“The Revivalists is a thrilling, terrifying, surprising, and tender debut, written in such exquisitely precise prose that I felt singed by its imaginary fires and warmed by its beating heart. Chris Hood's nightmarish cross-country family odyssey is also one of the most beautiful love stories I've ever read.”—Karen Russell, bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Orange WorldA stunning debut novel about a couple’s harrowing journey ...

Japan. Four islands. Four seasons. Four trips. Four current social issues. One book.That was the plan.April 2013. Photo-journalist Iwakura and his reporter friend Eri, as she was known to the whole of Japan, would be working together again. Since their collaboration in 2011 had exposed more about the truth surrounding the hijacking of a shinkansen ('bullet train'), they had worked on many articles together, but this would be their first book. The book would be cove...

The image of the shinkansen – or ‘bullet train’ – passing Mount Fuji is one of the most renowned images of modern Japan. Yet, despite its international reputation for speed and punctuality, little is understood about what makes it work so well and what its impact is.This is a comprehensive account of the history of the shinkansen, from its planning during the Pacific War, to its launch in 1964 and subsequent development. It goes on to analyze the reasons behind the bullet train’s s...

It was meant to be a chance to escape the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. Nicola was working hard as an English teacher in Japan; she desperately needed a holiday. A long weekend with her boyfriend, Akira, and two other friends, Mai and Masashi, seemed ideal. The four of them would travel by Japan's safest form of transport, the shinkansen ('bullet train'), before boarding a ferry for the trip across to the quiet island of Sado. However, Nicola and her friends could never imagine that...

The loss of a loved one at any time is a traumatic event. When their death comes as a result of something sudden and unexpected, the impact can be even greater. If the loved one is your child - one who you would expect to outlive - the emotions are further tested. Imagine having to cope with all of these feelings when also adding into the mix the challenges when the death happens on the other side of the planet in a country with a different language and culture. This is exactly what one ma...

In 2019, as Japan hosted the Rugby World Cup, Typhoon Hagibis brought havoc to the organisation of the event and to the country as a whole. Into 2020, and rather than the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, the world's attention turned to the spectre of the new coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The games appeared to be 'cursed' according some Japanese politicians. In March 2020 it was decided that the Olympics and Paralympics would be postponed until the following year but would continue to ...

The Way the Money Goes traces out what happened to the UK's fiscal constitution - the framework for planning and controlling public spending - under three different governments (Conservative, Labour, Conservative/Liberal Democrat) from the early 1990s to the mid-2010s. The book tells the story of what happened under each government and combines narrative with vignettes that range from the funding of a new Treasury building to efforts to 'crowdsource' ideas for spending cuts. It al...

Just as the sinking of the Titanic is embedded in the public consciousness in the English-speaking world, so the crash of JAL flight JL123 is part of the Japanese collective memory. The 1985 crash involved the largest loss of life for any single air crash in the world. 520 people, many of whom had been returning to their ancestral home for the Obon religious festival, were killed; there were only four survivors.This book tells the story of the crash, discusses the many con...

This volume identifies and compares 'fiscal squeezes' (major efforts to cut public spending and/or raise taxes) in the UK over a century from 1900 to 2015. The authors examine how different the politics of fiscal squeeze and austerity is today from what it was a century ago, how (if at all) fiscal squeezes reshaped the state and the provision of public services, and how political credit and blame played out after austerity episodes. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative, starti...

The UK is said to have been one of the most prolific reformers of its public administration. Successive reforms have been accompanied by claims that the changes would make the world a better place by transforming the way government worked. Despite much discussion and debate over government makeovers and reforms, however, there has been remarkably little systematic evaluation of what happened to cost and performance in UK government during the last thirty years. A Government that Worked...

Japan: The Basics is an engaging introduction to the culture, society, and global positioning of Japan.Starting by looking at the common stereotypes, clichés, and tropes associated with Japan, this accessible introduction to the country is designed to arm readers with key skills and knowledge for their study of Japan.This new edition covers topics including:How do we go about studying Japan?What can be learnt about Japan from looking at its ...

The blame game, with its finger-pointing and mutual buck-passing, is a familiar feature of politics and organizational life, and blame avoidance pervades government and public organizations at every level. Political and bureaucratic blame games and blame avoidance are more often condemned than analyzed. In The Blame Game, Christopher Hood takes a different approach by showing how blame avoidance shapes the workings of government and public services. Arguing that the blaming phenom...