital Sapporo is closer to Russia’s Vladivostok than to Tokyo; while the Siberia-influenced climate and wide open spaces are unlike anything found in the rest of Japan. Hokkaido’s mild summers are ideal for sightseeing, cycling, camping and hiking. Why not climb the island’s highest mountain in Daisetsuzan National Park – an untouched wilderness of simmering volcanoes and stunning nature – or marvel at colourful fields of flowers around Furano and Biei? In winter, you can go to snow festivals, walk on sea ice (or board an icebreaker) to explore the Sea of Okhotsk, watch flocks of sea eagles or track brown bears in Shiretoko National Park, or head to popular ski resorts such as Niseko where the huge dumps of perfect powder snow attract skiers and snowboarders from around the world. Throw in hot springs (and thus ryokan hot-spring inns), active volcanoes, speciality seafood and quirky foodstuffs such as chocolate-covered crisps, excellent transport links and renowned Japanese hospitality, and Hokkaido is a thrilling and varied off-the-beaten-path travel destination, to which Bradt’s Hokkaido guidebook is instantly the essential companion.

A collection of personal stories and reflections based on the memoirs of Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits. Honouring High Places is a compelling collection of highlights from Junko Tabei's stirring life that she considered important, inspiring and interesting to mountaineering culture. Until now, her works have been available only in Japanese, and RMB is honoured to be sharing these profound and moving stories with the English-speaking world for the first time. The collection opens on Mount Everest, where the first all-women's expedition is met with disaster but pushes on against all odds. The story then shifts to the early years of Tabei's life and reflects on her countryside childhood as a frail girl with no talent for sport, and cultural expectations that ignored her passion for mountains. With reminiscences of the early days of female climbers on Everest, the deaths of fellow mountaineers, Tabei's pursuit of Mount Tomur, a cancer diagnosis, and efforts to restore a love for nature in the surviving youth of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, this beautifully curated collection of essays captures the essence of a notable time and the strength of character of one of the 20th and 21st centuries' female mountaineering pioneers.

As polar exploration reached its zenith, and in the same month that Captain Robert Falcon Scott perished in Antarctica, four young scientists from Zurich took ship for Greenland. Though they had little previous experience of arctic travel, their ambition was to achieve the first west-to-east crossing of the northern hemisphere’s largest ice cap, making scientific observations along the way. Few outside Switzerland have heard of this expedition or its leader, the meteorologist Alfred de Quervain, in spite of its success. In thirty-one days in the summer of 1912, the party sledded across 640 kilometres of untracked snow and ice. Nobody died or fell into a crevasse, although there were some near misses. The voyage was more than a well-executed feat of arctic travel: de Quervain and his colleagues collected data still used today by scientists researching the effects of climate change on Greenland’s ice cap. De Quervain’s popular account of his adventures, published in German in 1914, is both a minor classic of exploration literature and a sympathetic portrayal of life in Greenland’s remote coastal settlements in the early twentieth century. Published to coincide with the expedition’s 110th anniversary, Across Greenland’s Ice Cap includes the explorer’s original text, translated into English by his daughter and son-in-law; a historical and biographical introduction by Martin Hood; reflections on the journey’s scientific legacy by the geographers Andreas Vieli and Martin Lüthi; and a treasure trove of hand-tinted lantern slides reproduced in full colour.

This volume brings together the geological, geomorphological and ecological aspects of Japan’s natural heritage, arguing for dynamic conservation of such heritage and explaining their key characteristics in an accessible format for general readers. Sites from World Heritage Properties (Natural), UNESCO Global Geoparks, and National Parks of Japan representing key facets of this heritage are analyzed in depth, and the text is supplemented with color photographs and useful information for potential travelers. The volume is divided into thematic sections that help understand the diversity of Japan’s natural heritage, with supplementary information on conservation, tourism trends, local culture and lifestyles. In addition, chapters analyzing nature's mechanisms that engender diverse heritage landscapes and conservation/sustainable management schemes make this volume a valuable resource for both general readers and those with more specialized interests.