Japan Books

I hate business books that drone on and on and don't leave you with any practical advice. That's not this book. The engaging anecdotes -- each with a "moral" at the end of the story -- make for easy reading. And the variety of situations covered by the authors should ensure that everyone has at least a few ideas they can take away and try. I am sure I'll turn back to this book for the inspirational quotations that begin each chapter. I find having the right quote can really make a communication about organizational change. David Baum's first book, Lightning in a Bottle, was equally useful in this regard.

This book is a wonderful integration of thoughtful stories and suggestions, which create an opportunity to reflect on how we lead at work, and how we live our lives. Any book which suggests that I refine my leadership gifts, rather than try out the latest cliche technique is worth its weight in gold. This one is a gem. Time to go breathe.

At first, I thought this was going to be a "New Age" type fluff book. It was recommended by a collegue so I picked it up. I was immediately able to see how the basic century old technqiues of Aikido can be applied to business. For the first time, I saw a way to use the "right level" of force and how to use the energy of conflict. I also work with a not-for-profit organization on a pro bono basis and I know I can use it in that environment. If anything, the balance of force and power are even more tenuous in that work setting.
An added bonus- I can see how to use it within the family dynamic. Remember that saying about teenagers "Pick your battle". It makes a lot more sense after reading this book.

I know I have read something special when excerpts from Randori Principles: The Path to Effortless Leadership come back to me weeks later as I am driving my car! Hassinger and Baum have managed what few authors of leadership and management do: to reveal themselves as both humble learners and enlightened teachers in leadership and in life. Their brilliant use of stories de-mystifies the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit for today's harried leaders. The simple yet compelling, "Try This" at the close of each chapter makes the book easy to consume in small bites. As a nurse and health care consultant, my clients are challenged to optimize their use of self, whether with patients, employees or colleagues. Randori Principles speak to the health care community. The lessons contained in Irimi are especially pertinent for those dedicated nurse leaders, primarily female, whose effectiveness can be enhanced by balancing their hard-wired compassion with greater boldness and decisiveness. This book will be dog-eared in my brief case and frequently recommended to my clients.

Helmut Morsbach is a Genius!! He has a new way of learning from an unconventional book. In the beginning he states that you can learn all of it in just 3 hours. A boastful statement but very true! An easy way to learn Katakana that was fun. Flipping through the book to go from one page to the next is the method he uses.

I found the 3 hour approach very well indeed. I had been struggling for three years with the Japanese syllabry, only to accidentally find this book and finish in three hours. It uses a uniques approach that I have been trying to find for years. You'll find it unique, and wonder why no one knows about it. You may even want to start with the author's "Remembering the Hiragan" [ISBN# 0-87040-765-1] companion for the text. I've got both. Buy the Hiragana first because the Katana relies on the Hiragana text for its explanations. Both texts are done very well, small books that get straight to the point of helping you learn what you need, and not just memorizing tables of alphabets. Actually, you won't need to memorize any table for either of the books. It's simple, short, straight forward, and actually fun to use these two books

Actually, it is Heisig who deserves more of the praise for this book since he was the one who wrote Remembering the Hiragana, which this book is based on. In University, I had used that book, but this book was not available yet. I breezed through learning the hiragana, and stumbled with the katakana until this book was released. I recommend both books as the best way for English-speakers to master the syllabry in the shortest time (and with the best retention)

This book is organized by symbol complexity rather than alphabetically so that the student does not become frustrated or overwhelmed by beginning with too complicated of symbols. Students instead ease into the whole learning process and will, most likely, gain confidence after their very first self-test using REAL Japanese words made from the symbols they have learned.

The author is fun, amusing, unique, imaginative, and above-all, CREATIVE with his mnemonics. He keeps them as simple as they can possibly be and if they can't be simplified, he suggests outrageously silly mnemonics that are almost impossibly to forget! All the learning comes from YOUR imagination rather than memorization.

The author's lessons were so successful with me that even THREE YEARS after I learned Katakana from the book (with a touch-up review once a year and without reading katakana regularly at ALL), I was able to read - without even THINKING about it - the labels from a Japanese stuffed doll that someone brought to work! People were quite impressed with me and, to be honest, so was I with myself!

