検索キーワード： アジア

Noted Japan expert Professor Mark J. Ravina of the University of Texas at Austin covers the politics, economics, and culture of the island nation since World War II - a conflict that saw the end of Japan’s dream of regional conquest, which Professor Ravina calls Empire 1.0. The country’s postwar leaders radically changed course, renouncing a strong military to pursue Empire 2.0 - Japan as an economic colossus.

This is a fresh and surprising account of Japan's culture from the 'opening up' of the country in the mid-19th century to the present. It is told through the eyes of people who greeted this change not with the confidence and grasping ambition of Japan's modernisers and nationalists but with resistance, conflict, distress. We encounter writers of dramas, ghost stories and crime novels where modernity itself is the tragedy, the ghoul and the bad guy; surrealist and avant-garde artists sketching their escape.

「三成は、領地で実に緻密かつ合理的な善政を布き、領民からも人気があった…」 直木賞作家・城山三郎(1927~2007)が語る石田三成の人間像。聞き手:三國一朗1977年にNHKラジオ第1で放送された「歴史と人間」をオーディオブック化。

This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."

「私は、いろいろな懊悩、いろいろな煩悶、そういうものに苦しめられると、いつもそれを振り切って旅へ出た。

人は、必ず、なにかしら「やばい」。告白してきた男性を凍死させる小野小町、信長をめぐり殺人事件に発展する前田利家……など、日本史の偉人３７人のエピソード

「信長は天才であり、天才が免れることのできない宿命としての異常性格を持っていて、突飛な行動をとる。しかしそれが桶狭間の戦いでは功を奏した…」 直木賞作家・豊田穣(1920~1994)が語る織田信長の人間像。聞き手:三國一朗1977年にNHKラジオ第1で放送された「歴史と人間」をオーディオブック化。

The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon is a fascinating, detailed account of Japanese court life in the closing years of the 10th century. Written by a lady of the court at the height of Heian culture, this book enthrals with its lively gossip, witty observations and subtle impressions. Lady Shōnagon was an erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel, The Tale of Genji, fictionalized the elite world Lady Shōnagon so eloquently relates.

2025年NHK大河ドラマで話題沸騰!シリーズ累計70万部超の著者が、江戸の天才プロデューサー・蔦屋重三郎と、その仲間たちの活躍、吉原の光と影をわかりやすく解説する本。

旅に生き、旅に死すとも本望──俳聖・松尾芭蕉が晩年に心血を注いだ先人の足跡をたどる「みちのくの旅」を、名句とともに味わう本！

2012年NHK大河ドラマの主人公「平清盛」とは、実際はどのような人物だったのでしょうか。「平家物語」から平清盛にまつわる部分を厳選して朗読、わかりやすい解説を加えました。「平家物語」の世界観とともに、物語が描くリアルな清盛像を味わってください。朗読:加賀美幸子、解説:櫻井陽子、CD集『聞いて味わう「平家物語」の世界』(発行:NHKサービスセンター)より「平清盛その1~3」をオーディオブック化。

「若いうちは乱世の武将として生きた政宗だが、秀吉が天下を取ってからは、一族を守る大名、政治家となった。その点は他の戦国武将と異なる、一面的には捉えにくい人物…」 直木賞作家・早乙女貢(1926~2008)が語る伊達政宗の人間像。聞き手:三國一朗1980年にNHKラジオ第1で放送された「人物春秋」をオーディオブック化。

Little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first Japanese emperor ever to meet a European. But now, Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan's history. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest.

「秀吉は卑しい身分の出身とされているが、やることが下卑ていない。実はそれほど血筋の悪い人物ではなかったのではないかという気がする…」 時代小説の巨匠で直木賞作家・池波正太郎(1923~1990)が語る豊臣秀吉の人間像。聞き手:三國一朗1976年にNHKラジオ第1で放送された「歴史と人間」をオーディオブック化。

Indonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth-largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the island nation is an emerging power in the region with a dynamic new leader. It is a land of incredible diversity and unending paradoxes that has a long and rich history stretching back a thousand years and more.

Today we take it for granted that Japan is a forge of the world's fantasies: the birthplace of Transformers and Pokémon, of food trends like ramen and artisanal whisky and cutting-edge manga and anime. But it wasn't always this way. The first Japanese products that trickled into the global marketplace after the Second World War inspired derision, not admiration. The three words Made in Japan were a punchline, a synonym for cheap trinkets from a defeated nation.

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.

The man known to most of the world as Emperor Hirohito ruled during some of the most tumultuous years in Japanese history. When he came to the throne in 1926, he inherited control of a country which had only recently emerged as a major industrial and world power. Through the aggressive expansion and wars of the 1930s, Hirohito was at the head of one of the world’s foremost powers. Throughout the maelstrom of World War II, he remained in power, a distant and, to most outsiders, inscrutable factor in the rise of the Japanese Empire.

Over the past four decades, China's remarkable transformation has garnered admiration but also sparked concern. George Magnus draws on his intimate knowledge of this dynamic nation to uncover the origins of its ascent and show why the economic traps it faces at home and the political challenges it faces abroad pose a serious threat to its continued rise.

The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes investigates the trade routes between Rome and the powerful empires of inner Asia, including the Parthian regime which ruled ancient Persia (Iran). It explores Roman dealings with the Kushan Empire which seized power in Bactria (Afghanistan) and laid claim to the Indus Kingdoms. Further chapters examine the development of Palmyra as a leading caravan city on the edge of Roman Syria and consider trade ventures through the Tarim territories that led Roman merchants to Han China.