Books by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

During early periods of Japanese history the monkey's nearness to the human-animal boundary made it a revered mediator or an animal deity closest to humans. Later it became a scapegoat mocked for its vain efforts to behave in a human fashion. This work presents a tripartite study of the monkey metaphor.

Are we what we eat? What does food reveal about how we live and how we think of ourselves in relation to others? Why do people have a strong attachment to their own cuisine and an aversion to the foodways of others? In this engaging account of the crucial significance rice has for the Japanese, Rice as Self examines how people use the metaphor of a principal food in conceptualizing themselves in relation to other peoples. Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney traces the changing contours that the Japanese notion of the self has taken as different historical Others--whether Chinese or Westerner--have emerged, and shows how rice and rice paddies have served as the vehicle for this deliberation. Using Japan as an example, she proposes a new cross-cultural model for the interpretation of the self and other.

Presents diaries and correspondence left by members of the tokkotai and other Japanese student soldiers who perished during the World War II. Outside of Japan, these kamikaze pilots were considered unbridled fanatics who willingly sacrificed their lives for the emperor. This book explores writings, which speak otherwise.

Why did almost 1000 highly educated "student soldiers" volunteer to serve in Japan's kamikaze operations at the end of World War II, even though Japan was losing the war? This study of the role of the state in pushing imperial ideology shows the power of symbolic communication.