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RACHEL BLADON
Japan
JAPAN
Some things always stay the same in Japan. In the countryside, farmers grow rice, like the farmers of hundreds of years ago. Year after year, people stop to see the beautiful blossom on the cherry trees. In a small wooden house, tea is made, and visitors watch carefully.
But some things change very quickly. Better robots and newer phones! More exciting computer games! Taller buildings and faster trains! This is Japan – the old and the new together, always changing, and always the same.
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First published 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 No unauthorized photocopying All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work ISBN: 978 0 19 423669 0 A complete recording of Japan is available on CD. Pack ISBN: 978 0 19 423661 4 Printed in China Word count (main text): 5,354 For more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library, visit www.oup.com/elt/gradedreaders ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Cover image : Corbis (Mount Fuji, Japan/David Ball) Map by : Peter Bull p.2 The Publishers would like to thank the following for their permission to reproduce photographs: Action Images Ltd p.21 (Yomiuri Giants Lee Seung-youp/); Alamy Images pp.13 (Traditional Japanese house/Misha Gordon), 22 (Sumo wrestlers/Nic Cleave Photography), 25 (Princess Mononoké /Photos 12), 37 (Bento box/Japanese Foods), 37 (Japanese restaurant/Salvo Severino), 40 (2012 Mitsubishi i MiEV electric car and a charging station/Oleksiy Maksymenko Photography); Corbis pp.0 (Ornate Toshogu Shrine/Jeremy Woodhouse/Spaces Images), 1 (Women in kimonos/Haruyoshi Yamaguchi), 5 (Samurai warriors/Kimimasa Mayama/epa), 8 (Sony LCD televisions/EPA/Kimimasa Mayama), 10 (Mt Fuji in Winter/Dex Image), 12 (Shinkansen/Jon Hicks), 14 (Japanese family meal/Datacraft Co., Ltd.), 15 (Women reading newspaper/Franck Robichon/epa), 19 (Picnicking under cherry blossom/Michael S. Yamashita), 20 (Geisha/Peter Adams), 23 (Bunraku performance/Michael S. Yamashita), 24 (Under the Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai), 27 (Tokyo’s City Hall building/Jose Fusta Raga), 29 (Senso-Ji Temple, Asakusa/Jose Fuste Raga), 29 (Shibuya, Tokyo/Joachim Ladefoged/VII), 30 (Golden Pavilion/Keith Levit/Design Pics), 31 (Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima/Kimimasa Mayama/epa), 34 (Tempura soba/Studio Eye), 36 (Table d’Hote/Studio Eye), 38 (Rice harvest/B.S.p.I.), 44 (Bathroom/Treve Johnson/Lived In Images), cover (Mount Fuji – Japan/David Ball); Getty Images pp.7 (Hiroshima ruins/Bernard Hoffman/Time Life Pictures), 9 (Japan tsunami devastation/Philippe Lopez/AFP), 11 (Spa/Tohoku Color Agency), 16 (Tea ceremony/DAJ), 18 (Kanda Matsuri/Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP), 26 (Shinjuku at night/Tom Bonaventure), 32 (Aharen Beach at Tokashiki Island/Melissa Tse), 33 (Snow sculpture, Sapporo/Glowimages), 35 (Sushi restaurant/Grant Faint), 39 (Nissan car assembly/Junko Kimura); Mary Evans Picture Library p.6 (Tokugawa Ieyasu Japanese Shogun/engraving by unknown artist); Oxford University Press pp.44 (Chopsticks and bowl of rice/GLOW ASIA), 44 (Football/Score by Aflo), 44 (Winter near Mount Fuji/Image Plan), 44 (Fish on barbecue/Image Source), 44 (Green hills/Imagemore) e-Book ISBN 978 0 19 463073 3 e-Book first published 2014 
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