Japan books for your holiday reading list

Looking for some fun holiday gift ideas? Here are a few of the coolest Japan-related books that have come out in the last year.

Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan’s Game Centers – a fantastic work by Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku and PingMag editor Jean Snow. [Read Japan Probe's review of this title.]

Tokyo Realtime : Kabukicho – not exactly a book, but still very cool. WhiteRabbit has put together an audio walking tour of Tokyo’s famous red light district, splicing together traditional tour narration with interviews and stories from experts and locals. The audio sample at TokyoRealtime.com will give you a good idea of its excellent production value.

Black Jack, Volume 1 and Black Jack, Volume 2 – Vertical has published new English editions of Osamu Tezuka’s classic manga Black Jack, the story of a maverick doctor that practices medicine without a license. These new volumes go beyond the 17 episodes of the series that had been published in English back in the 1990′s, with each 300 page volume containing 12 episodes. Free previews of volumes one, two, and three are available on Vertical’s website.

Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan – a look at the manga version of Batman created in the 1966 to tie-in with the Japanese release of the American TV series. Its creator, Jiro Kuwata, dropped a lot of the stuff from the original American story and added science fiction and fantasy elements that would appeal to Japanese manga readers. (more info and photos at BoingBoing)

Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan – a collection of cool and useful Japanese wisdom compiled by Lisa Katayama of TokyoMango.com. A few of the tricks are available for free on the book’s YouTube channel.

Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide and Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai – Both of these books are excellent sources for information about the supernatural beings found in Japanese folklore. Yokai Attack! is a fancy and stylish guidebook with lots of amusing artwork, and it has got a lot of good press reviews. Pandemonium and Parade is a more academic work, and would be break for readers who want to read a more in depth examination of the creatures and how they are viewed in Japanese culture. [See our review of Yokai Attack!]

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