A Spotlight on Japan With Stone Bridge Press
We are excited to share an interview with Peter Goodman, founder and publisher at Stone Bridge Press.
Established in 1989, Stone Bridge Press covers over 150 titles that focus specifically on Japan-related areas like design, culture, literature, business, and language.
These works have helped readers around the world better understand and appreciate Japanese culture, particularly art and spirituality.
Peter Goodman shares a little bit more about what you can expect from Stone Bridge Press in the coming year, as well as some titles to get excited about today!
Stone Bridge Press represents a number of different Japan-related areas like literature, design, and culture. Can you share some newly released titles that you are especially excited about?
Eating Wild Japan
I hate to pick favorites among our children. Everybody’s special, after all. But I can pick a few titles that resonate with me on a more personal level.
First is Tokyo Junkie by Robert Whiting, a remarkable memoir of the author’s nearly 60 years living in Japan. Bob got to Tokyo some ten years before I did, but reading it took me back to my own early days, although he led a much more fun and adventurous life than I ever did.
Another recent title is My Heart Sutra by Frederik L. Schodt. I met Fred in Tokyo in the 1970s and Stone Bridge has published most of his books about Japan. It’s great to work with a close friend and to see his creative evolution over the years. His book on the Heart Sutra is his most personal but is filled with deep scholarship and understanding of Japan, China, and whatever it is that makes people seek spiritual fulfillment.
And then there is Eating Wild Japan by Winifred Bird, which is all about foraging for edible wild plants in Japan but also about the people who do it and the traditions represented by this traditional food culture. This is the sort of book that epitomizes what publishing is all about for me. In the hands of a smart, talented writer like Winnie, the text becomes about more than just food and foraging. It’s about how humans choose to live in the world, and how our world is changing, and how few of us will understand what we’ve lost until it is long gone and irretrievable.
What has been the most rewarding part of working at the helm of Stone Bridge Press?
I have many choices and I get to choose the books and artistic directions that please me the most, for whatever reason. I enjoy the whole process of directing and being involved in the growth of a project from manuscript to finished book.
As you read and learn more about Japan through each of the titles that the publication carries, what is something you’ve learned that you wish more people knew about?
I’ve always felt that Americans could learn a lot from Japanese culture and society. Not with the idea that Americans should reject their ‘raw individualism’ in favor of sacrifice on behalf of 'the group.’ But we could certainly benefit by adopting certain Japanese ideals and points of view (not all of which are unique to Japan by any means). Such as: attention to detail; public courtesy and respect for others; patience and the acceptance that quality takes lots of time and practice; belief in body/mind unification and a trust in illogical intuitive leaps; loyalty and commitment to whatever you’ve agreed to take on; a commitment to good design; the ability to observe nature and the world in close detail. I also wish more Americans knew about Japanese toilet basins that are set up so you can rinse your hands with the same water that replenishes the tank. Why haven’t they caught on?
What can readers expect in 2022? Anything you can share with us?
Of Arcs and Circles
Again, I don’t like to play favorites, so let me pick a couple books that I feel a personal connection to. First is Of Arcs and Circles by garden designer Marc Peter Keane. While working at publishers in Japan I developed a specialty in books about Japanese gardens, which remain a favorite area of interest. Marc provides tremendous insights not simply as a designer but an an observer, and he is very transparent about how his mind works, seeing deep connections between things and nature and circumstance and art, so reading his book is very much like sitting before a Japanese garden from the veranda of a house on a lazy afternoon, and seeing where your eyes and observations take you.
And then there is our forthcoming novel Kanazawa by David Joiner. I got interested in Japan through reading novels translated from the Japanese, and in this book David, writing in English, emulates the style of those works, infusing daily life details with rich meaning, all while the mountainous landscape behind sits brooding and a bit magical. There is much suggestion and allusion in this book, which is very different from books that lay out exactly what is what. I find this kind of literature very compelling.
We’re really looking forward to Tokyo Stroll by Gilles Poitras. Originally slated to come out in August of 2020, it’s been delayed and delayed again due to COVID until March 2022. It’s the book every walker and adventurer dreams of, stuffed with maps and photos of all sorts of cool Tokyo stuff and rarely traveled neighborhoods. Wish I’d had it when I was first wandering those streets!
Finally, Tabemasho! Let’s Eat!, a history of Japanese food in America, by Gil Asakawa. I certainly missed heading out to Japanese restaurants during the pandemic.
As a final fun question, do you have a Japanese dessert that is your go-to whenever you want a sweet treat?
Matcha ice cream of course (but in small doses). I can’t say that I care much for traditional Japanese desserts, and Japan's Western-style cakes are gorgeous but way too sweet. Must have been 1976 or so when I got a midnight craving for American sweets as I got off the last train near my Tokyo apartment and bought what I thought was a jelly donut and couldn’t wait to enjoy it. Was I surprised when I bit in and found, instead of jelly, a filling made of pulverized fish sausage!