Japan Books

I think it's great that someone put these three works together. I had a few complaints, though. The editing in this book was terrible. There were lots of errors that the editors should have caught in the spelling. I am also disappointed that for the first two works there is no mention of who translated the works into English.

As far as value goes I think this book is worth the money, but the publishing company really needs to work on editing their product better. I hope this is reflected in later editions.

Very useful compilation of three masterpieces. Although it isnt the most deep edition in terms of commentary or introductions, it certainly delivers the goods on the main texts. (Serious students of Japanese might prefer a bilingual edition of the individual texts).

All three of the books contained in this one volume really should be in the collection of anyone interested in Japanese philosophy, religion or martial arts. It is not often that three really good books get bundled together into one volume but to have three classics together is really extraordinary.

The reflections of a master swordsman, the advice of a proper old Samurai and the explanations of a well-traveled scholar fit together synergistically; they add up to much more than the sum of the parts. Although the writers were separated from each other in time, they are united in a coherent view of what constitutes proper conduct and honor. There is enough difference in their styles of expression to illuminate points that might otherwise be obscure and at the same time provide some interesting juxtapositions.

Those who are already familiar with one or more of the books contained in this volume will find that having all three of them together is a real plus. Each, on its own, is an important little book; the three of them together form an important big book.

I was so happy for Amazon's fast shipping. I have been eye-balling The Book of Five Rings for quite some time. I've been on a personal quest to understand the history and philosophy of the Samurai, but I confess to not having a lot of time to read any more. Most of my reading ends up being in an airport waiting for a flight. Needless to say, the last thing I need is a bunch of hardcover books to haul around.

I saw this volume and had to do a little Snoopy Dance. Not only did I finally get to read "The Book of Five Rings", but I went on and read "Hagakure" and "Bushido". I feel like I have a real understanding, or at least as much as someone from the West can have about the Samurai's philosophy and way of life. Kudos to Amazon for finding this gem.

Sometimes when reading or thinking or, simply, being direct witness to the casual cruelty that God is so evidently fond of, we feel a small bubble become loosened in the vicinity of our inner soul and, rising and expanding, it reaches surface and our faces spontaneously contract and our eyes fill with tears and we must sit quietly for a moment and, in my case, wish that we could smash that God squarely in it's hellish face. But it passes and we are again back in the normal universe where we understand that things just are. The reader of this book has more than one opportunity for such experience. The slightly elitest tone of the author does not detract but, somehow, offers some hope that we may grow up. The translation, as well as I can judge having lived only four years in Hiroshima, is superb.

This book is the heartrending story of a Japanese child prostitute. She was sold by her family at the age of 8 to a sex slave trafficker, shipped to North Borneo (port of Sandakan) and forced to work in the sex business at the age of 12, even before she had her first menstruation.

The roots of the trafficking system were religious, economic and political.
On the religious front, the Confucian system of patriarchy determined the social duties of women. They were told to obey first their fathers, than their husbands and ultimately their sons. The social superiority of the male permitted the exploitation of women financially, physically, sexually and emotionally.

Economically, high taxation rates for the farmers (60 % of the yield went to the landlord) provoked poverty and famine: 'There were days when I would have nothing to swallow but water from morning 'til night.'
Starving peasants felt compelled to sell their daughtes in order to save the rest of the family.
The main character in this book, Osaki, agreed (?) at the age of 8 to be sold in order to permit her brother to buy farmland.

This poverty was aggravated by the settlement policies of the government provoking a burgeoning population in the region.
More, the Japanese government did nothing against the traffickers. On the contrary, it needed the foreign currency sent back by the sex slaves in order to become, as it said, a strong nation.
The selling of children in Japan has only been abolished in 1959.

After the exploitation by the government and the landlords, the children were milked by the traffickers, who took 50 % of their earnings and compelled them to redeem with the rest their original inflated 'investment'.

