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Bestsellers of 2017

The 2017 OUP Japan best-seller list featured more books on Japan than ever before! Number one in the list was the Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories, a rich anthology of 20th century Japanese literature made available as a paperback from the Oxford Books of Prose & Verse series. It consists of a total of 35 short stories from Sansho the Steward (1915) by Ogai Mori to Banana Yoshimoto’s Dreaming of Kimchee (1992) with an introduction by Theodore W. Goossen, a celebrated translator of and specialist in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature. The book has always been one of the bestselling titles at OUP Japan since its publication in 2000. A Modern History of Japan, 3rd edition also regularly enters the list as an authoritative textbook that provides an unbiased overview of Japan in the last two centuries. New to this annual top 10 list was The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan (published in 2015) by Akiko Hashimoto. This title is selling in tandem with the Japanese translation that was made available in July by Misuzu Shobo. Favourable reviews that appeared in major newspapers, as well as the talks that the author herself delivered in Tokyo, cultivated greater interest in the book.

Higher Education textbooks are another group that represents a large part of this ranking. Among our international bestsellers, The Globalization of World Politics, 7th edition took second place. Ravenhill’s Global Political Economy, the newly revised 5th edition of which was released in the end of 2016, is another social science title which did very well this year. Turning to natural sciences, the ranking represents our strong list of highly respected and well established chemistry textbooks: Inorganic Chemistry, 6th edition as well as Atkins’ Physical Chemistry, 10th edition, have grown their sales after the Japanese translations were made available by Tokyo Kagaku Dozin in the spring, and Clayden’s Organic Chemistry, 2nd edition and Okuyama’s Organic Chemistry: A Mechanistic Approach successfully maintained their place in the top 10 again this year. The new 11th edition of Atkins’ Physical Chemistry with a new structure for even better digestibility and flexibility was published at the end of December. This new edition is expected to take over the 10th edition in the forthcoming academic year. The release of the 7th edition of Inorganic Chemistry is also anticipated in spring 2018.

The Selfish Gene, 40th Anniversary edition, Richard Dawkins’ landmark work of popular science from 1976 that powerfully encapsulates a new way of looking at living things, with a new epilogue discussing the continuing relevance of these ideas in evolutionary biology today, is the only title in the top 10 that doesn’t fall into the previously mentioned two categories.

* This ranking is based on 2017 OUP Japan sales figures.

