ISBN: 9780924304927. 148 pages. Paperback The Great Smog of China traces Chinese air pollution events dating back to more than 2,000 years ago. Based on the authors’ fieldwork, interviews and text studies, the book offers a short and concise history of selected air pollution incidents that for varying reasons prompted different kinds of responses and […]

ISBN: 978-0-924-304-88-0. 122 pages. Paperback. Lu Xun spent the last decade of his life in the turbulent world of Shanghai. Soon after arriving in 1927, he befriended Uchiyama Kanzō, owner of a bookstore specializing in Japanese writings. Their friendship and the mutual kindnesses (occasionally involving near-death experiences) form the core of this short volume. In […]

ISBN 978-0-924304-87-3. 138 pages. Paperback. What do we talk about when we talk about East Asia? We are worried about China’s emergence as an economic giant and military power that may upset the regional and, indeed, the global status quo. Much more mercurial, however, and therefore more frightening, is that riddle wrapped in a mystery […]

Winner of the 2019 ICAS Book Prize: “Most Accessible and Captivating Work for the Non-Specialist Reader” ISBN 978-0-924304-85-9. 180 pages. Paperback. In Japan, beer has been known, since the 1960s, as the “beverage of the masses,” and whisky culture has roots stretching back to the 1950s. Meanwhile, methamphetamine was first developed in Japan and came […]