Japanese Books

Reviewed by Anne Marie Medema (age 12) for Reader Views (3/08)

"Laura's Victory" is written by Veda Boyd Jones and is appropriate for children ages 8 to 12. Veda Boyd Jones cleverly winds a fictional family into the historic events of the Second World War. The author takes the tragic events of World War II and relays them to what is happening in America. The words chosen to tell the story are descriptive and understandable for a child. Veda Boyd Jones brings the history of World War II to a level that can interest and influence children. Veda Boyd Jones has a simplistic writing style that makes the reader want to continue to the end of the book. The whole book can be summed up in the final three words of the book, God Bless America. These words say that no matter what nationality you are, America is one melting pot of the world, and Veda Boyd Jones makes us understand that clearly.

In the beginning of "Laura's Victory" Laura's brother Eddie comes down with the deadly disease called polio. Eddie fights the polio and survives although the disease cripples one of his legs. Eddie is confined to a brace on his right leg. Laura's other brother, Bruce, is fighting for the United States Army during World War II in an undisclosed location. Laura wants to know where Bruce is fighting. So Laura devises a code that makes Bruce's letters look like simple letters. Yvonne, Laura's friend, helps Laura devise the code. Laura and Yvonne give the code to Maude, an old woman whose son is also fighting for the US in WWII in the Pacific Ocean. Maude helps Laura's mother run the family's hotel business. Class elections are held in school. Both Laura and Eddie became President of their respective classes. In social studies they are asked to find out their nationality. Laura discovers her father is from South Africa and her mother is from Germany. A boy in class ridicules Laura and others because their ancestors are the enemy. Laura's old friends, the Wakamutsu family, bring home a surprise. They adopt a 5th grade girl named Miyoko whose father is fighting in England for the United States. They learn that President Roosevelt is dead and Harry Truman, Vice President, takes over the office of President. Laura feels a special bond to President Roosevelt because he had polio just like Eddie, her brother. Later Laura finds out her family is moving to a home in the outskirts of Seattle, Washington. Laura is sad because she grew up in the hotel and loves the people she has known. Laura's family still owns the hotel. The Second World War ends. Upon hearing the news, Maude cuts open her pillow; and she shakes the feathers around the streets of Seattle in delight. A few weeks later, Laura and Eddie spot their brother Bruce coming home from the war. They are overjoyed. The book ends at a Thanksgiving dinner that Laura says is the best ever!

I recommend the book "Laura's Victory" because it is filled with suspense and adventure. I consider "Laura's Victory" to be one of the best "Sister in Time" books that I have ever read. It is a touching story because of how the war has affected Laura and her family who live in America. The author entwines the life of common Americans into a fascinating adventure during World War II. Laura is a character I can relate to because she is independent and devoted to her family. With every page turn there was a new twist to the story that made me feel like I was Laura Edwards. "Laura's Victory" is a must read.

I absolutely love this book! I got this book and two other books from a friend of mine for my 11th birthday last month. So far I've only read three of Sisters in Time books and this is my least favorite of the three, but I still really,really like this book. I would definitely recommend that you buy this book! I promise you will love it!

I really enjoyed reading this book .Not only was it informative but beautifully written .The book deals with Isamu Noguchi's life with insight and sensitivity .Definitely worth buying.

"Sam" Gilmour, heartlander, great sculptor, world traveler, free spirit, aka "Noguchi"--
The sadly neglected tale of a shy 13 year-old boy traveling alone to LaPorte, Indiana for early schooling "as a true American" and known there as "Sam" Gilmour, was later to become widely known as one of the world's greatest sculptors -- Isamu Noguchi (a future Jeopardy question?). A new biography "The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey Without Borders" includes revealing details and childhood snapshots for the first time from the archives of Lilly Library at Indiana University. This biography, only recently published in English, unfolds like a panoramic tapestry of life ... colorful, insightful, personal. It includes his stressful adaptations to cultural duality, personal relationships with notable companions, and his bonding with the idea of "mound builders" of native Americans.

After traveling alone across the ocean and the country, he began his new, Midwestern experience by hiking down the remote dirt road for the first time past the farms, fields, and woods to the Interlaken boarding school, feeling overwhelmed by the "vastness, the sweep, the panorama of that open Indiana countryside." Soon, when fateful WW I events abruptly closed the boarding school, he lived alone on the abandoned premises for a month "like Daniel Boone". Finally good fortune had him transferring to the public LaPorte High School and living with a locally prominent family in town, he graduated four years later in 1922. Typically, he had a newspaper route. Aspiring to be an "all-American boy", the yearbook included his illustrations and classmates elected him "Biggest Bull-Head."