This book is a DEFINITE keeper! Don't lend it out or you may NEVER get it back! :)

Wow. That sums this up in one word. The recipies are setup for a serving of 1 person. No division required for odd number of people, just multiply the recipie and wham! We've made dozens of the recipies and although I'm white, I've got a phillipeano friend that's telling everyone that I'm asian. The meals come out soo good I've got people asking us to cook for them. It's got helpful information for properly preparing rice, and other aspects of cooking that might be foreign to a lot of people out there. I definately recommend this for everyone.

I am not a Japanese but my wife and I love eating Japanese food. We bought this book and used it multiple times for cooking dinner. The instruction was clear and the result was tasty. Highly recommended.

PS: We usually just look at the photos in the book to pick the rice bowl that we want to prepare.

I picked up this book on a trip to Japan and didn't really expect much out of it. To my surprise, it's become one of my all-time favourite cookbooks. It's a great way to start learning about Japanese home cooking. There are also some great recipes for Korean and Chinese dishes. Every recipe I've tried is quite tasty and easy to prepare. It's also great when cooking for 1-2 people or when you're on the go. For years I've thought rice was a side bowl of dry and bland grains. Well, no more! Get yourself a decent rice cooker and get ready for a new way of preparing wholesome, quick, and delicious meals.

If you like rice dishes, buy this book. I'm no cook, but I've tried 3 different dishes in as many nights, and they all turned out great.

There're MANY simple, delicious dishes that you can cook up within an hour or less. All I've bought so far is sake (I have most other oriental spices, oil, and what nots).

I just had to get used to cooking w/o salt, cos you use soy sauce alot of times.

Buy it and enjoy it!

Bought this book as a gift for my sake obsessed boyfriend and he loves it. Very well written and a comprehensive look at sake and the all things related. Sidenote: the author owns a sake store in San Francisco on Hayes St. It is an awsome store and well worth the visit if you live any where near. Happy reading!

For those people who love the adventure of good food and soirits, this book is a must have. Very informative, it provides the reader with a very good basic understanding of Sake. With history, science, and etiquette all wrapped into one informative guide, I highly recommend this book. If you love Sake, or are interested in learning more, you MUST read this book. I find I return to it time and time again as I delve deeper into the fascinating world of Japan's most famous beverage. One of the bibles of Sake...

I've read many Sake guides over the years. Some leave me with lengthy, lengthy lists of sakes I'd like to try, if I could ever decipher the labels at my local Japanese liquor store. Most leave me even more confused than before I started reading. This book was the first I ever read where I walked away feeling like I could explain why I liked what I liked. But the best part of the book is the list of Sakes to try that are available in the US. Afterall, what's the point of a long list of exotic drinks to try if you're never going to be able to find them?

Whether you enjoy sake already or are just interested in learning more, this is a wonderful place to start. The book includes a short sake history, a lesson on how it is made, and some key terminology necessary for understanding this amazing beverage. The best part of the book is Beau's detailed reviews of 50 different sakes. Plenty of tastes to begin or continue your journey. There are also recipes in the back that help demonstrate that sake isn't just good with Sashimi, it can taste great with risotto or even a pizza.

This book is definitely a must-read for everyone, martial artist or not. It reads fairly quickly, and is one you'll want to read again. Each of the '42...secrets' are life-lessons. They give you insight into the time when Samurai lived, and explains how the lesson applied then and how it applies now. We all have something to learn from their code of Honor, and this book can help everyone.

THE BOOK of FIVE RINGS (Go Rin No Sho) - Summarised!!

I really can not emphasise enough how BRILLIANT this version of The Book of Five Rings is. Most other translations of "Miyamoto Musashi's" book are long and hard to understand, or more precisely, you can read it, understand the words easily enough, but the meaning and the important LIFE saving lessons don't come though very well......

......but this book by Boye De Lafayette Mente is just so well written and laid out. He breaks down all the lessons from "Musashi" into small chapters. Once you've read the book a couple of times all you need to do is just look at the chapter headings for a quick refresher & apply these skills to your life.

THIS IS NOT JUST A BOOK FOR BUDO or MARTIAL ARTISTS!! It's for everyone. Musashi devoted & sacrificed his whole life into discovering how we should live successfully & conduct ourselves. He was the very best swordsman in Japan of his time, never once was he defeated (or even cut). This was all down to his unique approach to his fighting, from the lessons he learnt during duals he was asked at the end of his life to summarise and tell the world how he became so successful.

