A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki

In Tokyo, Nao details the strange realities of her life in her diary as a way to escape from the bullies at school and her father's suicidal tendencies.

 
Half a world away, Ruth, a writer by trade, recovers the diary when it washes ashore
in British Columbia and finds herself overwhelmed by a need to discover Nao's fate.

2011 Touhoku Earthquake and Tsunami

Book - March Was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese 
           Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown

A  collection of essays and short stories by Japanese authors.

Available at -
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/k8k2o3f
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/lpslgtg


Video -  3.11.2011 Take My Hand (Blaise Plant)

Members of the Canadian-Japanese band Monkey Majik (based in Sendai)
joined the recovery effort and captured some of the enduring spirit of
the Japanese people on film in this video.
                 
Youtube: http://tinyurl.com/md8qm9o

High School in Japan

Book - The Japanese High School: Silence and Resistence

Shoko Yoneyama provides a deep look into the battleground that is high school in Japan.

Available at -
CUNY+ (Queens, LA1316 Y67 and e-res)
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/n245gmk
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/lothh97

Book - Hikikomori: Adolescence without End
This Japanese bestseller by Tamaki Saito was the first work to bring the matter of
hikikomori, youth who withdraw from society, to public awareness in Japan.

Available at -
CUNY+ (Queens, HM1131 S2413 and e-res)
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/lvfunaq
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/kz49fec

Women Writers of Japan

Book - The Waiting Years (By Enchi Fumiko)

In this Noma Prize winner, Enchi paints a picture of life for women in the years after the Meiji Restoration. After marrying into an upper-class family, Tomo finds herself faced with the unthinkable task of selecting a mistress for her husband.

Available at -
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/kgyab9p
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/kwg6oec

Book - In the Beginning, Woman was the Sun (By Raicho Hiratsuka)

The autobiography of Japanese feminist Raicho Hiratsuka,
founder of Bluestocking (Japan's first feminist magazine.)

Available at -
CUNY+ (City, HQ1762.5 H56 A3)
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/jvl7gzc
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/n63wzgq

Book - Tangled Hair: Selected Tanka (By Yosano Akiko)

A collection of poetry by the famed poet Yosano Akiko.

Available at -
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/lxcg8r8
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/lkdl845

Book  -  Women Writers of Meiji and Taisho Japan: 
            Their Lives, Works and Critical Reception, 1868-1926

Yukiko Tanaka explores the works and significance of women writers in Japan.

Available at -
CUNY+ (Queens, PL725 T36 2000)
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/khg6h88
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/kev6jmc

The Women of Zen Buddhism

Book - Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Budhhist Nuns
By Paula Kane Robinson Arai

In this study, based on both historical evidence and ethnographic data, Paula Arai shows that nuns were central agents in the foundation of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century

Available at -
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/mcx5kzf
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/pulx7qf

Book - The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women

The Hidden Lamp is a collection of one hundred koans and stories of Buddhist women from the time of the Buddha to the present day. Each story is accompanied by a reflection from a contemporary woman teacher.

Available at -
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/mbnlvjt

Documentary - Zen Buddhism: In Search of Self

This hour long documentary follows twenty-four Zen Buddhist nuns as they take part in a ninety day spiritual retreat in the mountains of South Korea.

Free on Amazon InstantVideo with Prime: http://tinyurl.com/n26r36p
Brooklyn Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/lptmp4u

Japanese subcultures, Akihabara and Maid Cafes

Book - Fashioning Japanese Subcultures

This ethnography explores Tokyo's fashion subcultures,
including lolita, gyaru and age-jo.

Available at -
NYPL: http://tinyurl.com/kbyl6bm
Brooklyn Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/kzan26d
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/l999xxc


Video clip - Yokoso TV: Exploring Japanese Maid Cafes

This short episode of the Australian based web show YokosoTV
introduces and explores the concept of Japanese maid cafes.

Youtube: http://tinyurl.com/mxnd9g9



Video - NHK's Tokyo Eye Akihabara episode

This 30 minute long episode of NHK's Tokyo Eye television show
explores the uniqueness of Akihabara, Tokyo's Electricity Town.

Youtube: http://tinyurl.com/k55aceq