While there are no gifts on earth to thank you enough for your loyal readership over the years, we’ve put together a short list of giveaways that we’d like to share with you as a way to say thank you for keeping us alive and sane in those trying times!
If you wish to receive one of the following giveaways, just send us a message to [email protected] by December 25 with your choice of item, your full name and postal address. We’ll take care of the rest!
1. Two signed copies of “Bon Voyage Japan” by Jean Freund
French-born Tokyo resident Jean Freund has turned a personal illustration project into a charming travel book mixing stylistic inspiration from the East and West. Bon Voyage Japan is an anthology of Freund’s illustrated travel posters inspired by his personal adventures alongside calligraphic works based on the goshuin (hand-written seals) collected at temples. Read more about the book here.
2. Two copies of “The View From Breast Pocket Mountain” by Karen Hill Anton
The View From Breast Pocket Mountain by former The Japan Times and Chunichi Shimbun columnist Karen Hill Anton, is a unique and previously untold story, a treasure trove of experiences crossing borders and cultures, creating a life, and finding contentment in a far-off country. To those who’ve ever wondered what their lives would be if they’d taken that road without a map, this is the book you need to read.
Raised by a caring albeit strict father, we see Anton’s developing awareness of the world beyond the boundaries of her New York City neighborhood before she goes on to live in a castle in 1960s Denmark and a cabin in 1970s Vermont. With a burning curiosity and vision of a life as yet unformed, she travels overland to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and finally to the place she’ll come to call home, Japan. The View from Breast Pocket Mountain gives us a glimpse of a life not designed or even imagined.
Read our book review here.
3. One Set of Red Circle Minis‘ Japanese Authors Series
This set of six pocket-sized Japanese literature published in English includes Kazufumi Shiraishi’s Stand-in Companion, Kanji Hanawa’s Backlight and The Chronicles of Lord Asunaro, Roger Pulvers’ Tokyo Performance, Takuji Ichikawa’s The Refugees’ Daughter and Soji Shimada’s One Love Chigusa. Read more about Red Circle Minis here.
4. Two copies of Rebecca Otawa’s ‘The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper and other Short Stories’
U.S.-born Rebecca Otowa has lived in Japan for more than 30 years and knows Japan from far too many different angles. Her short enchanting tales of her adopted home portray the perspective of both the Japanese and the foreigner on the universal issues that face us all — love, work, marriage, death, and family conflict. The book contains 13 short stories, each tackling a different (and often, difficult) theme so masterfully that you will find yourself unable to put down the book until you’ve finished the last page. From The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper where we follow a reclusive young Japanese man enjoy stealing shoes from temples to Uncle Trash, the story of an old man, his hoarding addiction, the annoyance it brings his family, and his eventual revenge, these are real life-inspired tales that hit deep in the heart for many of us who have called Japan our home over the years.
5. Three sets of Tokyo Weekender 2020 Editions
A set of all editions we released this year, including our exclusive interview with our April cover star comedian Shiori Fujiwara, our Covid-19 special issue in May, our cover story with former astronaut Naoko Yamazaki and the amazing make-up artist and monk Kodo Nishimura, and our special 50th anniversary edition in October. Though it wasn’t an easy year for the media and publishing front either, we are proud to have been able to deliver you the stories that need to be told, plus a few extras. If you’ve missed an issue, this is your chance to get them all at once for your next coffee table reading time over the holidays!
Looking forward to hearing from you! Happy holidays!
