Japanese Books

This audio product clearly deserves 5 stars. Infofount has hit another home run, with "Bushido - Japanese Art of War."

This audiobook on CD is entertaining, educational, and very easy to listen to as well as follow along with. The production quality is excellent and the narration is intermingled with musical clips and intermittent sound effects (gongs, drums, cymbals, bells, birds singing, etc) in appropriate places.

Ross Armetta is the main narrator for this, and I think he does a great job overall. He does his best to use voice inflection, tone, and volume, as well as changes in reading rate and rhythm, in order to keep his narrations lively and interesting. At some points, Ross changes his voice to create different male and female characters, and he even uses various different accents.

After listening to many of Infofount's audio CD's, I've come to appreciate Ross' desire to bring variety and contrast to his recordings, as well as even humor and quirkiness in some places. The effect of all of this is to continuously keep the listener engaged, and prevent boredom and disinterest.

I find this approach to be superior to simple plain voice narration, since it breaks up the monotony of many other audio CD's and audio books, which contain single narration with no accompanying music or sound effects.

"Bushido" is not Ross' liveliest-sounding audio CD set, in comparison to some others. He plays it mostly straight-up on this one, and his voice has a serious tone to it throughout most of the recording. However, given the subject matter, I think this is probably appropriate. Check out his recording entitled "As You Think So You Are", which is an adaptation of As A Man Thinketh, by James Allen, to hear some really zany and quirky narration and sound effects. Like I said though, I really appreciate this, since Ross really helps keep my attention and prevent boredom while listening.

The packaging of Infofount's products is adequate. The CD's come in paper sleeves and the printing and design are not the most high-tech, glossy, nor professional. However, this does not detract from the overall value of the audio products, in my opinion. Also, Infofount has great customer service. I've called and emailed them a couple of times with questions about their products, and I've always gotten prompt and friendly service and replies. (Infofount's phone number and email, as well as additional product information, can be found on their website, infofount.com.)

The contents of this audio CD set, "Bushido - Japanese Art of War" are:

Disc 1 (total time = 77 min 10 sec)

1. Infofount Theme
2. We hope you benefit from the following
3. Contents
4. Bushido as an Ethical System
5. Sources of Bushido
6. Rectitude or Justice
7. Courage, the Spirit of Daring and Bearing
8. Benevolence, the Feeling of Distress
9. Politeness
10. Veracity or Truthfulness
11. Honor

Disc 2 (total time = 75 min 18 sec)

1. The Duty of Loyalty
2. Educational and Training of a Samurai
3. Self-Control
4. The Institutions of Suicide and Redress
5. The Sword, the Soul of the Samurai
6. The Training and Position of Woman

Disc 3 (total time = 34 min 45 sec)

1. The Influence of Bushido
2. Is Bushido Still Alive?
3. The Future of Bushido
4. End Thank you for your Purchase


Get this! You won't be disappointed!!

After taking Azuma-sensei's class at the University of Utah, I can honestly say from experience that this is an excellent text book.
I only wish I had it when I was living and working in Japan.

Lynne Strugnell and Micheal Jenkins deserve credit for making a excellent book. This book teaches everything you need to know to communicate in a more business style, but can still be used as a beginner book. I enjoy this book because it includes the dialouge in both kana and romanji, and there are enough exercises to make sure you don't forget what you learned. I also enjoy the way they teach on this book.It doesn't seem to confuse you at all. Excellent book it deserves more than 5 stars. Make sure you stick to this book and finish it, you won't regret it.
I also recommend along with this book is pimsleur japanese programs.

it is comrpised of 50 lesson units. In my opinion, it is not designed for elementary learners. it is far from that. Every unit contains new japanese words and compound words and then their equivalents in English supplied with example sentences for every new kanji. And you find reading exercises only in Japanese and it rest with your level of Japanese proficiency to translate them into English. No key for translations whatsoever. However this bokok deserves 5 stars and I recommend it for at least intermediate learners.

Of the many textbooks on business Japanese, this is pedagogically the best for people who already know a good deal of Japanese grammar and know quite a few kanji (say a thousand or so), but need to to develop a vocabulary for reading newspapers, books, magazine articles, etc. related to business.
Unlike the earlier book, "Reading Financial Newspapers" this book introduced kanji in groups of 20 or so per chapter and gives systematic practice reading them before moving on to the next chapter--i.e. it is not in the "random brute force" school of teaching Japanese that is still all too prevalent.
The readings get progressively harder grammatically as well and are quite demanding by the end--leaving you quite able to tackle books and professional articles by the end.
I review it frequently to "tighten up" my own knowledge and need (and want) to buy a new one because I have used it so much over the last few years. Ideally, it should have a more solid, flexible binding--like a dictionary!

The Candidate for Goddess Volume 1 is a book for anime/manga and sci-fi fans alike. The book starts the story out at a slow pace, like the anime. However the background story is more complete. Be advised that some pictures in this book are for teenagers and up. I would recomend this for any sci-fi or anime/manga fan. Especially if you are a fan of sereis like Gundam or Evangelion.

From the dustjacket...

Commander Donald Giles, Sr., the Vice Governor of Guam, faced a Japanese invasion of the island shortly after Pearl Harbor. He and his comrades became some of the first American POWs in WWII.

"Captive is based on a memoir written by Giles and discovered after his death by his son, Donald T. Giles, Jr." "...one of the most cogent accounts every published on the fall of Guam and en ensuing four years of brutality." It details atrocities, survival, the fates of of all personnel who died or were captured on Guam, and "inspires the reader on both a military and a human level." The book also documents Giles' readjustment to America after the war.

All the book titles of CLAMP have been amazingly drawn and contains a good story and background as well as a plan to what the story ends like. I have seen the anime and the manga and both are really well made. If you don't like these series, I suggest you buy Tsubasa, if your up too more serious manga.

If you are interested in the general process of dying kimono, and wondered how they produced the beautiful designs this book is for you. Stencils were created to lay down repetitive designs on long strips of fabric. This book traces how this craft became an art form on its own. Gorgeous reproductions complete the understanding of how this tool became as collectible and worthy of study similar to wood block prints. An end chapter expands on how this product of the textile process affected Americans personally and artistically. A must have for any textile fan!

Knowledgeably compiled and expertly edited by retired academician and scholar Minoru Kiyota, The Case Of The Japanese Americans During World War II: Suppression Of Civil Liberty is a comprehensive study of the incarcerated treatment of the 112,000 Japanese-Americans imprisoned in a system of camps in America after the Pearl Harbor attack that launched America's overt involvement in World War II. Illustrated by the experiences of many individual Japanese American ordeals in these relocation camps, The Case Of The Japanese Americans During World War II is an accurate and informative revelation of what daily life was like for those who were held prisoner -- some of whose sons took service in the American armed forces European Theatre campaigns. The Case Of The Japanese Americans During World War II is very strongly recommended to all readers searching for a complete, thorough, and expansive knowledge of American Government's treatment of Japanese Americans, treatment which has a continuing relevance in this present era of a "War on Terrorism" and Islamic Americans.