100 books to Understand Japan today

Cross-posting from H-Japan with titles and descriptions of books in English.
http://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/eng/news/20090514BookDonationProject.html

At bottom center there is a "Application Materials" section.
The book list is an Excel file. Under that each book is discussed separately in PDF files.

The category IV languages like Japanese are difficult especially for the cultural and social meanings and unfamiliar contexts for Second Language Learners. So having this comprehensive list of titles for one's own reading, and for using with one's students is handy.

old photos of Japan

http://oldphotosjapan.com/en
http://ruri.crara.cc/archives/504/

Nagasaki University Library Collection.
http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/en/index.html
http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/en/index.html
 

Open Univeristy of Japan Library
http://opac.u-air.ac.jp/koshashin/koshashin.html

National Diet Library, Japan
http://www.ndl.go.jp/scenery/e/index.html
Search by Category
http://www.ndl.go.jp/scenery/e/category/index.html

Waseda University Library:
http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/TENJI/virtual/farsari/index.html
http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/TENJI/virtual/farsari/index2.html

Bakumatsu Shashin kan
http://www.dokidoki.ne.jp/home2/quwatoro/bakumatu.shtml

Edo Castle: interactive
http://edo.pro.tok2.com/index.html
http://homepage3.nifty.com/oohasi/siseki.html

Japanese Photograph
http://www.geocities.jp/photography1862/index.html
http://www.geocities.jp/photography1862/menu-tenjisitu.html

First man photographed in the US. (Kid's page)
http://www.jcii-cameramuseum.jp/kids/koshashin/index.html

kanji stroke order/audio (AP 410 kanji)

section for kanji for AP Japanese, http://gahoh.marinebat.com/

sound files for sample combinations of each kanji so students can hear correct pronunciations. There are more than 800 sound files.

authored by S. Shinagawa

next generation of Old Shamisen

The Yoshida Brothers. They play big Tsugaru-jamisen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshida_Brothers

Tsugaru Jongara (a traditional music)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i1FznZT7fU

remembering WWII (May 5, TV)

Annoucement of broadcast for May 5 in USA on Public Television; see also the new service for online viewing of selected programs at http://www.pbs.org/video in case they later offer it on demand (YouTube style).

From a different source, but relating to how memories are presented, see also the illustrated 2007 article about depictions of WWII in Japan and in USA, http://japanfocus.org/articles/print_article/2477 "Exhibiting World War II in Japan and the United States" by
Laura Hein and Akiko Takenaka.

Wings of Defeat, the award-winning documentary about surviving Kamikaze pilots, will make its long-awaited U.S. broadcast premiere on MAY 5th at 10pm on PBS' Emmy Award-winning program Independent Lens.