And so goes the first 100 pages. The next 340 pages of this epic follow his footprints through the Sands of Time, continuing 'Sam's Splendid Adventure' to the peaks of artistic expression in dance theatre, architecture, and sculpture. Along the way, this "Hoosier" sojourns with many of the greatest artistic spirits this world has ever seen.

On a very personal note, I met with Noguchi a couple of times ('70s) in my New York work, and had once played a basketball game ('50s) at his Indiana high school (big deal there, then). Regrettably, I didn't realize at the time that our paths had previously crossed, albeit if only in space-time. Somewhere, sometime, "somewhat" dedicated individuals must necessarily put out a wake-up call to the Arts in Indiana patrons at colleges, museums, and libraries on this wholly unusual and neglected chapter of American cultural history at the turn of the 20th Century with its demographic changes of nation building immigration, new industrialization, and new urbanism. Fittingly, the Noguchi Foundation has an extensive curriculum guide available. His centennial birth date is November 17, 2004.

Desmond Powers does a masterful job to draw his reader into his life story. He led a unique and interesting life and does a superb job writing about it. The "Little Foreign Devil" is a non-fiction book that is far more interesting than any fictional story!

I recommend this book to all those who love biographies, or those interested in a look at modern history.

A beautifully written, true life experience of the life and times of foreigners in China's treaty ports. A colorful life until the bombshell of Pearl Harbor when even taipans are reduced to coolies in Japanese prison camps. Richly illustrated with contemporary photos.

The book is an in-depth study of life and times of Westerners in Korea - mainly Christian missionaries, but also diplomats, refugees, military men. Eloquently written, it makes for a great read. I could not put it down until getting to the last page.

The book begins with a description of adventures of early Christian missionaries, among whom Clark lists his grandfather. It is indeed a moving story of hardship and suffering, of remarkable achievement and loss. The author accounts for miserable conditions of Korea back in the early 1900s, and shows why so many Western missionaries chose to brave the difficulties and make Korea their home.

The book dwells at length on the Japanese occupation of Korea, brutality and suppression. He notes that whilst many missionaries supported the cause of Korean independence, most chose to keep on good terms with the authorities. At the same time, as the militarist regime grew more oppressive in Korea, many Christian missionaries had to choose between accepting increasing state control of religion and giving up their work by leaving Korea. Clark gives an interesting example of this dilemma in his discussion of the Japanese efforts to force Shinto worship on Koreans.

The author's main point is to argue that missionaries did much good work for Korea, notwithstanding prejudices and arrogance that was inevitably manifest in the Western community. In a very subtle way he takes an issue with the attempts in modern Korean historiography to depict early Westerners as racist exploiters. At the same time, he does not shun away from the discussion of exploitation and injustice, as in his analysis of the gold mining business in Korea. On the other hand, the author in a few places makes fairly careful references to anti-Western prejudices and bias in Korea itself - too carefully perhaps, because indeed such sentiments bordering on plain racism are often seen in many parts of Asia, not just Korea.

Korea, which Clark depicts, is long-gone. Seoul is a cosmopolitan hub, one feels here much the same as in any other modern metropolis. The frontier of expat communities moved further into Asia. For instance, when living in Mongolia and Central Asia for several years I witnessed - and was properly disgusted by - self-contained expat communities with much of the colonial mindset so present in the Korean expat community in the early part of the 20th century.

The author talks about the suffering and deprivation of Korea in war-time (1940s up to the Korean War). It is incredible what many of these Westerners went through, and even more incredible to think that they actually had a good time compared to the vast majority of Koreans. The book leaves a sad impression of modern Korean history, which is simply soaked in blood - and it is probably an accurate impression. Hard to believe this now, looking out the window of the 4th floor of Gwanghwamun Starbucks.

Good read, highly recommended!

This book is by far one of the best, if not THE best, I've read about Korea during the first half of the 1900's. Very interesting, intriguing, and well-documented.

I actually bought this book in the airport in Tokyo on my way back to the States. I was visiting my son and family in Northern Japan and was experiencing the Japanese Culture.
I only wish I had know about this book before I went to Japan.
I feel in love with the people and country and culture.
This book is written by the Japanese and is illustrated to help your understanding.
I would have avoided several embarassing moments. It is a "must"

I ordered this book before traveling to Japan and have found that it was incredibly helpful in getting me up to speed on the subtle and not-so-subtle mannerism of the Japanese people.

All of the sections are direct and to the point and will save you lots of trial and error. For example, the section on Japanese public baths pointed out the main steps that I needed to take in order to not make a complete idiot of myself in my first visit to a Japanese Public bath.

The illustrations are humorous and cute in the typical Japanese manner and make the reading quite enjoyable.

I highly recommend this book for anyone thinking of traveling to Japan or even just interested in Japanese culture.

I listed the table of contents for this book below. Each section is main section is listed with asterisks and followed by its subsections. Each subsection consists of 1 to 5 pages of material.