This really is a cracking book. It takes the "The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi" and summarises it (in plain easy to read & understandable English) into 42 easy to follow and understandable chapters & steps.

It can be easily read in a day or two, but its best if it's RE-READ a couple of times at least 'though. It gets straight to the point. Each chapter is dealt with in just a page or three.

Apply these important principles to your life and work, as well as to your chosen Martial Art. Samurai Secrets may have been a better title perhaps?

Do look out for Boye Lafayette de Mente's other titles. His style of writing is very easy going and precise. He makes the subject matter easy to absorb and understand.

For example try "The Japanese Samurai Code" and Enjoy!! If you buy the actual translation of "The Book of Five Rings" then Thomas Cleary's version I think is the best. I say this as there are many translations of the same book and most are in the old classical direct translation style and not easy (for me anyway) to digest.

I really am so surprised that there are no other reviews raving about this translation of this version of the Book of Five Rings.

You really WON'T be disappointed!!

Musashi Miyamoto was a famous Japanese warrior who lived from 1584 to 1645 who recorded his philosophy, strategies and tactics in a short treatise just before his death. Samurai Strategies: Forty-Two Martial Secrets From Musashi's Book Of Five Rings by Boye Lafayette de Mente adapts Musashi's military precepts and martial arts ideals to the modern world of business. Swiftly carrying readers through the philosophical issues faced in business procedures and identifying the most effective premise from which to work, Samurai Strategies draws from Miyamoto's philosophy and is very highly recommended reading for corporate executives and entrepreneurs for it's conceptual approach to life lessons learned in ancient theaters of war and directly applicable to modern business practices.

I am very glad to have found this book.

My first encounter with the life story of Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's most renowned combat strategist, was in the early 80's when I started to work for a large heavy & construction equipment conglomerate, which dealt primaily with Japanese principals & their products. For the first time in my life, I was introduced to Japanese management culture, & the first 'Japanese' book I read was 'The Book of Five Rings', translated by a Victor Harris, a mechanical engineer like me.

Coming back to today: The author of this particular book is quite right. Miyamoto Musashi's original work was written for samurai warriors who are steeped into Buddhlist & Shinto precepts, in the code of the samurai, in the long traditions of the samurai, & in allusions that were part of the culture of the times. Like Japanese artists who leave it up to readers to complete their work, Miyamoto Musashi left it up to readers of his work to fill in the details of his allusions & advice from their own store of knowledge.

Henceforth, it wasn't easy for me to read 'The Book of Five Rings.' It took me quite a while to figure out the essence, digest the work & eventually managed to distill about ten strategies which I could understand & apply in my own sphere of work.

In this particular book, the author has attempted to identify & explain, in plain English, the philosophy, the strategy, & the ways of winning that Miyamoto Musashi sought to pass on to his disciples. The original work is about how to fight duels to the death & win! The author has made the fighting principles equally applicable to winning in business, & in virtually all other endeavours. In fact, he has elegantly distilled them all down to 42 strategies (compared to my original ten strategies)!!!

The author's writing is almost straight-talk, & in easy-to-understand language. I would even recommend all teens to read it in order to achieve a quick headstart in life, as the 42 strategies are also applicable in studies & in sports.

Interestingly, the Book of Five Rings is, in Miyamoto Musashi's own words, "a guide for men who want to learn strategy."

In life, eveything is possible. It is just a question of strategy.

On the whole, this is excellent work. It therefore deserves a rating of 5 from me.

For anyone who has lived in Japan, there are way way too many books that attempt to explain away what we witnessed as severe problems via complex cultural blah-blah about the "Japanese exception."

The great value of this book is to explain the corruption and autocratic impulses as the product of a rather straightforward politican machine - there is nothing exceptional that offers anything of intrinsic value beyond understanding it for what it was: just a moment in time that a corrupt leader, Tanaka, was able to create a seat for himself at the center of power. As Schlesinger argues, with all that power, the great failure of Tanaka was that he did so little with it in terms of serving the public interest: instead, it just served him and his cronies. As such, now that the machine has been watered down, many needed reforms are far more difficult to implement (and the need for remedies, after decades of neglect, is worse than ever).

