Japan Books

This is a very enlightening, but sad, account of POW's. Much to my surprise Mr. Nordin is from Siren, WI. So this book was doubly interesting to me as it contained information about people I actually know of and others who lived near to me. I live in NW WI. It just seemed like it brought the experience closer to home for me, and I could actually feel what some of these POW's must have been going through. The things these people endured for 4 long years is unbelievable and really makes me appreciate what these people have gone through for myself and others. I always knew of POW prisons and their treatment but never really realized how demeaning some of the treatment and conditions were and marvel at how they managed to survive. Highly reccommended to those interested in knowing the truth of such events.

This book gave a realistic account of what those men went through on a daily basis. He captures the small moments of compassion and frustrations without dwelling on the well deserved resentment. This book truly shows how hard it is to dominate the human spirit. One of the best books I have ever read.

Nordin's experiences differ from most previously published narratives of American prisoners of war in the Philippines not in describing cruel treatment by their Japanese captors but in being located in the southern island of Mindanao rather than Bataan or Corregidor. He has carefully checked his half century-old memory against a secretly kept notebook and a return to the jungle camps where he was starved and beaten. The publisher maintains its usual high standards of acid-free paper, library binding and illustrations but fails to provide an accurate map

This is the best account of life as a prioner-of-war that I have ever read. It deals with the day-to-day experiences Carl and I encountered, and it is the first time that anyone has been able to put into writing an account that can be understood by all whether you were there or not. I bought six copies for each of my children because it was so close to my own experience, and they were all very pleased to finally be able to fully understand what I had gone through. Bill Lowe, Riverside, CA

Carl Nordin author of "We Were Next to Nothing..." accounts his day to day experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II in Japanese POW Camps. This book does not dwell on the horrors of war or the cruelty that he must have experienced, but instead reveals to the reader what his daily experiences were, and how he survived. I strongly urge every American, young or old, to read this book and understand what our fellow Americans did and suffered to keep our freedom.

This is a brilliant, concise gem of a book that brings certain sights of Kyoto to life unlike any travel guide. When I visited many of the places described here, I'd no idea that any of this remarkable history had occurred.

I think this book is an essential addition to any serious Japan library, and as it is a slim text - I think it'd be a welcome and portable companion on a reader's visit to Kyoto.

Keene's study of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who many historians call the worst shogun in Japanese history, is remarkable for its central theme: that this man was actually one of the greatest Japanese persons ever.

Keene does a decent job of recounting the historical context of Yoshimasa's life: it was an era of unending war and brutality when famine and sickness ravaged the peasantry and rich aristocrats vied for power in the most brutal fashion - beheadings, suicide and betrayal were commonplace. These same aristocrats also lead lives of dissipation - spending their lives drinking and "sporting" while the masses suffered and Kyoto was razed time after time.

But where Keene shows his brilliance is in his interpretation of the life of this failed shogun who embraced religion and the arts as an escape for the 'impure world' and in the process invented many Japanese cultural forms.

When Yoshimasa fumbles the choosing of his successor and a civil war is unleashed, he decides then and there to leave his shogun's life behind and build a mountain retreat - the so called 'silver pavilion' - where he spent his days contemplating the arts.

It is clear that an aesthete such as Yoshimasa was incapable of leading the Japanese nation in war. But Keene shows in this book that Yoshimasa's peculiar taste in art - simple unadorned wood, sliding screen doors, rustic tea utensils, and gardens filled with rare trees and stones, poetry, Chinese calligraphy, flower arrangements, No theatre and so on - served as the template for future Japanese cultural expression.

Yoshimasa's silver pavilion was thus an incubator for 'the soul of Japan,' and a location where visitors can still see the building almost exactly as it looked a half millennium ago. Now I want to visit Kyoto again with newly aware eyes.

This book's only shortcoming is its lack of explanation as to how the culture born at the silver pavilion spread throughout Japan. Yet that might require a lengthy tome, and one of the nice aspects of this history is that it can be read leisurely in a couple of days. It also features some nice color photos. Highly recommended.

This book was given to me by a friend. Frankly, I wouldn't have bought it based on the back flap. Yet, Donald Keene wrote a great book explaining the importance of possibly the worst Shogun in Japanese history, Ashikaga Yoshimasa. He was a terrible military strategist and his government (especially during the Onin war) was one of the weakest in Japan's history. On the other hand, Yoshimasa was of vital importance to the Arts; calligraphy, Waka and other poetry, the cha-no-yu ceremony and painting all were sponsored by Yoshimasa. He also left the beautiful Ginkakuji, the Temple of the Silver Pavilion, for posterity. Yoshimasa's impact on Japanese culture and the arts is undeniable, even in modern day Japan.