Having heavily supported the Japanese nation with their bodies, the sex workers were looked upon as 'Boule de Suif's' by the rest of the population when they could come back home. They tried to avoid to be recognized in order to escape their social 'stigma'.
Osaki survived prychologically nearly unscathed and without guilt her harsh experience.

This book is a profound human document about the struggle for survival. It is excellently introduced by Karen Colligan-Taylor.
Highly recommended, not only for Japanese scholards.

I also recommend the autobiography of the geisha Sayo Masuda, as well as the work of Robert Van Gulik 'Sexual Life in Ancient China'.

Sometimes when reading or thinking or, simply, being direct witness to the casual cruelty that God is so evidently fond of, we feel a small bubble become loosened in the vicinity of our inner soul and, rising and expanding, it reaches surface and our faces spontaneously contract and our eyes fill with tears and we must sit quietly for a moment and, in my case, wish that we could smash that God squarely in it's hellish face. But it passes and we are again back in the normal universe where we understand that things just are. The reader of this book has more than one opportunity for such experience. The slightly elitest tone of the author does not detract, but offers some hope, that we may grow up. The translation, as well as I can judge having lived only four years in Hiroshima, is superb.

This could've been featured in our collector's section or even our sports section, but is presented here for its powerful artistic survey of Japanese sports through its lovely baseball card art. SAYONARA HOME RUN! THE ART OF THE JAPANESE BASEBALL CARD features player history, card art, and loved and hated baseball teams alike. It will attract any with an interest in world baseball or in collectible ballgame cards - and many a browser with an interest in neither!

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

This could've been featured in our collector's section or even our sports section, but is presented here for its powerful artistic survey of Japanese sports through its lovely baseball card art. SAYONARA HOME RUN! THE ART OF THE JAPANESE BASEBALL CARD features player history, card art, and loved and hated baseball teams alike. It will attract any with an interest in world baseball or in collectible ballgame cards - and many a browser with an interest in neither!

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Vinatge Japanese baseball cards are among the most beautiful baseball collectibles in the world. I discovered these treasures over ten years ago during a trip to Japan and became an avid collector. My passion for the cards eventually led to a on-line card business and a career as a baseball writer. John Gall and Gary Engel's new book Sayanara Homerun! depicts hundreds, if not thousands, of theese beautiful cards. The book's presentation is wonderful. Cards are gracefully portrayed as art but the accompanying text will statisfy both baseball card collectors and fans of Japanese baseball.

If you are an American baseball cards collector, come see what you are missing. If you a fan of Japanese baseball, come see great pictures of your favorite stars.

I spend hours paging through this book and expect that you will enjoy it as much as I have.

Although the project was supposed to last only a few months, Asahi shimbun were absolutely deluged with responses and they eventually printed 1,000 out of 4,000 letters received. Not only does the book give the reader a personal glimpse of what it was like to be a foot soldier, housewife, high school teacher, etc.,it is also organized in a way that details the events of the war from the first settlements in Manchuria to the occupation and even how people feel about their role today. It's a great way to get the full chronology of events as well as all the personal depictions.

I was shocked at how the footsoldiers were treated by the officers and was surprised to read tales of killing superiors in battle, much like "fragging" occurrences in the Vietnam war. Throughout the book there are gut-wrenching stories of combat, but there is also an underlying thread of humanity; officers finding ways to keep their soldiers alive, a vacationing zero pilot who convinces a group of admiring boys not to join the military, a young soldier who secretly puts some of the bones and ashes of other soldiers into the empty boxes so the families have something to pray to.

I sat down to read the first chapter at 6 pm but I couldn't put it down. I finished it at 2 am. My best friend teaches high school history and I'm going to copy off a few of the best stories for him to use in class. This is a must read... for anyone.