This is the product of a truly intelligent and thoughtful journalist. I knew him briefly in Japan, and was always impressed with his clear sightedness and willingness to question anything, in addition to his humor. It is a great pleasure to read this book and recognise the original mind that I knew.

Warmly recommended.

Concise and well written, it opens up postwar Japanese politics. Incredulous happenings! Maybe we should send some of our congressmen to Japan to check this out.-- Short shrift is given, however, to the all-pervading involvement with, and use of, the criminal organisations where the police seem powerless. Also, it should have photographs of the main actors to make it more three-dimensional.

This is a far better book than the more theoretical approach by Karel van Wolferen in 'The Enigma of Japanese Power'.
After reading this book there is no enigma anymore.

Jacob M. Schlesinger reveals extremely clearly how the Japanese system worked and who pulled the strings. He shows that Japanese politics in the last half of the 20th century was firmly controlled by four men, with Kakuei Tanaka as the most predominant tycoon.

Tanaka's tactics were very simple: use his home base as a platform for his political career by lavishy spending state money in his election district and by buying votes; use his financial clout to control the Japanese majority party; become still richer by corrupting the state bureaucracy, bid-rigging (200 % and more margin) and briberies (by private companies).

In fact, the author shows clearly that the whole system was controlled by a corrupt oligachy.
The men in power were not afraid of racket type interventions. One example: the ruling government proposed stiff taxes on automobiles. After the automobile industry paid heavy contributions to the party in charge, the bill was watered down.

This book is an exemplary analysis of a corrupt political system. Not to be missed.

Why has Japan changed its prime ministers with such frequency through much of the post-war period? Why did those prime ministers seem powerless to affect real change to the political system? "Shadow Shoguns" answers these questions by way of a brilliantly told story of the Liberal Democratic Party's most powerful political faction called the "gundan".

The story of the "gundan" - which means "army corps" -- is primarily the story of the man who created and ruled over it for much of the 70s and 80s, Kakuei Tanaka. Jacob Schlesinger spends more than half of "Shadow Shoguns" examining Tanaka's life, including his roots in the construction business, his entry into politics, how he made money work for him in consolidating political power, and finally, his fall from power.

Tanaka was a fascinating figure. In many ways he was a combination of LBJ and Boss Tweed. His appetite for power and money was huge, and his experience in the construction industry gave him the ability to amass both. Coming from one of the poorest prefectures in Japan, he fought hard to bring huge pork barrel construction projects back to his constituents, and they in turn gave him unflinching support even when he was charged with crimes and became a national symbol of corruption.

A scandal removed Tanaka from the prime minister's seat in 1974, but due to his constituents' support, it did not remove him from the parliament. From then until the mid-80s, Tanaka would be the power behind the throne, using money from construction projects to strengthen his faction, and his faction to strengthen his hold over national politics.

What finally removed Tanaka from his position as leader over Japan's most powerful faction was not angry voters, other factions or their political leaders, but his own underlings. Tanaka had attracted some of the most talented politicians in Japan to his faction, and handling those egos was a full-time job. After a stroke in 1985, Tanaka was unable to reassert his power, and three of his protégés (Shin Kanemaru, Noburu Takeshita, and Ichiro Ozawa) wrenched the faction away from him.

The final third of the book focuses on those protégés, their strengthening of the faction, and finally the fall of their machine as Japan's economy began to flounder. As Schlesinger tells it, the success of the faction was always predicated on continued strong economic growth. When the Japanese economy faltered throughout the early 1990s, so did the mechanism by which the "gundan" governed Japan.

This is a book that gives vivid life to a political system and to politicians many people find boring. Schlesinger shows that because Japan's most capable and interesting politicians operated out of the limelight for much of the last three decades, their story is a compelling one as well as the key to understanding the history of the modern Japanese political system.

if you have any interest in Japnaese literature check this one out with greats like Kobo Abe and Mishiman there are other treasures in this great collection.

I bought this book a few years ago and I loved it. I gave it to a friend and I miss it enough to buy another copy today.

One of the nice thing about this book is that it is an anthology of short stories. Some anthologies present the reader with cut-down version of the original texts which is always frustrating and this is not the case here. All short stories are of great quality written by prominent Japanese authors.

I also enjoyed the fact that there was an interesting introduction to the volume, as well as a short introduction to each author/contribution.