*Living in Japan*

Exchanging greetings

Sleeping

Using the bath and toilet

Japanese clothes

Visiting a Japanese home

Finding one's way around

Taking the train

Using the municipal buses

Taking a taxi

Driving

Renting accommodations

Using the telephone

Sending mail

Keeping up with the news

Using the bank

Shopping

Eating out

Tea, coffee and Japanese tea

Drinking

Using the public bath

Barbers and hairdressers

Going to the cleaners

Putting out the rubbish

Going to the hospital

Typhoons and earthquakes

Cooking Japanese food

Studying Japanese

*Enjoying Japan*

Getting on with the Japanese

Singing to karaoke

Playing pachinko

Betting

Studying martial arts

Watching sumo or baseball

Adult amusements

Annual events

Street stalls

Going to fishing ponds

Traveling in style

Traveling on the cheap

Taking a sightseeing bus

Visiting a hot spring

Going to the seaside

*Understanding Japan*

Attending a wedding

Attending a funeral

Exchanging gifts

Good and bad luck

Zazen

Eastern Medicine

Soroban and calculator

Crime

Business

The Japanese factory

Going to parties

A typical Japanese family

*Appendix*

Self-expression

Physique

Body language

Etiquette

********************

Other titles released by Japan Travel Bureau:

Vol 1 - A Look Into Japan

Vol 2 - Living Japanese Style

Vol 3 - Eating in Japan

Vol 4 - Festivals of Japan

Vol 5 - Must-see in Kyoto

Vol 6 - Must-see in Nikko

Vol 7 - A Look Into Tokyo

Vol 8 - "Salaryman" in Japan

Vol 9 - Who's Who of Japan

Vol 10 - Today's Japan

Vol 11 - Regard Sur Le Japon (french edition)

Vol 12 - Vie Au Japon (french edition)

Vol 13 - Japanese Characters

Vol 14 - Japanese Inn & Travel

Vol 15 - Say it in Japanese

Vol 16 - Martial Arts & Sports in Japan

Vol 17 - Japanese Family & Culture

Wow! Japanese people in Japan being interviewed, their responses being transcribed in natural Japanese (with furigana to clarify) and vocabulary lists to define some of the more difficult terms! I've been wanting something like this for a loooong time... even the aizuchi is transcribed. Everything - and there are no English translations - perfect! This is REAL Japanese, not from a textbook. The speech is all natural speed, the people interviewed are all different ages and genders, the questions are all about aspects of Japanese culture and society. This DVD / book combination feels long overdue.

Please note, as I mentioned, that there are vocabulary lists, but no English translations of the interviews. You might take this as too difficult, but it really isn't. Dive in and get to work.

This book/dvd set is very good for bringing Japanese as it is really spoken to those who are learning the language and don't have the fortune of actually living in Japan. It's especially nice that all the dialogue on the dvd is given in written form in the book, with proper explanations. One thing that lacks in many language learning devices is the opportunity to hear the language applied in reality, and this program fills that gap. Instead of set dialogues and situations, you hear unrehearsed responses to questions about daily life, such as family, work, and school.

However, because of the nature of this work it is not for beginners; I would recommend it for at least intermediate learners, unless one wants only to listen and train their ear.

Very compelling narratives told in a sensitive and caring way. The author does an excellent job of sharing the stories and the experiences of these men in a way that reaches out to many of us who didn't experience WWII personally. Imagine landing safely after your plane is shot down to find yourself surrounded by the angry Japanese citizens you just bombed? Or imagine 80 year-old men who still get emotional remembering that first moment reunited with their mothers after years as POWs? Not only a great history of WWII, but a fantastic read that is relevant today in any discussion of the consequences of war or the imprisonment or torture of human beings.

I am very excited to add this book to my collection of world war two books

Rarely have I read a more valid history of the sufferings of the American POWS under the Japanese nor a more inspiring story of faith and love. Quinn' story parallels and traces the experiences of the high ranking Generals and officers on Bataan, Corregidor and other places seized by the Japanese. Abuse and starvation was the deliberate policy of the Japanese yet these men never lost faith nor desire to survive.

