"Mankind is Noodlekind"

For three days in January 2007,the most e-mailed article in The New York Times was "appreciations: Mr. noodle," an editorial noting the passing, at age ninety-six, of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen. Ando's existence came as a shock to many, but not to Andy Raskin, who had spent three years trying to meet the noodle pioneer.

The Ramen King and I is Raskin's funny and, at times,

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Japan: The gorgeous Path of Flowers in Japan takes you past over 250 varieties of cherry trees, and provides a rich tapestry that shows why Japan is often considered the ultimate meeting of tradition and modernity. Vietnam: Discover modern Vietnam while staying in Ho Chi Minh City. Explore this mysterious country from the Mekong Delta to Halong Bay. Nepal: A 1000 mile trek from Darjeeling in India to Kathmandu in Nepal. Explore the Himalayan environment...

"From one of our most astute observers of human nature, a far-reaching exploration of Japanese history and culture and a moving meditation on impermanence, mortality, and grief. For years, Pico Iyer has split his time between California and Nara, Japan, where he and his Japanese wife Hiroko have a small home. But when his father-in-law dies suddenly, calling him back to Japan earlier than expected, Iyer begins to grapple with the question we all have...

Written by locals, Fodor's Essential Japan illustrates the country's eternal draws, from ancient temples and gardens and the deliberate pace of the tea ceremony, to the dizzying, frenetic pulse of its high-tech cities.

Megan explores Buddhist temples, world heritage sites, and bargains at the city's best flea market. She then learns the art of Zen meditation and visits the Gion distract, home to many of Kyoto's few hundred remaining Geisha. She then travels to bustling Osaka, and Iga-Ueno then continuing by train through the Japanese Alps and by ferry to the remote Sado Island. Finally, in Himeji, she witnesses a dramatic fighting festival.

It had never been done before. Not in 2,000 years of Japanese recorded history had anyone followed the Cherry Blossom Front from one end of the country to the other. Nor had anyone hitchhiked the length of Japan. But, heady on sakura and sake, Will Ferguson bet he could do both. The resulting travelogue is one of the funniest and most illuminating books ever written about Japan. And, as Ferguson learns, it illustrates that to travel is better than...

"Award-winning poet David Mura's critically acclaimed memoir chronicles how a year in Japan transformed his sense of self and pulled into sharp focus his complicated inheritance. Mura is a sansei, a third-generation Japanese-American who grew up on baseball and hot dogs in a Chicago suburb, where he heard more Yiddish than Japanese."--Back Cover.

"What is it like to live in or visit Japan? What makes Japan's culture unique? Explore the geography, traditions, and daily lives of the Japanese people"--

"Haunting color photographs and evocative essays document a decade-long collaboration between performance artist Eiko Otake and photographer and historian William Johnston, who have visited the surreal, irradiated landscapes of post-nuclear meltdown Fukushima, Japan"--