Donald Keene, who probably has done more to make Japanese literature understandable to Americans now turns his attention to the state of Japan during the days of Yoshimasa, one of the Ashikaga shoguns. Like other families to rule Japan in the name of the emperor, the founder of the family generally tended to be a fairly dynamic figure, followed by persons of varying competance before sinking into dynastic decadance.

This book presents a portrait of one of the least competant persons to ever become shogun, but managed to have a positive influence just the same. Keene argues rather convincingly that Yoshimasa, though a weak ruler, was an influental patron of the arts. It is Yoshimasa's aesthetic which eventually prevailed in the Japanese imagination and that is the lasting contribution of both him and the Silver Pavilion.

I thought the book was consistent with the overall general high level of scholarship that characterizes Keene's works in general. However, while I am willing to give this work my highest possible recommendation, I am not sure if I can totally support all of the claims made for Yoshimasa. My main concern is that even though I am ready to concede that he does have an aesthetic legacy, I am not sure (and for that matter no one ever really can be) that he can claim to have originated all of the artistic innovations (though patronage) that Keene claims. My reason for doubt is that many buildings that date back to Yoshimasa's period were themselves destroyed during the Onin war (a war brought about by Yoshimasa's politic ineptness). Lacking anything really to compare the Silver Pavilion to, makes it difficult to determine just exactly how great an influence this building actually had at the time. The fact that it survives at all probably ensures that it has had and continues to have an impact on other generations. I am just not sure on what influence it might have had at the time that it was built.

The title of the book is "the soul of Japan" which means the Silver Pavilion built by Ashikaga Yoshimasa the 8th shogun of the Muromachi period.

Chapter 1 Ashikaga Yoshinori the 7th shogun, a tyrant killed by one of daimoys
Chapter 2 Childhood of Yoshimasa, his wife Shigeko and his "favorite mistress" Imamairi
Chapter 3 Weakness of the shogunate, preparation of Onin war
Chapter 4 Onin war, the relationship between Japan and Ming dynasty of China
Chapter 5 Japanese Renaissance, Eastern Mountain culture
Chapter 6 Yoshimasa as a patron of Cha-no-yu, his interest in Chinese painting
Chapter 7 Poetry at that time: renga and waka
Chapter 8 The Silver Pavilion, the garden and the architects Zenami and Soami
Chapter 9 Cha-no yu
Chapter 10 Religions of Yoshimasa, art of the no theater

The division of the chapters and the description of their content are very rough because the author usually puts many different topics in one chapter. This informal writing style seems like that the author has no clear plan and he just writes down something when he remembers something. Reading the book from cover to cover may not be the best way to appreciate it. The character I most like is the index of the book. It is complete and interesting. Just choose a word from the index, and read something about the word in the book. For example you can just read the paragraphs about the eccentric Zen monk Ikkyu and his poems. After you finish all the words in the index, you are able to construct a whole story in your mind. It is the post-modern style of V. Nabokov's novel "Pale Fire".

Judging from the book, the author is just a good story-teller not a good historian. Actually he is good at Japanese literature. This book just contains much facts and details which I don't think important. The author does not see the essence of Japanese culture and does not explain why Japanese culture is special. It is not easy to understand the essence of Japanese culture for most Western scholars. Usually they just emphasize bizarre events, strange imaginations or explain things from the Western piont of view. In my opinion, the soul of Japan is the Bushido and Zen. These two topics are not treated deeply in this book. If you are interted in Japanese culture I will recomment to you the other books:
Bushido: the soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe
Zen culture by Thomas Hoover
Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn

By the way, I like this little book. It is beautiful with its poetic language. It is a pleasant experience reading the book on the train passing through Appalachia Mountain in the summer.

Donald Keene's latest contribution to the field of Japan studies is a masterpiece on the development of Japanese aesthetics and kokoro (heart, soul, mind), much of which evolved during the Higashiyama Period at the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji) under the leadership of Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Shogun at the time of Onin War (1467-1477), which destroyed nearly all of Kyoto, Yoshimasa was a hapless leader who devoted himself instead to the pursuit of beauty. In this Period, Noh and ink painting flourished, the tea ceremony "originated in a small room at Ginakaku-ji where Yoshimasa offered tea to his friends," and with it the Japanese art of flower arrangement was born. Keene acknowledges the judgment of most historians-that Yoshimasa was weak, extravagant, incompetent in affairs of state, and unable to end a meaningless war and its incumbent famine and suffering-yet posits that he has yet to be recognized for his contribution to Japanese arts and taste. In the midst of wholesale destruction, Yoshimasa precipitated a Japanese renaissance.
Though respecting his grandfather Yoshimitsu, the builder of the Golden Pavilion (kinkakuji), he had no interest in emulating either his life or works. Yoshimasa's Silver Pavilion stands in stark contrast to his grandfather's Golden Pavilion, the later coated in gold leaf, the former the epitome of Kyoto cool wabi sabi understatement. "The simplicity and reliance on suggestion of the buildings and gardens at Higashiyama may indicate that a man who had earlier exhausted the pleasures of extravagance had at last achieved a kind of enlightenment," writes Keene.
This concise work is a complex web of murder, chaos, and endless war that destroys everything in its wake. And, simultaneously-amazingly, ironically, unbelievably-the Period gave birth to some of Japan's best-known art forms. As an insight into medieval Kyoto, there is no better place to begin.

