We have been waiting some time for a new book by Hiroshi Watanabe. Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things is a new edition of classic short Japanese horror stories written by Lafcadio Hearn over a century ago. Hearn was born in Greece, grew up in Ireland, and emigrated to the US. He later moved to Japan and married a Japanese woman, who travelled all around Japan with him and they collected many strange traditional folk stories. Those stories are now visually revitalized by accompanying photographs by award winning photographer Hiroshi Watanabe. Unsigned copies of Kwaidan are due to be available from 14 May. If you’re prepared to wait a little longer, signed copies will be available. There is also a limited edition with a choice of four prints. When ordering, please let us know which print you would like.

We also have copies of Watanabe’s earlier titles I See Angels Every Day, Love Point and the Nazraeli One Picture Book of Love Point with print. All of these are signed.

The other Japanese title is not due out till September but we anticipate that advance demand will be considerable so those interested in Masahisa Fukase’s work may wish to reserve a copy now. Mack are publishing a new edition of his final work Kazoku (Family) which comprises a sequence of group portraits of his family taken from 1971 to 1989. “True to his style, Fukase often introduced third-party models and humorous elements to juxtapose the ineluctable reality of time passing and the dwindling family group.” You can see sample images here but please note that they are taken from previous editions. We will bring more information about the Mack edition as it becomes available.