Partially shot in the Cariboo, Doane Gregory's Kudos: Youki Kudoh (TIS Tokyo; $39 U.S.) has been the topselling photography book in Japan this year.

Exclusively devoted to former teen idol Youki Kudoh, the celebrity art book is produced in the western style-from front to back-but with minimal text. It blends playful innocence with mild eroticism.

Kudoh has made 14 albums in Japan and has won Japan's best actress award. She and Gregory were recently in Toronto for the premiere of Snow Falling on Cedars, the Hollywood version of the novel that recalls the internment of Japanese-Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Youki Kudoh stars in the movie, filmed in British Columbia. 4-88618-192-9

[BCBW WINTER 1999]