Books in the Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes series

Early modern Japan was a military-bureaucratic state governed by patriarchal and patrilineal principles and laws. During this time, however, women had considerable power to directly affect social structure, political practice, and economic production. This apparent contradiction between official norms and experienced realities lies at the heart of The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan. Examining prescriptive literature and instructional manuals for womenas well as diaries, memoirs, and letters written by and about individual women from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth centuryMarcia Yonemoto explores the dynamic nature of Japanese women's lives during the early modern era.

The Rape of Nanjing was one of the worst atrocities committed during WWII. On December 13, 1937, the Japanese army captured the city of Nanjing, then the capital of wartime China. This book considers the post war treatment in China of the Nanjing Massacre and Japan. It examines how the issue has developed as a political and diplomatic controversy.

With its thunderous sounds and dazzling choreography, Japanese taiko drumming has captivated audiences in Japan and across the world, making it one of the most successful performing arts to emerge from Japan in the past century. This book explores the origins of taiko in the early postwar period and its popularization over the following decades.