After a long and uncertain year due to COVID-19, The Minamata Story: An Eco Tragedy, which was originally set to be published in 2020 has now been officially set to June of 2021. Likewise, due to printing and shipping delays we have been made to push back the date of Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch to June as well.
The Minamata Story will be available everywhere 06/15/2021.
Yamamaba will be available everywhere 06/22/2021.
Please find more information on both books below. Be well and stay safe. 気を付けて！
The SBP staff
A powerful graphic novel /manga that tells the story of "Minamata disease," a debilitating and sometimes fatal condition caused by the Chisso chemical factory's careless release of methylmercury into the waters of the coastal community of Minamata in southern Japan. First identified in 1956, it became a hot topic in Japan in the 1970s and 80s, growing into an iconic struggle between people versus corporations and government agencies.
The event is also the subject of the 2020 Andrew Levitas directed Johnny Depp film, Minamata.
This struggle is relevant today, not simply because many people are still living with the disease but also because, in this time of growing concern over the safety of our environment--viz. Flint, Michigan--Minamata gives us as a very moving example of such human-caused environmental disasters and what we can do about them.
Available where all books are sold June 15th, 2021
Alluring, nurturing, dangerous, and vulnerable, the yamamba, or Japanese mountain witch, has intrigued audiences for centuries. What is it about the fusion of mountains with the solitary old woman that produces such an enigmatic figure? And why does she still call to us in this modern, scientific era?
Co-editors Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich first met the yamamba in the powerful short story “The Smile of the Mountain Witch” by acclaimed woman writer Ōba Minako. The story revealed the compelling way creative women can take charge of misogynistic tropes, invert them, and use them to tell new stories of female empowerment.
This unique collection represents the creative and surprising ways artists and scholars from North America and Japan have encountered the yamamba.
Available where all books are sold June 22nd, 2021