An account of the evolution of Japanese defensive architecture and engineering, from early earthworks through to wooden and earth castles and, finally, the emergence of the stone towers that are so characteristic of the samurai.

He also plots the adaptation of Japanese castles to accommodate the introduction of firearms.

The quintessential international genre, detective fiction often works under the guise of popular entertainment to expose its extensive readership to complex moral questions and timely ethical dilemmas. The first book-length study of Japan’s detective fiction, Murder Most Modern considers the important role of detective fiction in defining the country’s emergence as a modern nation-state.
Kawana explores the interactions between the popular genre and broader discourses of modernity, nation, and ethics that circulated at this pivotal moment in Japanese history.

Japanamerica tells the incredible story of the way the colorful and eccentric world of Japanese entertainment and popular art has enriched our lives in the West. But it also deals with why it has a poetry that has taken Americans many years to understand and feel able to echo. Japan's holocaust was equally traumatic to the ones experienced by many Americans, and perhaps more sudden, more extreme and more focused.

This work views Japanese myths in their social, historical, and cultural context - how they emerged and how they reflect and influence Japanese life. It helps readers sort through the multiple names and spellings, as well as story variations, of Japan's most popular mythic figures.