Everyone has heard of vampires and werewolves, but how many have heard of the rokuro-kubi, the tsuchinoki or the sagari? Japan has a wealth of ghosts and monsters, collectively called yokai, which are totally unknown in the West. The bizarre and wonderful folklore of Japan includes giant corpse-eating rabbits, flaming pigs that steal human genitals, perverse water goblins, blood sucking trees, a dragon that impregnates women, cats who animate dead bodies, a zombie whale and a huge flesh eating sea cucumber that grows from a pair of discarded knickers

In Edo Period Japan, the game of Hyakumonogatari - or one hundred stories - was a popular pastime. A hundred candles in blue lanterns were lit and placed on a table before a mirror. Each person would tell a story of a ghost, monster or strange occurrence, then blow out one of the candles. When the last candle was blown out it was said that a horned blue spirit, Aoandon, would manifest in the mirror. Hyakumonogatari grew so popular that in 1908 the Japanese government forbade the telling of horror stories. Doubtless the gatherings carried on as a clandestine thrill, and what stories must have...

"Knowledge in Policy" radically reconceives the place of knowledge in policy making in Europe, one that pays particular attention to the different forms that knowledge can take. Specifically, knowledge is embodied in people, inscribed in documents and instruments, and enacted in particular circumstances. In this book, Richard Freeman and Steve Sturdy gather case studies of health and education policies in contexts that demonstrate the essential interdependence of these different forms of knowledge. In doing so, they illustrate the ways in which knowledge is mobilized and resisted, drawing...

In this book we have described the major events of embryonic development and considered the underlying mechanisms which result in the production of a viable hatchling. We have, as the subtitle of the book indicates, con- centrated on behavioural and physiological topics: it is not our purpose to consider the early embryology of the bird - which is adequately covered by other texts - but we have included morphogenetic information where appropriate. The form of the book was dictated by a belief that interest in this aspect of development is not confined to embryologists, biochemists and...

France is often described as one of the last Western economies unable to reform itself in the face of globalization. Yet its economy has not fallen by the wayside and has even resisted the great recession that began in 2008. By interlinking historical, economic, and political factors and by comparing France with other nations, this book explains the puzzle presented by the development of France. Understanding France's economy requires downplaying the usual policy injunctions--demands for less state control and less rigidity in the labor market--and instead stressing the importance of...

"Knowledge in Policy" radically reconceives the place of knowledge in policy making in Europe, one that pays particular attention to the different forms that knowledge can take. Specifically, knowledge is embodied in people, inscribed in documents and instruments, and enacted in particular circumstances. In this book, Richard Freeman and Steve Sturdy gather case studies of health and education policies in contexts that demonstrate the essential interdependence of these different forms of knowledge. In doing so, they illustrate the ways in which knowledge is mobilized and resisted, drawing...