"From crawling through Buddha's nose at Todai-ji Temple to finding peace in Hiroshima, discover the secrets of savvy expatriates, seasoned travelers, and inspired locals. With its unique stroytelling style, and insights into dining, shopping, sightseeing, and culture, To Japan With Love is a one-of-a-kind guide for the passionate traveler"--Cover [p.4]

Kimi Nakamura loves fashion, and designing clothes, jewelry, and accessories for her friends, but her mother, a professional graphic designer with a long list of clients, wants her to be a serious artist, and is furious when she discovers Kimi has dropped her fine arts class; so Kimi is relieved to be able to visit her normally estranged grandparents in Kyoto during spring break--but what begins as an escape becomes a way to learn about her mother and her Japanese heritage, and to figure out how to move forward with her own life.

Introductory chapters cover Japan’s historic love-hate relationship with China, then an in-depth analysis of three themes: Japan’s turn to the West; Japan’s return to the East; from war to peace. The book explains why Japanese modern writers oscillate between East and West.

How does making friends, the view of sex, traditional and modern marriages, becoming a resident, and knowing that your children can be kidnapped...legally, connect with that funny little thing called love? Japan is different. You must first appreciate the workings of this foreign and complex society before having a chance at finding love. The Japanese word for love is “ai” which is pronounced similarly to “I” in English. As the book’s title suggests, we sometimes don’t know if we are in love. For Japan lovers, Ai, Love You? is the ultimate insider’s guide to understanding relationships through the Japanese perspective.

"Mankind is Noodlekind" For three days in January 2007,the most e-mailed article in The New York Times was "appreciations: Mr. noodle," an editorial noting the passing, at age ninety-six, of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen. Ando's existence came as a shock to many, but not to Andy Raskin, who had spent three years trying to meet the noodle pioneer. The Ramen King and I is Raskin's funny and, at times, painfully honest memoir about confronting the truth of his dating life-with Ando as his spiritual guide. Can instant ramen lead one to a committed relationship? And is sushi the secret to self-acceptance? A true tale of hunger in its many forms, The Ramen King and I is about becoming slaves to our desires and learning to break free.

Japan's love hotels are kinky, high-tech sexual spaces where couples live out sexual fantasies in pirate ship rooms, playboy grottos, princesses' bed chambers, or S&M dungeons. Love hotels takes you behind the scenes of Japan's wildest sexual spaces, with detailed descriptions of the best hotels, interviews with owners and designers, and bizarre stories of love, sex, and crime, along with the incredible history of how this fascinating institution evolved. Contains dozens of photos of the best love hotels in Japan.