This book does a great service in helping us see the Japanese in WW2 as more than mindless fanatics.It is an compilation of letters written to the editors of one of Japans largest newspapers, the Asahi ("Morning Sun")Shimbun during the 50th anniversary commemorations of the end of World War 2.The stories are primarily from military participants or family members of military personnel and most are very frank and gut wrenching. I got the sense that many of the ex military men were trying to come to grips as to why they were fighting- and the answers are not what this American reader has come to expect. I have always thought that the Japanese were brain washed sub-human fanatics when it came to fighting, but many of the stories reveal compassion,caring and a full awareness of the situation they were in. They speak of heartless, cruel and inhuman superior officers who thought nothing of leading entire battalions to death in their quest for glory, but they also realize that these officers were just the products of a military system where cruel treatment of recruits was a tool to instill blind obedience to superior officers. I still don't think that this is a good excuse for the many atrocities that were committed by Japanese forces during the war, but it goes alot farther in helping me to understand how such atrocities,e.g., Rape of Nanking, Bataan death march, arose. The letters from family members are particularly poignant as they recall fathers, brothers, uncles and sons who were never seen again.I was very moved by several letters from family members who had childhood memories of the deceased soldiers that really drove the point home that war is such a terrible waste(hate to sound like a cliche). The Japanese lost more than 2 million people during the war, and it would be hard not to find a family that didn't face tragedy. I gave this book to several friends who said it completely opened up their minds about what they thought about the Japanese during World War 2.While we all agree that Japan was not right for its war of aggression and the pain and suffering it caused to millions of Asians, Americans, British,Dutch and Australians, we can now hear for the first time the voices of the Japanese participants and learn that they too cried and suffered and felt deep guilt for what they did.

The first shocking chapters of this book give us a picture of a military culture whose sadistic norms were so out of control that it's almost incomprehensible. Sometimes I wonder if the allies did Japanese soldiers a favor by killing them so they could escape an army with an absolutely sick sense of discipline. One soldier wonders how many trainees committed suicide to escape punishment: just for breaking a firepin on a rifle! On Japan's surrender, an army nurse recalls soldiers turning on and beating officers who were screaming, "Forgive me, forgive me". Another soldier remembers suffering trainees whispering, "Bullets come from behind in a battlefield". I grew up hearing Korean stories about Japanese abuse that I never thought to be true until now.

It's certainly not surprising that such an army of the walking dead would commit atrocities as a norm rather than as an exception. One story recalls using prisoners as targets for new recruits who were so scared that their bayonets were shaking. He recounts how they drew a red circle around the prisoners' heart, not as a target, but as the one place you were NOT allowed to stab so the prisoners would suffer as long as possible. Many of the tales of wartime heroism are simply acts of decency in defiance of unspeakably cruel punishment.

Was such ferocious sadism unique to Japan, or does this teach us about other great cultures as well? Many admire the samurai, the Zulu, the Spartans and other great warriors reknown for superhuman conduct. Perhaps this sadism is the cost of such greatness - the natural reaction of humans being held to an inhuman standard?

Nevertheless, as the war drags on and unrealistic notions of superiority fade, the stories inevitably become more human and share much more in common with the horrible sufferings of all people from war. It was a war where both the innocent and guilty suffered from the fanaticism of the strong.

The editors reveal that they did not publish articles that were simply long nationalistic rants. Interestingly enough, this coincides with the fact that almost no articles were written by or defended those who perpertrated this plague of barbarism. It may very well be that the anti-war bias of the editors has robbed us of a look into the psychology that gives birth to atrocity.

I've been looking HIGH and LOW for the right book to explain how the pros CREATE manga. Not draw manga. I've got THAT down. It was creating the right story with all it's interconnected stories that had me at a standstill and the little leaves behind me in the wind making more progress than me.

The book actually flows in a manga format, and you follow the story of Kyoko and Alisa. Kyoko shows little Alisa through illustrated examples of how writing techniques are done for manga. The illustrations are drawn superbly by an actual japanese manga-ka. The book continues all the way to about thumbnail sketching your ideas out.