Quinn's story beats Wainwrights, King or Bunker for revealing the soul of a man and how he lived through the horrors. His love for his wife, "Mike", is an inspirational story that should be retold in every history class.
Roger Mansell
Director
Center for Research
Allied POWS Under the Japanese

This book means a great deal to me as I knew the man that wrote it personally. His family was neighbors & friends of mine for 17 years and they became my family....he ("The Colonel") was like my grandfather....he was a third grandfather to my kids.
We all called him "The Colonel" for that is what he was....a great man and Colonel!!! He used to have my daughter come up close to him and he would give her a kiss on top of her nose, right on the freckle that was there...she would giggle and turn all red! We loved this man as much as we loved our blood related grandfathers! He was a super person as is his kids....they all are my family now!!! Such people like them are extremely hard to find. Such friends like them are imposible to find!!!! They have been through all my good times and bad times with me....they know all about me and are still my friends...family!!! Not many can really saw that about someone that you just meet by moving into a new neighbor hood. Words will never truly express my deep love and gratitude for these people.
Love Letters to Mike has such special meaning to me....it is living history....unlike you could/can never get via any school!!!!
I love you all...Quinn's...Kruegers....McCain's .....etc....all of you!!! Thanks for being my friend!!!

I found this manga completely by accident and have been addicted to it ever since. If you like Gravitation, or any other shounen-ai type mangas, this one is for you. It is a series of different stories, all based around a club called B&B. The club is a member's only, exclusive host club, where if you're rich enough, you can rent a boy for a day, a week, a month, or the rest of his and your lives. Every story is about someone who is connected in some way to the B&B. Each story is very sweet (though there is almost always sex, so this is not for someone under 18). It's really too bad that no one has licensed this story, and that it's so hard to find now. I really recommend it to all yaoi/shounen-ai connoisseurs.

This is more of a hardcore BL series than a softcore yaoi. It's almost like watching a soap opera with no female characters.

The art style in the series changes over time. In book one it's clear that the mangaka's strong points are clothing, hair, backgrounds, & hands. The faces are well drawn, but the eyes & eyebrows make everyone look hideous, with the ecception of Aoe. Skip ahead to the last page of book 8 & you see that that problem has been resolved.

This is an angsty series, & yes it does have many of the same elements as Gravitation. The story is thouoghly enjoyable & I hope it gets translated.

With its slightly tongue-in-cheek title, "Made in Japan" is a nice, beautifully printed art book focusing on the heyday of the creative art print (sosaku hanga) from the immediate postwar years until the late 1960's. Originally intended as an exhibit catalog for a 2005 exhibition by the same name at the Milwaukee Art Museum, it stands on its own just fine as well (except for a little blurb frustratingly listing the exhibited pieces not shown herein). It also works well as a bit of art history, including as it does two interesting articles by Alicia Volk and Helen Nagata. The latter takes a careful look at the complex, ambiguous relationship between creative print artists and Ukiyo-e, a premodern tradition of mass production from which they stridently distinguished themselves even as it subtly influenced and informed some of their work. The former focuses on the role of this art form in Japanese-American relations in fascinating detail, discussing among other things the initial enthusiasm for prints on the part of American Occupation officials in the late 1940's, the efforts of people like James Michener and Oliver Statler to draw attention to these prints as a form of fine art both in America and Japan itself, and Japanese artists' intentions and motivations for using their works as a medium of cultural diplomacy between the two recently belligerent nations within the context of the Cold War. Volk does a wonderful job too of attending to the historical context and to the sociopolitical realities involved without being reductive or cynical.

And that's just the beginning. What about the actual art itself? The majority of the book is indeed dedicated to presenting a selection of 78 prints (actually more, for in a few cases there's a set of several prints under an overarching series title) by 59 artists, all in full color. Most artists are represented by one or two works as is appropriate to such an overview, though a few major figures in the field get more of a spotlight, especially the ever favorite Munakata Shiko. The prints are also organized in roughly chronological order and according to themes (nature, process and materials, abstraction, things Japanese, and pop and conceptualism), which aids one in appreciating and distinguishing the different artists and their styles as well as the gradual development of this art form during the decades in question. If the book has one imperfection, it's that some of the illustrations are a bit small. The format of the book makes this a necessary evil perhaps, though the decision-making process behind which prints get a single full page and which get crowded together with two or three others seems a tad arbitrary. So be it, though. One minor nitpick aside, this thin little volume is an immensely interesting and visually stunning look at one surprisingly significant aspect of modern art in Japan.

P.S. For a fine book on this subject published during the actual time period when Japanese creative prints were at their peak of popularity, check out CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE PRINTS.

In the rebuilding of Japanese society in the years after its defeat in World War, there was a "creative print movement [that] brought modern European artistic attitudes such as self-expression and formalist innovation to the Japanese woodblock print, a medium that had been rooted in the mass-production of popular images for several hundred years." The latest stages of this movement are becoming more widely known in the United States with the popularity of the Japanese manga and anime. The predecessors of this recent Japanese art are seen in the colors, designs, collages, subjects, and treatments of the post-war prints in this volume. One or two prints of 59 artists are shown in the main section of about 70 pages. These range from dark, tangled visions from having witnessed the devastation from the atom bombs to abstract designs to brightly-colored, comically erotic figures. Biographical sketches of the 59 artists follow the main section.