Japan is widely regarded as having a unique culture and a strong national identity. Paradoxically, however, many basic elements of Japanese culture are not originally Japanese. Since the beginning of its history, Japan has been one of the world’s major importers of foreign cultures. Its culture was thoroughly hybrid long before that word became fashionable in contemporary global studies. But this does not mean that Japan’s culture lacks originality. The Japanese have always made strikingly...

This collection presents twenty-seven new essays in Japanese aesthetics by leading experts in the field. Beginning with an extended foreword by the renowned scholar and artist Stephen Addiss and a comprehensive introduction that surveys the history of Japanese aesthetics and the ways in which it is similar to and different from Western aesthetics, this groundbreaking work brings together a large variety of disciplinary perspectives—including philosophy, literature, and cultural politics—to...

This first full length, and long overdue, study of Kawabata, Japans first Nobel laureate for literature and the most widely known for his novels Snow Country (1960) and Sound of the Mountain (1970).

Topics include: Government Intervention and Economic Growth in East Asia, Agricultural Nationalism in the Age of Globalization, Japan's Dominance and Multi- Racial Coalitions in Malaysia.

Shiga Naoya was a giant of Japanese literature but he is barely known outside Japan. This book is the first study of Shiga to explore in depth his affinities - both aesthetic and philosophic - with the long tradition of Zen art.