All the techniques are useful. It's a benefit to read them over and over and try all the "lessons" or "One Point Advice" with smaller ideas to get the hang of it. It's a contagious learning experience!

If you are wanting to learn how to draw manga figures, or how to actually draw pages with tone. This book is not what you're looking for. And the first page establishes this for you. If you are looking to help a wounded one legged story along and nurse it back to running status. THIS is what you need to get back on track!

A good introduction to storytelling, and drawing, for shoujo manga. I appreciated the teach-by-example nature of this book, which is written/drawn as a manga comic.

Although directed at those interested in created shoujo (girls') manga, the graphic and storytelling techniques described can be applied to many other genres.

How-to-do-manga books that I've read have a strong tendency to display a great deal of enthusiasm and relatively little useful content. I don't give five stars lightly, but "Shoujo Manga Techniques" deserves it as a useful, well-written book on manga techniques.

I really loved this book. I like how the book looks like a manga, and the characters are cute as well. This book is really helpful in telling you the do's and dont's in the approach of creating a unique story. It tells you step by step of the things that would benefit you as well. I enjoyed the book from beginning to end. I truly recommend getting this book. I believe it will further advance you in writing better and more interesting stories.

There's a delicious color photo of each recipe, and even the typically Japanese ingredients needed are photographed and described at the end of the book. The method of preparation is clear and simple, and the book really makes you feel confident of spectacular results.

I LOVE Keiko Hayashi and have enjoyed her cookbooks for almost 20 years! In fact, I'd have to admit, she taught me how to cook Japanese (wa-shoku).

Simple & Delicious certainly lives up to its title and is a delight for the eyes and the palate. My only request, Ms. Hayashi, is to provide some sympathetic substitutes for those hard-to-find Japanese ingredients, so Westerners can still complete your wonderful recipes.

Thanks for spreading the joy of great Japanese cuisine.

This is a fabulous cookbook. It's the best I've found on Japanese cusine. Beautiful photos generously illustrate recipes as well as preparation techniques. An added delight is the illustrated index of ingredients and utensils. But the recipies are the best part of all. They are superb in taste yet not difficult to prepare. This wonderful book lives up to its title!

This book was puchased as a gift and I know my daughter in law will enjoy reading it since she is very interested in Papercrafts.

First, I browsed this book and was really amazed how simple these projects are and decided to buy it because I was interested in origami as a hobby and it may help me practice, and do some for gift giving during the holidays and special occassions.

After a few days, I read the book and really enjoyed doing the projects. It takes practice to perfect the illustrated projects shown in this book. I really recommend this book if you want to make something for friends, family for any occassion. This is very practical and fun.

This is a very nice book which gives the basics of paper folding in easy-to-follow instructions and photographs. The illustrations are vivid, and the projects are creative and inspiring. It has been a very enjoyable "crafts-weekend" for me and my son following the projects in the book!

A precious little children's story about two kids who care for birds, especially an injured swan, while their dad is away for the winter fishing. The supernatural "Snow Country Prince" is very grateful to them for their compassionate deeds; perhaps he's responsible for bringing Papa - who also becomes injured - back home safe and sound. This little book teaches the rewards of compassion and caring for others in need.

Renowned illustrator Brian Wildsmith's familiar hues, his beautiful creatures drawn against vivid impressionistic landscapes, is wonderfully showcased in this lovely little book.

"The Snow Country Prince" relates the story of a young boy and his sister in a fishing village in the snow country who care for an injured swan through the harsh winter, while their very ill father is being treated at a distant hospital. Through caring for the swan, the children awaken their compassionate spirit as well as a strong hope for their father's recovery. As the swan regains its strength, the children record its progress in drawings for their mother to take to their father in the hospital as encouragement.

"The Snow Country Prince" relates the story of a young boy and his sister in a fishing village in the snow country who care for an injured swan through the harsh winter, while their very ill father is being treated at a distant hospital.

