Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into essay here are some essay books from Japan for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
Sun & Steel by Yukio Mishima
EN
Description:
This is the personal testament of Japan's greatest novelist, written shorty before his public suicide in 1970. Through Mishima's finely wrought and emphatic prose, the mind and motivation behind his agonized search for personal identity is revealed. In this fascinating document, one of Japan's best known-and controversial-writers created what might be termed a new literary form. It is new because it combines elements of many existing types of writing, yet in the end fits into none of them. At one level, it may be read as an account of how a puny, bookish boy discovered the importance
2.
The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura
EN
Description:
'Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle.' In this charming book from 1906, Okakura explores Zen, Taoism, Tea Masters and the significance of the Japanese tea ceremony. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak,... continue
3.
The Fall of Language in the Age of English by Minae Mizumura
EN
Description:
Winner of the Kobayashi Hideo Award, this best-selling book by one of JapanÕs most ambitious contemporary fiction writers lays bare the struggle to retain the brilliance of oneÕs own language in an age of English dominance. Born in Tokyo but also raised and educated in the United States, Minae Mizumura acknowledges the value of a universal language in the pursuit of knowledge, yet also appreciates the different ways of seeing offered by the work of multiple tongues. She warns against losing this precious diversity. Universal languages have always played a pivotal role in advancing human societ... continue