Alumni Travel Reading Lists 2024: Inside Japan

Penn Professor, Julie Nelson Davis demonstrates that ukiyo-e, a genre of Japanese art, was appreciated as a field of high artistic merit, prized by the art connoisseurs of its time.

In this study of architecture and urban projects carried out after the Emperor Meiji's move to Tokyo, the author asks whether an imperial city can survive without an emperor? Tseng traces the development of four areas within Kyoto: the palaces in the center, the Okazaki Park area in the east, the Kyoto Station area in the south, and the Kitayama district in the north. Published by the University of Hawaii Press.

The focus of this artistic, cultural, and and historical study, is the two periods during which Kyoto's influence was lessened due to geographical shifts in power. The authors argue that the the response of Kyoto elites--emperors, courtiers, tea masters, municipal leaders, monks, and merchants--was to look to arts and cultural revival to strengthen their regional identity.

Jakucho is a writer, translator, feminist, peace activist, and Buddhist nun. She provides a memoir of her life and travels, both real and imagined, based on her experiences growing up and coming of age in the Tokushima countryside. Published by the University of Hawaii Press.

"An examination of heritage politics in Japan, showing how castles have been used to re-invent and recapture competing versions of the pre-imperial past and project possibilities for Japan's future." From the publisher.

Kano highlights Japan's feminist public sphere. In this space, the voices of academics, journalists, and the politically active address controversial issues of gender roles and stereotypes, expectations, beliefs, and exclusion.

Keene is a scholar of Japanese Literature and Ryotaro is an historical novelist. During the last decade of the 20th century, these two noted individuals engaged in conversation around "the long peace" of the Edo period (1603-1868), a period during which Japan developed in relative isolation from outside influence. They look at this period from the perspective of Japan's notable writers, poet Matsuo Basho and dramatist Chikamatsu Monzaemon. They consider the circumstances and conditions of Edo period life.

Frederick R. Dickinson examines interwar Japan, revealing Japan's embarkation upon national reconstruction and its post-war projects of democracy, internationalism, disarmament and peace. Dickinson then looks at Japan's military expansion in the 1930s and the reasons for this change in direction.

In 1945 during their occupation of Japan following World War II, the Americans declared a policy of religious freedom. This declaration came about despite the fact that the Japanese constitution had guaranteed freedom of religion since 1889. When the occupation ended in 1952, the US took credit for a bonified religious freedom in Japan. Thomas examines the American claim and action and follows its thread into today's global policy.

This novel, by one of Japan's most popular 20th century writers, is set in Japan's 12th century. It portrays a saga of interclan rivalry.

This is the first of a three volume exploration of popular literature in Japan. The volumes are A Kamigata Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Metropolitan Centers, 1600–1750; (2) An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega City, 1750–1850; and (3) A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Modern Metropolis, 1850–1920. This first volumes looks at examples of popular genres such as haikai poetry, picture scrolls, travel books, kabuki and joruri (puppet) plays, narratives of everyday life, and jokes. Published by the University of Hawaii Press, available in relatively inexpensive paperbacks.