Last but not least, I enjoyed the fact that there is a large coverage of past-war Japanese authors who I generally prefer.

I found that book to be most enjoyable reading as well as a great introduction to Japanese literature. Reading it truly helped me to expand my knowledge of Japanese literature. I read many more novels from authors whose contribution to the volume I liked.

I bought this book a few years ago and I loved it. I gave it to a friend and I miss it enough to buy another copy today.

One of the nice thing about this book is that it is an anthology of short stories. Some anthologies present the reader with cut-down version of the original texts which is always frustrating and this is not the case here. All short stories are of great quality written by prominent Japanese authors.

I also enjoyed the fact that there was an interesting introduction to the volume, as well as a short introduction to each author/contribution.

Last but not least, I enjoyed the fact that there is a large coverage of past-war Japanese authors who I generally prefer.

I found that book to be most enjoyable reading as well as a great introduction to Japanese literature. Reading it truly helped me to expand my knowledge of Japanese literature. I read many more novels from authors whose contribution to the volume I liked.

This is a really fine collection of short stories. The focus holding the collection together is of course the Showa Period (1926-1988), but this is such a tumultuous time in history that there is quite a bit of difference in feel between the first story (1929) and the last (1984). The writers are a real mixed bunch, too, so that one gets a pretty good sense of the wide range of literature during this time span. Some of them are little known in English and well deserve the attention they get here, while others are more renowned in translation, and for many of the latter the editors have chosen works uncharacteristic of them (a humorous story by Mishima of all people, for instance). This all being the case, "The Showa Anthology" is great both as an introduction to modern Japanese fiction for the newcomer and as essential reading for the old hand.

The short stories included are: "Kuchisuke's Valley" by Ibuse Masuji, "Mating" by Kajii Motojiro, "Les Joues en Feu" by Hori Tatsuo, "Magic Lantern" by Dazai Osamu, "Moon Gems" by Ishikawa Jun, "The Magic Chalk" by Abe Kobo, "Bad Company" by Yasuoka Shotaro, "Eggs" by Mishima Yukio, "Stars" by Kojima Nobuo, "Are the Trees Green?" by Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, "Still Life" by Shono Junzo, "With Maya" by Shimao Toshio, "The Monastery" by Kurahashi Yumiko, "Under the Shadow of Mount Bandai" by Inoue Yasushi, "Mulberry Child" by Minakami Tsutomu, "One Arm" by Kawabata Yasunari, "The Day Before" by Endo Shusaku, "Friends" by Abe Akira, "Ripples" by Shibaki Yoshiko, "The Pale Fox" by Oba Minako, "Iron Fish" by Kono Taeko, "Platonic Love" by Kanai Mieko, "The Crushed Pellet" by Kaiko Takeshi, "The Clever Rain Tree" by Oe Kenzaburo, "The Silent Traders" by Tsushima Yuko, and "The Immortal" by Nakagami Kenji.

I'd been aware of Shunga, also known as "Images of Spring", an ancient Japanese euphemism for erotic art, for many years. It wasn't until I actually began collecting Shunga engravings that I could recognize which books were the better sources for information about the art. This finely printed volume includes many of the rarer, lesser known, and often shocking, by western standards, classic Japanese artworks. Like many people I began collecting this art form because it was beautiful, erotic, always over a century old, and relatively inexpensive because nobody actually knows how many examples of these pillow-book engravings still survive. World War II and the American Occupation led to many of the works being destroyed either by actual bombings and firestorms or by the imposition of Puritan values on the traditional Japanese culture. Although highly erotic in nature, a few of these Shunga engravings are among the most famous images in art history. Some, like "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" by Katsushika Hokusai are credited with introducing a whole new sexual language to the non-Japanese world. If a person only has time to examine a single book on the subject, this would be one of the better choices among many good volumes on the art form. Shunga art was done by the same master artists of the more well-known Japanese scenic woodblock prints.

Shunga are literally "images of spring." That is the time of recreation and procreation, the time that inspires man and woman to couple, as if anyone needed an excuse. Shunga appeared prominently in the works of Hokusai, Utamaro, and many other revered woodcut artists. This lovely book summarizes that honored tradition.

It starts with the early shunga of Settei (1710-1780) and Jihei (active 1680), and works up to the dawn of the 20th century (1899). The presentation, sequenced by time, creates an order that the originators could never have seen. The less important order has to do with drawing and coloring.

