REIMAGINING JAPAN

By Martha | Published: July 18, 2011
Japan is on everybody’s mind these days.  I was lucky to be asked to contribute an essay to a fantastic collection, Reimagining Japan,  just out. It is already #1 nonfiction book in Japan and sold out in English on Amazon, but more copies will be available soon. The other contributors are artists, writers, historians, economists, CEOs and even a soccer coach and a videogame creator. Gorgeously illustrated and beautifully packaged, it has been [...]
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DOG MAN comes to Japan

By Martha | Published: April 29, 2011
   Just arrived in the mail from Japan:  copies of Dog Man, translated into Japanese and published by Odyssey, a small family-run press in the north of Japan.  I am so happy to see this amazing life story – which the Sawataishis were courageous to share so honestly with me  – making a way back to its home country.  At such a difficult [...]
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The Sawataishi Family is Safe

By Martha | Published: March 18, 2011
I know how much the Sawataishi family would appreciate all the calls and emails of concern I’ve gotten about them since the earthquake and tsunami hit the north of Japan last week. So many readers of Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain came to feel close to this wonderful, resourceful family, whose lives were chronicled in the book. Their family home [...]
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Remembering Morie Sawataishi

By Martha | Published: October 4, 2010
This is the time of year to remember Morie Sawataishi, the man who saved the Akita dog from extinction. The anniversary of his death, October 22, is less than three weeks away.  Morie did more than just devote his life to rescuing and restoring the Akita dog in Japan after World War II.  He devoted [...]
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HACHIKO: A DOG’S TALE

By Martha | Published: November 3, 2009
Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale is coming to movie theaters on December 18, 2009. For those who aren’t familiar with the story,  Hachiko was an Akita puppy who was owned by a Tokyo University professor in the early 1920s. A special bond formed between them, the sort of bond that Akita dogs are known for. Each morning, the [...]
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In Hokkaido — for Conde Nast Traveler

By Martha | Published: August 31, 2009
In March 2009, I explored the northwest corner of Hokkaido with my cousin Leslee for Conde Nast Traveler. It was wintry, stormy, remote and utterly beguiling.  We skiied, dog-sledded and took untold number of hot springs baths. The food in Hokkaido is amazing too. We can’t wait to return!  Click on this photo to see the article  
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Arizona Daily Star — “Dog Man”

By Martha | Published: August 31, 2009
I had a quick and very pleasant talk with Valerie Vinyard at the Arizona Daily Star last week — which resulted in this piece for the books page.
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Dog Man out in paperback

By admin | Published: July 28, 2009
The good news is that Dog Man is now available in paperback. The sad news is that Morie Sawataishi, the patriach of the Sawataishi family and the man who almost single-handedly saved the Akita breed from extinction in Japan during World War II, died on October 22, 2008. He became ill shortly after his 92nd birthday and, when hospitalized, refused life-saving treatments and intravenous medications of any kind.  His wife, [...]
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