Through caring for the swan, the children awaken their compassionate spirit as well as a strong hope for their father's recovery. As the swan regains its strength, the children record its progress in drawings for their mother to take to their father in the hospital as encouragement.

Oral histories from the men who where actually at places like Okinawa will soon be a thing of the past. Ms. Lacey has done a supurb job in tracking down and getting their histories from forth men of the Sixth Marine Division. And in the picture section of the book she shows pictures of several of the men, as they were during the war and as they are now. A surprising number of them then say something like 'Died in 2001.'

The Sixth was a division that came about as a result of the tremendous expansion of the Marines during the war. They were formed late in 1944, they were disbanded in 1946. They only had one big battle, but it was Okinawa where virtually all of the original front line riflemen, machine gunners, or anything else was killed or wounded, just about a hundred men per day.

Ms. Lacey is the official historian of the Sixth, and she has indeed done her job well with the publication of this book.

Stay Off The Skyline: The Sixth Marine Division On Okinawa is an oral history collecting the testimonies of the Sixth Marine Division in their own words. The Sixth Marine Division was formed of battle-tested veterans and fought its only action on the island of Okinawa from April to June 1945, capturing most of the ground in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. A gripping compilation that immerses the reader in the experiences of those who laid their lives on the line for their country, Stay Off The Skyline is a primary source enthusiastically recommended for lay readers and military historians alike.

Although as a participant I have a built-in prejudice, I feel compelled to comment on this notable example of the effectiveness of oral history. Ms. Lacey has combined her talent for conducting oral interviews with her ability to weave a most absorbing tale of the 6th Marine Division and its significant contribution to the Battle of Okinawa. She expertly and objectively explains the significance of the Battle of Okinawa and its influence on the decision to drop "the bomb." Her credentials are most impressive and she has gotten into the trenches for this endeavor. It's a MUST read, not only for military historians and history buffs, but those who want to learn what war is really like upfront and personal, with all the glory and hurrahs cast aside.

I live in Tokyo and this is pretty legitimate account of the history of trends in Harajuku. Two thumbs up!

The main difference between Western fashion movements and Japanese fashion movements, as author Tiffany Godoy tells us, is that whereas the West is caught up in political statements or a quest for identity, Japanese style is simply fashion for fashions sake, playing with materials and colors the way an artists plays with paints and canvas. Individual designers create their scenes, complete with music, magazines, models and hot places to be seen, rather than an organic outgrowth of a social movement.

"Style Deficit Disorder" is a serious history lesson and study of Harajuku fashion, from the Post-war transformation of the district and the influence of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and the major changes in style brought by each successive decade. All of the major players are introduced, such as Okawa Hitomi and her shop Milk and the fashion band The Plastics whose look inspired Madonna's early designs. Magazines, such as Cutie, FRUiTS and TUNE are covered in detail, showing how their fashion editors were able to exert their power and change the decorated face of Japanese fashion.

Of course, as a fashion history "Style Deficit Disorder" is an explosion of colorful images, authentic street photographs and composed professional scenes. There are more than enough visuals here to satisfy anyone's lust for the sometimes-bizarre world of Japanese design, and a designer looking for influence and ideas would find this a valuable tool. But don't be fooled into thinking this is a coffee table flip book. The accompanying text is heavy enough to be used in a college course, and any serious student of fashion should have this book in their library.

Rarely has a book been published with more insight and subject comprehension than "Style Deficit Disorder: Harajuku Street Fashion -- Tokyo" by Ms. Godoy. It is clear that Ms. Godoy has done a enormous amount of research and exploration in illuminating the complex and fascinating subject matter of Tokyo street fashion. Anyone who has ever lived in Japan will attest to the relentless and creative fashion changes that the youth culture has embraced and adapted to their own unique expression of individualism. Anyone wishing to understand the fashion phenomenon of Tokyo this book is the one to own- all the other manuscripts fail in comparison to Ms. Godoy's research. Ms. Godoy has written the definitive work on Harajuku Street fashion and culture.