num_pages: 256
description: In Kansai Cool anthropologist, writer and filmmaker Christal Whelan offers profound insights in the only collection of essays to focus on Kansai, Japan's ancient heartland.Kansai — the region in Western Japan that boasts the ancient capitals of Kyoto and Nara, the bustling commercial city of Osaka and the cosmopolitan port city of Kobe — has a character all its own, right down to its dialect, mannerisms, and cuisine. It is home to some of Japan's oldest history and an area where the country's most time-honored arts and crafts still thrive. Worldly and otherworldly, spirited and spiritual, trendy and traditional, it's a place where past and future live side-by-side, sometimes at odds. Part Japanese travel book, part cultural commentary, these 25 spirited essays and 32 pages of color photos paint a broad yet penetrating portrait of the unique Western Japan region, covering such diverse topics as:The needs of the spirit: shrines, temples and the call to pilgrimageThe arts in Kansai—dance, painting, anime, and combatThe relationship between hi-tech and old-tech—material culture-bikes, robots, and dollsThe culture of fashion in Kansai—from kimonos and obis to modern fashion designers, and the Lolita complexThe meaning of landscape— human-made islands and the mystical power of waterThe hidden meaning of food—an anthropology of coffee and traditional cuisineFrom the deep-seated ancient beliefs of Kyoto to modern teen otaku culture, costume play and haute couture of Kobe and Osaka—Whelan delves below the surface to let readers eager to travel to Japan experience how art, science, faith and history swirl together in the Kansai region to produce this unique wellspring of Japanese culture.
language: English
title: Kansai cool: a journey into the cultural heartland of Japan
publisher: Tuttle Publishing