Colors, since the 1700s could well have faded. Even the best-preserved prints may have retreated into shades of orange and black, if those were the stablest dyes. Some, like p.29, simply omit color altogether, with no loss. Later prints, from the 1820s and on, show rich blues and greens. Some historians attribute these colors, at least some times, to imports of synthetic dyes. Other prints from the era use mica for a glistening effect, or use "blind" impressions of un-inked blocks to create depth. A print fan may only regret the loss of information regarding technical issues of image creation.

The rest of us, however, take the greatest pleasure in the egagement of the sexes, epitomized in a sumo fight of man vs. woman (p.57). Most of the prints show basic couplings of man and woman, complicated only by their improbable angles and their exaggerated organs. Others show man and woman at play with each other's genitals (p. 135, 156), or sometimes a woman at play by herself (p.112, 127, 139, 164, etc). At least one (p.56) displays man engaged with man, showing very different social gender even for the same physical sex. Some pictures demand three- or more-way couplings (p.31, 46-7), others suggest that tied partners sometimes enhanced an ecounter (p.76-7, 137). Still others, like Hokusai's octopus (p.115), invoke a uniquely Japanese mythology, leaving an image that a Western eye can only see in very strange ways. Others (p.118) express a humor that works wherever men and women exist together.

As the years advanced, I found the images sucessively more enticing because of the increasing nvolvement of the female characters. Early on, up to the mid-1700s, the woman was entirely passive, a receptacle (however grand) for the male advance (however grand). Koryusai and Shigemasa display women with needs and interests of their own. Toyokuni and Hokusai promote women to center stage, with fondlings, genital kisses, and other activities that focus wholly on the ladies' fulfillment, sometimes at their own hands (p.112, 127, 168).

This is a lovely book. I admit, I have given short shrift to its text, even though I found it interesting and informative in those few places I stopped to read. This book is about its pictures, carefully organized and captioned, and in historical order.

It is beautiful. I truly hope that you can see it for the cultural sample that it is, and also for the expression of physical happiness that it is.

//wiredweird

The print quality is almost as good as original
Japanese books.And if you want to know what I mean
you better go to Tokyo.

Marco Fagioli's "Shunga:The Erotic Art of Japan" is an incredible collection of prints and histories. He provides the reader with approx. 22 pages on the (well researched) history of Shunga, that include key names, dates and translations. The pieces shown in the book, give a wonderful overview/representation of the different schools within Shunga. All of the pieces are reproduced with great care, all in vivid color and clear detail. 90 percent of the pieces include a thoughtful caption about the artist, the piece itself, it's relationship to the period and to shunga as a whole. Some of the captions include translations of any text within the piece as well. Marco Fagioli has done a spectacular job of choosing and displaying these pieces so that both, a first time viewer and a great lover of Shunga, can see the intamacy, skill and grace that it has offer. This book is wonderful for a coffee table, home library, or as a late night picture book for lovers. It is not the best for research material, aside from the wonderful prints, but it can definately serve as a spring-board for further studies. I highly reccomend this book to any with even the slightest interest in Shunga or the art of Japan.

This little gem of a book captures the essence of Spring in a remote farming village in Southern Japan in all its beauty, earthiness and mystery. As the sole gaijin living in an ancient village (the family whose house he stayed in had owned it for over 20 generations) the author is at once both a detached, curious and perceptive observer of daily Japanese village life and, at the same time, somehow magically involved in their seasonal rhythms and rituals. Miller is an accomplished photographer and poet. His photos and, even more, his haiku poems marvelously convey the beauty of the scenes around him - the forests, cherry blossoms, carp ponds, deep green paddy fields... Reading his poems you can almost smell the mist rising off the damp soil at night, the fragrant morning air, and hear the whispering of the wind in the bamboo groves and the melodic chanting of the farm women tending the fields. Don't we all wish we could sometimes get away from city life and contemplate the beauty of nature in simple village life - and, by doing so, somehow capture their essence while penetrating deeper into our own spirits, as the author has done? Overall, a marvelous book!

