A book talk on the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto was held in Shanghai on Dec 22 to celebrate a decade-long publishing project which promotes mutual understanding between China and Japan.

Masaki Takahashi, honorary history professor of Kobe University, shared his book Kyoto "Sennen No Miyako" No Rekishi (Kyoto: the History of a Thousand Year Capital) with readers in the city's Zhongshuge bookstore in Jing'an area.

Published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, Takahashi's book is part of the "Read Japan" project which aims to translate and publish 100 books that cover several aspects of Japanese society.

Initiated by The Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund and the Social Sciences Academic Press (China) in 2009, the project has partnered with seven publishing houses in China and published 108 books in the past nine years.

Li Fang, the publisher of SJTU Press, said her publishing house was very happy to be part of the project in 2015 and has published four titles since. The publishing house opened a Tokyo office on Dec 12 to further cooperation with its Japanese counterparts.

Shuichi Ohno, president of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and Yang Qun, editor-in-chief of the Social Sciences Academic Press, also attended the book talk.