検索キーワード： 日本

Little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first Japanese emperor ever to meet a European. But now, Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan's history. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest.

三世紀から六世紀の日本列島で造られた，おびただしい数の古墳．人びとはなぜ，憑かれたようにそれらを造ったのだろうか．考古学研究の第一人者が，中国，朝鮮半島の葬制からの影響も視野に入れつつ，古墳の宗教的，社会的役割を考察．

「若いうちは乱世の武将として生きた政宗だが、秀吉が天下を取ってからは、一族を守る大名、政治家となった。その点は他の戦国武将と異なる、一面的には捉えにくい人物…」 直木賞作家・早乙女貢(1926~2008)が語る伊達政宗の人間像。聞き手:三國一朗1980年にNHKラジオ第1で放送された「人物春秋」をオーディオブック化。

The Japanese progressed throughout the eras because of the emperor, but they also progressed despite him. These are people who never let go of their sacred history, and their story is told and retold in art, film, literature, and even graphic novels across the entire world. Terms such as shoguns, samurai, haiku, anime, and manga are familiar to many in the Western world today. Westerners also learn flower arranging, martial arts, meditation, and enjoy a variety of visual and digital art forms because of the unique culture of Japan.

「半兵衛は歴史の影に身を隠そうとした男。身を隠したがゆえに、三国志における諸葛孔明のような伝説がついてまわるようになった…」 劇作家・福田善之が語る竹中半兵衛の人間像。聞き手:三國一朗1979年にNHKラジオ第1で放送された「人物春秋」をオーディオブック化。

2013年NHK大河ドラマ「八重の桜」のヒロイン・新島八重と、その兄・山本覚馬の、波乱に満ちた生涯と絆を描いた作品。戊辰戦争の際、会津・鶴ヶ城で自ら銃を持って戦った女性、八重。のちに、アメリカ帰りで同志社創立に奔走していた新島襄と出会い、結婚します。そんな八重に大きな影響を与えたのが、17歳離れた兄の覚馬です。覚馬は、京都で薩摩藩に捕らえられながらも、「世界の中の日本」を見据えた獄中からの建白書で、西郷隆盛らに高く評価された人物。明治という激動の時代に、会津魂を胸に力強く生きた兄妹の絆、八重と襄の夫婦の絆、そして、理想に向かって邁進する姿が心を打ちます。早乙女貢作「明治の兄妹 新島八重と山本覚馬」(新人物往来社)を再構成してオーディオブック化しました。

日本史上屈指のキャリアデザインの達人と言えば、足軽から天下人となった豊臣秀吉を思い浮かべる人も多いでしょう。織田家臣時代の彼は、早くから光秀同様に織田家成果主義の欠陥を見抜き、そして光秀以上の手腕でそれを乗り切っていました。ただ、そんな彼の作った人事制度には致命的な欠点がありました。　　　　　秀吉が信長の草履取りから地道に功を重ねて軍団長にまで出世する話は、興味深いが有名な話なので、ここでは繰り返さない。墨俣一夜城や越前からの撤退戦など、基本的に人がやりたがらないイヤな仕事を進んでこなす真面目な人だったことがうかがえる。これは恐らく、自らの身分が低いことから、与えられるチャンスは何でもモノにしようという姿勢だったのだろう。その点、最初から中途採用エリートとして軍事・外交のメインステージで活躍した明智光秀とはまったく異なるキャリアコースと言っていい。（本文より） 城繁幸『サラリーマン・キャリアナビ』★出世と喧嘩の正しい作法はこちらから→http://yakan-hiko.com/joe.html

Nitobe Inazo (1862 - 1933) was a Japanese agricultural economist, author, educator, diplomat, and politician. His book Bushido: The Soul of Japan explains Samurai culture to a Western audience. First published in English in 1900, Bushido takes a look at the virtues associated with the warrior’s way, such as rectitude, courage, benevolence, politeness, sincerity, honor, loyalty, and self-control.

All in all, Japan seems to be a country of paradoxes and oppositions, of yin and yang. Yet it doesn’t seem to suffer from it; instead, it is thriving, growing, and developing, and it has been doing so for a long time. From those contradictions, a sense of unity and pride arose, guiding Japanese history and civilizational development through the ages, leaving an unquestionable mark on the world heritage and mankind. But this is only the surface of an astonishing culture that deserves a deeper look.

In early 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were advancing on all fronts, humiliating Allied forces throughout the Pacific. In a matter of months, Japan had conquered an area larger than Hitler's empire at its apex. Hawaiians and Australians feared a future under Hirohito. The fate of half of mankind was hanging in the balance.

Few events have ever shaken a country in the way that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor affected the United States. After the devastating attack, Japanese forces continued to overwhelm the Allies, attacking Malaya with its fortress of Singapore, and taking resource-rich islands in the Pacific - Borneo, Sumatra, and Java - in their own blitzkrieg offensive. Allied losses in these early months after America's entry into the war were great, and among the most devastating were those suffered during the Java Sea Campaign.

This history will be of interest to people who know nothing about Japan, but also full of insights for those who do. Lesley Downer takes the listener through the great sweep of Japanese history, focusing on the dramatic stories of larger-than-life individuals—from emperors descended from the Sun Goddess to warlords, samurai, merchants, court ladies, women warriors, geisha, and businessmen who shaped this extraordinary modern society.

While intensely attentive to its own tradition, Japanese literature has also embraced the outside world, particularly the influence of China. Beyond this, Japan boasts a powerful literary culture, made up of cultivated reading publics, both aristocratic and bourgeois, literary salons, specialized presses, authoritative judges of talent who cultivated and celebrated particular writers and styles, and a canon consisting of classics. This Very Short Introduction traces the rich history of Japanese literature from its beginnings over a millennium ago to the present day.

The aftershocks of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor were felt keenly all over America - the war in Europe had hit home. But nowhere was American life more immediately disrupted than on the West Coast, where people lived in certain fear of more Japanese attacks. From that day until the end of the war, a dizzying mix of battle preparedness and rampant paranoia swept the states. Japanese immigrants were herded into internment camps. There was panic on the Pacific coast: The Japanese were coming.

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island. This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas.

For over 300 years, Japan closed itself to outsiders, developing a remarkable and unique culture. During its period of isolation, the inhabitants of the city of Edo, later known as Tokyo, relied on its public bells to tell the time. In her remarkable book, Anna Sherman tells of her search for the bells of Edo, exploring the city of Tokyo and its inhabitants and the individual and particular relationship of Japanese culture - and the Japanese language - to time, tradition, memory, impermanence and history.

This book traces the samurai throughout history, exploring their roles in watershed events such as Japan's invasions of Korea at the close of the 16th century and the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Coming alive in these accounts are the samurai, both famed and ordinary, who shaped Japanese history.

「私は、いろいろな懊悩、いろいろな煩悶、そういうものに苦しめられると、いつもそれを振り切って旅へ出た。

«Marco Polo fue el primero en mencionar en sus escritos el territorio japonés de Asia Oriental alrededor del año 1300. Zipango (el nombre medieval de Japón en Europa) era en su mente una tierra rebosante de oro, plata y perlas. Este y muchos otros misterios persistieron hasta la llegada real de los primeros trotamundos de Europa. Japón era la belleza lejana que había que explorar.

【真田幸村を知る→手本にする→「モテる」！！】無類の強さを備えながらも仁の心を貫き、戦国時代の悲劇のヒーローとなった真田幸村。