4.http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/japan_guide/background.html This site serves as a general bibliography for books on the art of Japan. In the "Introduction" part the site is broken down as either General Works, Surveys of Japanese Art by medium or Studies of Japanese Art by Period, and each section is briefly summarized. In the section devoted to Art by the period, the site starts out with Pre-Buddhist all the way back in 550 CE and continues through the eras dealing with such periods as the Heian, the Muromachi, the Meiji, and the Showa. Each section provides numerous sources for each specific topic that you might be interested in finding. In the Art by medium part of the website, painting, lacquer, folk art and architecture are among the many available choices links to various mediums. A useful option on the site is the search feature. If you are unable to locate a specific topic that you are looking for, you can enter it in the space on the left of the page and you will then be presented with a list of as many hits as could be found. From there you can enter an entirely new part of the site having to do with anything from "New Chinese Art" to the "Press Room" in which you can learn about Politics and the Japanese societal issues and events. Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, The Asia Society is now located on 502 Park Avenue in New York City. A non-profit organization aimed at "fostering understanding of Asia and communication between Americans and the peoples of Asia and the Pacific." With headquarters in New York and branches all over the US including Texas, California, and Seattle, the society has received press from many popular newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Village Voice, and the Los Angeles Times. This website is a great place to go for a research paper or just a further insight into Japanese Art and cultural life. Leah Cumsky-Whitlock