Matt Alt, co-author of Yokai Attack: the Japanese Monster Survival Guide, Japandemonium Illustrated: the Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien, posted this announcement on the Yokai Attack Facebook group:
Big news: there's a new yokai book available in English. "An Introduction to Yokai Culture" by Professor Kazuhiko Komatsu of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies. Hiroko and I translated, with editing by Matt Treyvaud - the same trio who brought you "Japandemonium Illustrated" (and in fact the two projects overlapped to some degree.) "An Introduction to Yokai Culture" is not a cheap book -- I hear the list price is $39 -- but it's also an important one for several reasons. For one thing, it is the first college-level text on yokai studies by a Japanese professor available in English. And for another, it goes into great detail on many yokai-related topics that haven't yet received a lot of attention abroad, such as ijin (outsiders) and tsukimono (animal-spirit possessions). It is a roadmap for how folklore studies developed in Japan, and a key work for anyone truly interested in taking their study of yokai to the next level. At the moment it seems to only be available through Kinokuniya (a friend spotted a stack at their San Francisco branch), but it should be available through other channels soon. I just wanted to post for those interested enough to call over for an early copy. http://www.jpic.or.jp/japanlibrary/en/books/001813.html
