Book excerpt: This proceedings volume contains review articles on solid-state spectroscopies by leading researchers in Japan and Taiwan. Topics include excitons and biexcitons, size effects in quantum dots and microcrystals, nonlinear optical properties, optical spectra of disordered systems, electronic and optical properties of metal-dielectric and semiconductor superlattices, photoemission, Raman spectroscopy, and photoreflectance studies on solids.