Books published by publisher Stone Bridge Press

This graphic-format biography of Osamu Tezuka—Japan's "God of Manga"—looks at one of the twentieth century's great creative artists (Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack). It is also an anecdotal study of the evolution of Japan's early manga and anime business and its heroes. A never-before-seen popular culture history of postwar Japan, it is sure to fascinate fans and anyone interested in manga, anime, and the potential of the graphic storytelling medium.Toshio Ban joined Tezuka Productions in 1974 as one of Tezuka's assistants. After working for a period as a free-lancer, he later re-joined Tezuka Productions in 1978 as the sub-chief of manga production for magazines, supporting Tezuka's creative work until the end.Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd., is the now-legendary company founded by Osamu Tezuka in 1968 to produce his own manga and anime. In the wake of Tezuka's death in 1989, it has continued as a family enterprise, responsible for the development, production, merchandising, licensing, and distribution of his many manga and anime creations, including books, films, and characters.Frederik L. Schodt is a translator, conference interpreter, and award-winning author of books on Japanese history and pop culture. He often served as Osamu Tezuka’s English interpreter and was a consultant on one of his animated features and a TV series.

Who founded China? Are Chinese people religious? What is Chinese culture and how has it changed over time? The accessible and fun Understanding China Through Comics series answers those questions and more.For all ages, Foundations of Chinese Civilization covers China's early history in comic form, introducing philosophies like Confucianism and Daoism, the story of the Silk Road, famous emperors like Han Wudi, and the process of China's unification.Includes a handy timeline. This is volume one of the Understanding China Through Comics series.Jing Liu is a Beijing native now living in Davis, California. A successful designer and entrepreneur who helped brands tell their stories, Jing currently uses his artistry to tell the story of China.

SERIES DESCRIPTION:Six teenagers break into Long Island's Gameland, a once-militarized zombie wasteland abandoned to the Infected Undead. Now a government-sponsored gaming company has reclaimed parts of the island with the intention of merging virtual reality with live action thrills in a first-of-its kind 1st-person shooter role-playing game (FPS-RPG) called Zpocalypto. It's a fantasy for anyone willing to pay the exorbitant fees for the privilege of killing the living undead from the safety of their own living rooms. But as these kids soon find out, if breaking into The Game is easier than it has any right to be, breaking out is one hell of a killer.EPISODE 1: Deep Into The GameJessie and her gang of game jackers discover a way to break into Gameland, but it requires the assistance of outsider Jake Espinosa. His inclusion raises tensions within the group, particularly between Jessie and her boyfriend, Kelly. After a nearly-fatal accident during preparation, emotions run dangerously high, but it only makes them all the more determined to succeed. What they don't know is that one of them has a secret reason for going, and it doesn't involve any of them returning any time soon.

An updated look at Japanese animation, and the manga that inspired them. New chapters on "Fullmetal Alchemist," manga/anime by CLAMP, and Satoshi Kon. It brings fans up to date on Studio Ghibli movies after the Academy Award-winning "Spirited Away," new titles like "Negima" and "Ouran High School Host Club," and breakthrough same-sex stories "Gravitation" and "Mother Mary is Watching."

Who founded China? Are Chinese people religious? What is Chinese culture and how has it changed over time? The accessible and fun Understanding China Through Comics series answers those questions and more.For all ages, Foundations of Chinese Civilization covers China's early history in comic form, introducing philosophies like Confucianism and Daoism, the story of the Silk Road, famous emperors like Han Wudi, and the process of China's unification.Includes a handy timeline. This is volume one of the Understanding China Through Comics series.Jing Liu is a Beijing native now living in Davis, California. A successful designer and entrepreneur who helped brands tell their stories, Jing currently uses his artistry to tell the story of China.

From the IntroductionWabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.It is a beauty of things modest and humble.It is a beauty of things unconventional.The immediate catalyst for this book was a widely publicized tea event in Japan. The Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi has long been associated with the tea ceremony, and this event promised to be a profound wabi-sabi experience. Hiroshi Teshigahara, the hereditary iemoto (grand master) of the Sogetsu school of flower arranging, had commissioned three of Japan's most famous and fashionable architects to design and build their conceptions of ceremonial tea-drinking environments. Teshigahara in addition would provide a fourth design. After a three-plus-hour train and bus ride from my office in Tokyo, I arrived at the event site, the grounds of an old imperial summer residence. To my dismay I found a celebration of gorgeousness, grandeur, and elegant play, but hardly a trace of wabi-sabi. One slick tea hut, ostensibly made of paper, looked and smelled like a big white plastic umbrella. Adjacent was a structure made of glass, steel, and wood that had all the intimacy of a highrise office building. The one tea house that approached the wabi-sabi qualities I had anticipated, upon closer inspection, was fussed up with gratuitous post- modern appendages. It suddenly dawned on me that wabi-sabi, once the preeminent high-culture Japanese aesthetic and the acknowledged centerpiece of tea, was becoming-had become?-an endangered species.Admittedly, the beauty of wabi-sabi is not to everyone's liking. But I believe it is in everyone's interest to prevent wabi-sabi from disappearing altogether. Diversity of the cultural ecology is a desirable state of affairs, especially in opposition to the accelerating trend toward the uniform digitalization of all sensory experience, wherein an electronic "reader" stands between experience and observation, and all manifestation is encoded identically.In Japan, however, unlike Europe and to a lesser extent America, precious little material culture has been saved. So in Japan, saving a universe of beauty from extinction means, at this late date, not merely preserving particul

"An excellent reference work on the subject."—Library Journal (starred review)For fans, culture watchers, and perplexed outsiders, this expanded edition offers an engaging tour of the anime megaverse, from older artistic traditions to the works of modern creators like Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon, and CLAMP. Examined are all of anime's major themes, styles, and conventions, plus the familiar tropes of giant robots, samurai, furry beasts, high school heroines, and gay/girl/fanboy love. Concluding are fifteen essays on favorite anime, including Evangelion, Escaflowne, Sailor Moon, Patlabor, and Fullmetal Alchemist.Patrick Drazen is an anime historian who lives in Bloomington–Normal, Illinois.

After the death of his 96-year-old father, a World War II veteran, Robert Schoen set off on a coast-to-coast journey. On a beautiful Southern California day in April 2017, 70-year-old Schoen waded knee-deep into the Pacific. He then walked back to shore, put on his shoes and socks, and began walking toward the Atlantic. Although he'd never walked more than seven miles in a row and was anything but an outdoors fanatic, he did possess certain qualities necessary to complete such a journey—an undaunted spirit, determination, and a willingness to accept whatever might come his way. During his journey he walked east through homeless tent communities, the Mojave Desert, ghost towns, and cities large and small. He experienced extremes of weather, a near-death encounter, and many obstacles and challenges. But 2,644 miles and 14 states later, Robert Schoen finally waded into the Atlantic Ocean, with renewed faith in the goodness and generosity of his fellow Americans.