This is Japan; Number 5
Shigijiro Sano (Contributing artist), and Kiyashi Tokyo: Ashai Shimbum Newspaper Publishing Company, 1958. Presumed First Edition, First printing this issue. Trade paperback with associated slipcase/box. Format is 10.25 inches by 13 inches. 419, [1] pages. Illustrated covers. Illustrations (some in color). The cover has some wear and soiling. The text is in English. Spine says This is Japan Number 5 1958. The Slipcase/Box is in good condition with some staining and ink notations on the back. The front has a label that states This is Japan 5. The contents include: The Asahi's Part in the Antarctic Expedition Chronicle 1956-1957, The Influence of "Southern Barbarian" Art in Japan, Japan Discovers the Atom, Self-Defence in Japan, Hokkaido, Japan: A Selected Bibliography, Korin Ogata, Okyo Maruyama, Kimono Miscellany, Behind the Kabuki Curtain, Shippoku Cooking, Nagasaki. Includes an Index of Advertisers. Among the contributors are: Shigeru Yoshida, Ilya Erenburg, Desmon Robins. In the 1920s Saito attended Waseda University, one of the most prestigious in the country, and graduated from its Department of Architecture in 1930. Rather than working as a full-time architect after graduation, he joined instead the Asahi Newspaper Co. first as a science reporter and then as an aviation correspondent. Asahi was then – and still is – one of the oldest and largest of Japan’s national newspaper and magazine groups, and generally thought to hold liberal views. However this period also coincided with Japan invading Manchuria and becoming increasingly right wing and nationalistic, with the government progressively dominated by the military. While working at Asahi, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937 and Japan attacked Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941. By then Saito had been promoted to editing Asahi’s monthly magazine Koku Asahi (Aviation Asahi) having launched it the beginning of 1941. It’s role simply was to expound on the greatness and superiority of the Japanese air force, explain in depth an understanding of foreign fighting craft and, as the Second World war progressed, publish the numbers and types of enemy aircraft that had been shot down. It would seem that Koku Asahi was highly successful and continued to be printed through to the final month of Japan’s defeat even though paper and ink supplies were in short supply due to damage caused by air raids and when most other aviation magazines had been discontinued. But at some stage, he also became a war correspondent attached to the Imperial Navy. By 1953, Saito had been appointed as chief editor of This Is Japan, a lavishly illustrated, large format journal published annually. Running to over three hundred pages and printed in both color as well as black and white, this contained articles authored by Japanese and foreign experts on many aspects of the country: its culture and arts, the sciences, manufacturing, and every day life. Over the years, Saito was able to persuade a great number of distinguished people to contribute including a plethora of Japanese and foreign writers, artists, actors, filmmakers, diplomats and politicians and, from abroad, diplomats journalists. Saito’s last edition of This is Japan as editor was in 1966 after which he retired but remained as an editorial advisor for the 1967 edition. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Japan, Hokkaido, Nagasaki, Shippoku Cooking, Antarctic Expedition, Art, Architecture, Kabuki, Maria Donovan, Glenn Shaw, Shigijiro Sano, Kiyashi Saito
[Book #82477]
Price: $250.00