Downloadable Best of 2017 list
You can use this list as the order sheet

Bestsellers by category

ISBN in parentheses   

Humanities
  • The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories (9780199583195)
  • The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan (9780190239169)
  • A Modern History of Japan, International Edition: From Tokugawa Times to the Present: 3rd edition (9780199930166)
  • Middle Kingdom and Empire of the Rising Sun: Sino-Japanese Relations, Past and Present (9780195375664)
  • Shinto: A History (9780190621711)
  • A New History of the Humanities: The Search for Principles and Patterns from Antiquity to the Present (9780198758396)
  • What Does it All Mean?: A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy (9780195052169)
  • Oxford Guide to Plain English: 4th edition (9780199669172)
  • Oxford Guide to Effective Argument and Critical Thinking (9780199671724)
  • Cognitive Grammar (9780198700333)
Social Sciences
  • The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations: 7th edition (9780198739852)
  • Global Political Economy: 5th edition (9780198737469)
  • Japan and the Shackles of the Past (9780190619589)
  • Understanding Poverty (9780195305203)
  • Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches: 6th edition (9780198707554)
  • The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can be Done About it (9780195373387)
  • Social Research Methods: 5th edition (9780199689453)
  • Margaret Thatcher: A Life and Legacy (9780198795001)
  • Solutions Manual for Microeconomic Theory (9780195107982)
  • The Foundations of Behavioral Economic Analysis (9780198715535)
Natural Sciences
  • Inorganic Chemistry: 6th edition (9780199641826)
  • Atkins' Physical Chemistry: 10th edition (9780199697403)
  • Organic Chemistry: 2nd edition (9780199270293)
  • Organic Chemistry: A mechanistic approach (9780199693276)
  • The Selfish Gene: 40th Anniversary edition (9780198788607)
  • Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations: 3rd edition (9780190278540)
  • The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts (9780198713395)
  • Solutions Manual to accompany Organic Chemistry: 2nd edition (9780199663347)
  • Presenting Science: A practical guide to giving a good talk (9780199549092)
  • Nutrition for Developing Countries: 3rd edition (9780199685226)
Law
  • Blackstone's International Human Rights Documents: 10th edition (9780198768302)
  • Blackstone's International Law Documents (9780198736097)
  • First Steps in the Law: 7th edition (9780198735892)
  • European Contract Law: 2nd edition (9780198800040)
  • Japanese Law: 3rd edition (9780199642069)
  • The Anatomy of Corporate Law: A Comparative and Functional Approach: 3rd edition (9780198724315)
  • Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments in Europe: The Brussels I Regulation, the Lugano Convention, and the Hague Choice of Court Convention (9780198729006)
  • International Law and Empire: Historical Explorations (9780198795575)
  • International Law Theories: An Inquiry into Different Ways of Thinking (9780198725121)
  • Changing Contours of Criminal Justice (9780198783237)
Oxford Handbooks Series
  • The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar (9780199573776)
  • The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics (9780199697960)
  • The Oxford Handbook of World Englishes (9780199777716)
  • The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity (9780198739371)
  • The Oxford Handbook of Language and Society (9780190212896)
  • The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism (9780199362387)
  • The Oxford Handbook of Information Structure (9780199642670)
  • The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Cognitive Science (9780190846213)
  • The Oxford Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect (9780198753841)
  • The Oxford Handbook of Corpus Phonology (9780198812111)
Oxford World's Classics
  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (9780199558292)
  • Hamlet: The Oxford Shakespeare (9780199535811)
  • Frankenstein: or `The Modern Prometheus': The 1818 Text (9780199537150)
  • The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays: Lady Windermere's Fan; Salome; A Woman of No Importance; An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest (9780199535972)
  • Twelfth Night, or What You Will: The Oxford Shakespeare (9780199536092)
  • A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas: 2nd edition (9780199642212)
  • Flush (9780199539291)
  • The Beggar's Opera and Polly (9780199642229)
  • The Playboy of the Western World and Other Plays: Riders to the Sea; The Shadow of the Glen; The Tinker's Wedding; The Well of the Saints; The Playboy of the Western World; Deirdre of the Sorrows (9780199538058)
  • Sense and Sensibility: Revised edition (9780199535576)
Very Short Introductions
  • Modern Japan: Very Short Introductions (9780199235698)
  • Globalization: Very Short Introductions: 4th edition (9780198779551)
  • English Literature: Very Short Introductions (9780199569267)
  • The United Nations: Very Short Introductions: 2nd edition (9780190222703)
  • Psychology: Very Short Introductions: 2nd edition (9780199670420)
  • Multilingualism: Very Short Introductions (9780198724995)
  • Journalism: Very Short Introductions: 2nd edition (9780199686872)
  • The Cold War: Very Short Introductions (9780192801784)
  • Nutrition: Very Short Introductions (9780199681921)
  • International Migration: Very Short Introductions: 2nd edition (9780198753773)
What Everyone Needs to Know®
  • Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780199918119)
  • The News Media: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780190206208)
  • The Brain: What Everyone Needs To Know (9780190603397)
  • Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know: 2nd edition (9780199322381)
  • Environmental Protection: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780190223076)
  • Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780190250171)
  • Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780190250713)
  • Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780190250478)
  • Agricultural and Food Controversies: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780199368426)
  • Corruption: What Everyone Needs to Know (9780190463977)

* This data is based on Oxford University Press Japan sales from January 1st - December 31st, 2017.

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