Russell Miller has lived and traveled extensively in the Far East, especially in Japan. In his pictorial photography Book "Spring", he depicts a one month stay in Yabe Japan, an hour and a half east of the Japanese City of Kumamoto. The text chronicles the stay, but the photographs are the reason for obtaining the Book. From the exquisite photographic cover, to the garden on p. 99 and the flowering bushes on p. 109, the photographs capture the artistic beauty of Japan. My only complaint is that I wish some of the photographs were larger.The printing quality of the book was outstanding.

Spring, for me, is a sort of journal with huge benefits. The writings are random thoughts both simple and complex, enriched with many delightful haiku and stunning photos.

I marveled at the author's "journey" without agenda. His descriptions of the small piece of another world [Yabe, Japan] in which he resided for a month are moving, funny, and fascinating. Everything, people, places and the natural environment, is offered as savory treats.

For me, Spring provides an experience I can enjoy over and over again.

This is a great book for those who really appreciate the culture of Japan. I love the fabulous photos that captured the images of the Yabe and the people. The stories and experiences written are very touching and sometimes funny. I like to flip to random chapter to just read the haiku poems. This book is truly delightful!!!

with the particular buddhist context, in an accesible type of prose, stripped of too much jargon and history

Scott Berry brought to light a most unusual book on Tibet based on the turn of the century manuscript of a Zen Monk's adventures in Tibet. Kawaguchi Ekai "Three Years In Tibet" was the contemporary of Alexandra David-Neel and Sir Francis Younghusband, the famous Tibetologist. The uniqueness of this book is that for the very first time, an account of Tibet was told from the Asian point of view. Kawaguchi was born in the Meiji Restoration Era, but he was certainly not a conformist of that era, he was much too eccentric for his time. Although the Meiji Era symbolizes the modernization and opening of Japan as well as the adoption of a strong Japanese identity; Kawaguchi was the direct opposite, a throwback to a much earlier age of high adventure focusing on Buddhist spiritual development. During the Meiji Restoration, western culture and western scientific methods were making inroads into the Japanese system, downplaying China's symbolic role in Japan. All things Chinese especially Buddhism was despise at, instead the state cult of Shintoism gained much favour of the Royal Court and the ruling clique. The Emperor though still a puppet emperor became the focus of the new cult of the emperor as the living embodiment of Amaretsu, the so called descendant of the Sun God. Kawaguchi had very strong affinity with Buddhism. In his early life although not yet a monk, he took the shojin vows of refraining from meat, alcohol and maintaining celibacy. Kawaguchi was first ordained in the Obaku sect (Obakusan or Mampukuji) a Buddhist sect imported to Japan during the Ming Dynasty retaining much of its Chinese influences like liturgy recitation and even the style of vegetarian cooking remained close to its Chinese identity. Although a member of this sect, Kawaguchi was disillusion with the worldliness of the members of the Sangha, his quest was for the original teachings that remains the heart and soul of the Buddhist Tripitaka. No other place suits his quest except for Tibet, where Sanskrit Buddhist texts remains locked up in the various monasteries as a safeguard from the Muslim invasion of India. Scott Berry illustrated the zest of Kawaguchi, comparing him with Hsuan Tung, the illustrious pilgrim criss-crossing deserts, vast nations, various tribes etc in his quest for Buddhist holy texts. Kawaguchi was not unlike the modern incarnation of Hsuan Tung. His quest for Buddhist texts brought him to Darjeeling, India (Little Tibet) where he stayed for almost a year, accustoming to the Tibetan culture and language. Tibet at the turn of the century was a very feudal nation, the rule of the Dalai Lama was totalitarian and unquestionable. China's influence in Tibet remained very strong, the Chinese Ambans acted as agents of the Manchu Court influencing various policies of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. Tibet did not welcome visitors to her land, she was closed to foreigners except Buddhist pilgrims from Mongolia, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Many visitors gate-crashed into Tibet, including zealous Christian missionaries like Ippolito Desideri, and adventurers like Peter Hopkirk (Tresspasser On The Roof Of The World). Still, forays into the Tibetan heartland remained few and far in between, remaining rather impossible for the curious westerners or in this scenario a lone Japanese monk. Kawaguchi's comments on Tibetan Buddhism was rather critical, he was not apprehensive to snide on the various practices of the Tibetans including the worship Guru Rinpoche or Guru Padmasambhava, in his views, he questioned the equality that Tibetans placed upon Guru Rinpoche and Sakyamuni Buddha. For him, he evaluated Guru Rinpoche not as a true Buddha but a charlatan, murderer, fornicator and a drunkard as observed in his quotation. "Lobon (Guru Rinpoche) was in practice a devil in disguise of a priest and behaved if he has been born for the very purpose of corrupting and preventing the spread of holy doctrines of Buddhism". Scott Berry made known Kawaguchi cultural prejudices against Tibetans, he saw himself as culturally superior compared to backward and superstitious Tibetans. It is interesting to note that Kawaguchi took devotedly to the daily bath seriously, he was aghast of the Tibetans view of bathing that which at most was 3 times in a lifetime, at birth, marriage and death. In Darjeeling, Sagauli, Kathmandu and Thak Khola, Kawaguchi befriended many people including Chandra Das and Chiniya Lama. It was during this time, Kawaguchi replaced his Chinese Mahayana robes for the Tibetan maroon-coloured robes. Probably by then, Kawaguchi was in diguise not as a Japanese monk but a Chinese monk bending on making a sacred pilgrimage to the holy city of Lhasa. I am rather impressed by the author's account of life in Nepal as very few authors have touched on the palace intrigue of Nepal during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The author too wrote some very good narrative of daily practices of the Tibetans including a well-liked account of the hermit Gelong Rinpoche. Kawaguchi forays into Tibet was indeed very interesting, texts from his book "Three Years In Tibet" was well quoted and duly explained and detailed by Berry. Differences between the various religious factions of Tibetan Buddhism were highlighted, from the tulku line of the Karmapa-Dalai Lama to the degeneration of various Buddhist practices to tantrism. It is a pity, the climax of Berry's account was extremely short as compared to the overall account of Kawaguchi biography. The features of Kawaguchi in Lhasa (U Tsang) was indeed short (only two chapters) though I would say this should be given the most attention as it was the goal of Kawaguchi's prime destination. Kawaguchi indeed managed to realize his goals of collecting sacred text in Sanskrit, he was to become a student at the prime monastery of Sera, one of the three greatest monasteries in Tibet, i.e. Ganden, Drepung and Sera. Nevertheless, it is indeed very enlightening to read about Kawaguchi's encounters with the 7th Panchen Lama (although I would question the validity of Berry's numbering, as it seems strange to have a 7th Panchen Lama in the early 1900s and the 11th Panchen Lama enthroned in 1995), the 13th Dalai Lama and to the much admired Kyabje Tri Ganden Rinpoche. Kawaguchi never failed to mention his high admiration for Kyabje Tri Ganden Rinpoche, for him Kyabje was the ideal monk not corrupted by worldliness or politics. As a Doctor of Sera and at times personal physician to the 13th Dalai Lama, Kawaguchi wrote at long of health conditions and various medical practices among the Tibetans. Kawaguchi's description of Lhasa was indeed very fascinating. ( ) END

