{"product_id":"twelve-views-from-the-distance-mutsuo-takahashi-9780816679362","title":"Twelve Views from the Distance","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom one of the foremost poets in contemporary Japan comes this entrancing memoir that traces a boy's childhood and its intersection with the rise of the Japanese empire and World War II. Originally published in 1970, this translation is the first available in English.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn twelve chapters that visit and revisit critical points in his boyhood, T\u003ci\u003ewelve Views from the Distance\u003c\/i\u003e presents a vanished time and place through the eyes of an accomplished poet. Recounting memories from his youth, Mutsuo Takahashi captures the full range of his internal life as a boy, shifting between his experiences and descriptions of childhood friendships, games, songs, and school. With great candor, he also discusses the budding awareness of his sexual preference for men, providing a rich exploration of one man's early queer life in a place where modern, Western-influenced models of gay identity were still unknown.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrowing up poor in rural southwestern Japan, far from the urban life that many of his contemporaries have written about, Takahashi experienced a reality rarely portrayed in literature. In addition to his personal remembrances, the book paints a vivid portrait of rural Japan, full of oral tradition, superstition, and remnants of customs that have quickly disappeared in postwar Japan. With profuse local color and detail, he re-creates the lost world that was the setting for his beginnings as a gay man and poet. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mutsuo Takahashi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0816679363\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780816679362\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Minnesota Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/29\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.50w x 0.70d","brand":"Mutsuo Takahashi","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44072818737407,"sku":"9780816679362","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_154cc609-9705-45fb-b33c-eb1b6d47d5fa.jpg?v=1685444110","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/twelve-views-from-the-distance-mutsuo-takahashi-9780816679362","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}