Jonathan Clements is an accomplished author, translator, biographer, and scriptwriter. His prolific non-fiction output includes insightful biographies of pivotal historical figures such as Confucius, Marco Polo, Mao Zedong, Koxinga, and Qin Shihuangdi. He also contributes to NEO magazine and has co-authored comprehensive encyclopedias on anime and Japanese television dramas. Clements's work often explores significant individuals and the rich tapestry of Asian culture.
The book explores the vast and diverse world of manga, highlighting its appeal across various genres such as fantasy, horror, thrillers, romance, and more. It emphasizes how this Japanese comic phenomenon caters to a wide audience, offering something for everyone, including educational content like school textbooks.
Exploring Taiwan's rich history, the narrative weaves together indigenous flood myths and the remarkable transformation into an Asian Tiger economy. It delves into the cultural and historical events that have shaped the island, while also addressing the contemporary geopolitical tensions, particularly the looming threat of invasion by China. This comprehensive account highlights Taiwan's resilience and the complexities of its identity in a rapidly changing world.
This comprehensive history of Japanese animation draws on Japanese primary sources and testimony from industry professionals to explore the production and reception of anime, from its early faltering steps, to the international successes of Spirited Away and Pokémon.
Japanese animation is at the nexus of an international multimedia industry worth over $6.5 billion a year, linked to everything from manga to computer games, Pokemon and plushies. In this comprehensive, critically-acclaimed history, Jonathan Clements traces the production and reception history of anime, from a handful of hobbyists in the early 20th century to the Oscar-winning Spirited Away and up to the present day, with anime established as a global medium. Exploring the cultural and technological developments of the past century, Clements addresses topics such as wartime instructional animation and work-for-hire for American clients. Drawing on the testimonies of industry professionals, a myriad of Japanese-language documents, memoirs and books, Anime: A History illuminates the anime business from the inside, investigating its innovators, its unsung heroes and its controversies. This new edition has been revised and updated throughout, with full colour illustrations and new chapters addressing the rising economic power of otaku subcultures, the development of anime in China, and the transformation of distribution and exhibition accompanying the dominance of Netflix and other globalised streaming platforms.
Through his timely and intimate portrait of the world's most populous capital city, Jonathan Clements reveals the history of China itself. This first paperback edition includes a new introduction and a section on Zhangjiakou, where many of the 2022 Winter Olympics events will take place.
This updated edition includes expanded coverage on the Second World War, as well as new sections on Finns in America and Russia, the centenary of the republic, and Finland's battle with COVID-19, right up to its historic application to join NATO.
The journey of Chinese food over 5,000 years of history - and the story it tells us about the land and its people.
The journey of Chinese food over 5,000 years of history - and the story it tells us about the land and its people.
The long and fascinating history of Japan's modern capital spans from the first forest clearances on the vast Kanto plain, through the wars and intrigues of the samurai era, and up to the preparations for the 2020 Olympics.