I still cherish the memory of reading this book. There are many reasons to recommend it, but I love it as a combination humorous travel story and spiritual reflection. It is also an interesting example of how identity and conciousness can transform in the crucible of a foreign culture. This book is great as travel writing, spiritual writing and personal history.

I picked up a copy of this book in a bookstore in Katmandu as a result of a recommendation from someone that had already spent time in the area. For me, just beginning on a month-long trek, the detailed description of the subject's travels were amazing. This is in part because the western most portion of a famous trek in Nepal (Annapurna Circuit) are covered during the adventure. However, now, 19 years after my trek I have begun to read this book again and am struck by the author's careful, almost painstaking attention to the details of the subject's trek through parts of Nepal and into Tibet about 100 years ago. This is truly a book that takes you back in time and lets you imagine what it must have been like to travel to a totally foreign and forbidding country with no safety net to achieve a goal as empowering as locating original religious manuscripts. If you have ever wanted to imagine what true adventure is like, this is the book for you. It is not clear that there are adventures left like this in the world. The story is filled with episodes when the traveler logically should have either frozen, starved, or been otherwise killed. Of course, for a book like this to succeed the story must be unimaginable on some level but still possible. The details are barely believable (such as ending up teaching within Lhasa while being a foreigner). However, the real mystery, never solved, concerns the subject of the story himself. One is left wishing to have met this bizarre and infuriating combination of bungling and brilliance.