This is a comprehensive guide to place-names in Japan. It lists the names in English and Japanese, their literal translation in English, as well as the folk-etymologies of all Japan's cities and many towns. It is the first detailed description of place-names in Japan in any world language other than Japanese. Approximately 5000 place-names are arranged alphabetically covering historic and tourist-site towns, and important rivers and mountains. Entries are arranged alphabetically by prefecture following the 47 prefectures tod?fuken . Place-names are icons of local and national identity and are also signs of cultural traditions and popular beliefs - part of everyday life and conversation, politics, food names, jokes, proverbs and song. Importantly, too, they reflect the history of Japan from the beginning of the modern period.

An indispensable tool for librarians who do reference or collection management, this work is a pioneering offering of expertly selected print and electronic reference tools for East Asian Studies (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean). Handbook for Asian Studies Specialists: A Guide to Research Materials and Collection Building Tools is the first work to cover reference works for the main Asian area languages of China, Japan, and Korea. Several leading Asian Studies librarians have contributed their many decades of experience to create a resource that gathers major reference titles—both print and online—that would be useful to today's Asian Studies librarian. Organized by language group, it offers useful information on the many subscription-based and open-source electronic tools relevant to Asian Studies. This book will serve as an essential resource for reference collections at academic libraries. Previously published bibliographies on materials deal with China or Japan or Korea, but none have coalesced information on all three countries into one work, or are written in English. And unlike the other resources available, this work provides the insight needed for librarians to make informed collection management decisions and reference selections.