interesting and informative, but a little short for the money. If you read "zen in the art of archery" by eugene herrigel and didn't hear enough about awa kenzo, this book will give you what you want: it presents a limited biography and then gives some of his ( most important?) sayings and a few pictures of him with his bow. It got 4 out of 5 stars because it cost 12.95 list price plus shipping and is 101 pages long. Still a great read if you are interested in zen archery.

a small book but diamonds are small-as is the brief instant of satori. a wonderful history of the great Zen archer Awa Kenzo with a treasure of gems of wisdom from his teachings: statements, aphorisms, koans and haiku.
whether you are seeking thru t'ai chi, target shooting or archery, the wisdom here will guide you in your practice.

Don't miss this book if you are interested in "Zen in the Art of Archery" and "The Method of Zen" by Eugen Herrigel.
The teaching of Awa is a pearl of wisdom.

John Stevens produces another one of his find vignettes of prominent Japanese martial artists. The field of Kyudo is not well known in the U.S. and anything that can be done to remedy that should be. I believe this book is best read alongside Herrigel's "Zen and the Art of Archery."

Informative, readable and inspiring account of Kenzo's life as well as an excellent anthology of his actual teachings. I loved John Stevens' way of explaining complex Zen terms in simple English: e.g., kensho - "see your nature" or "look into your nature;" jobutsu - "become Buddha;" and the ultimate Zen experience, satori, which Stevens explains means literally "remove distinctions," and which he, along with many others, translates as "enlightenment." This is great stuff for anyone interested in Japanese language and culture as well as providing a springboard for deeper investigations of Zen, of archery as a form of "practice" and of martial arts in general. Includes detailed notes on sources and an excellent bibliography. Highly recommended.

In Zero!, Martin Caidin has brought amazing insight from a perspective otherwise (at least until 1956) seldom heard within American historical literature. Zero! recalls from two first-hand sources, the development of Japanese aviation from the Sino-Japanese War to Hiroshima/Nagasaki.
The contributions of Japanese wartime senior flying officer Masatake Okumiya brilliantly and in typical Japanese style, artistically reveals the triumphant rise and embarrassing fall of Japanese air superiority in WWII. Okumiya's contemporary accounts of some of the war's most savage air campaigns are unbelievable. As one reads Okumiya's stories, you can feel the pain of defeat mounting as American technological, economical, and military superiority develop throughout the Pacific Campaign. Okumiya's brilliant insight is a frank assessment of Japan's futile attempt at a war it could not pursue beyond several months. Further, is Okumiya's conclusion of the terrible price paid by Japan with the atomic bombs. But this comes with his belief that had these weapons not been employed, a much higher price would be paid by both sides.
Jiro Horikoshi, the engineer who created the Zero has also given his thoughts of the war and the chaos it brought to the Japanese home islands. His observations are equally frank, and critical of the Japanese political system in place before and during the war.
The stories often go forward and back with some repetition, this is common in translated works, but in this case provides a more complete picture of events as they unfold.
Anyone who questions the American use of atomic weapons against Japan should read the comments written by both these men who agree, as Caidin concludes in his preface, "gave the Japanese... an excuse and means of ending a futile war with honor intact."
If you enjoy works by current authors like Donald Goldstein, or historians like the late Katherine Dillon or Gordon Prange and you haven't read this yet, do yourself the favor of reading Zero! THEN REVIEW IT! REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS!

This is a wonderful book. I first came upon it when inventorying my late father's estate, which contained a very old, thoroughly-thumbed and dog-eared copy dating to the first edition. (Dad was a veteran of the Pacific war). I could not put the book down. "Zero!" is a thoroughly honest, non-jingoistic view of the aerial component of the Pacific war from the Japanese perspective, beginning with "The Sino-Japanese Incident" (Japan's war of aggression against China) through the defeat of Japan by the United States. While not everything in the book is necessarily correct, I believe that most or all readers will agree that the authors were scrupulously honest in their writing, and they convey the facts of the war as they saw it.

The title of the book, "Zero" reflects the authors' view that the design characteristics of the famed Zero fighter aircraft were central to Japan's waging of the Pacific war. As of 7 December 1941 the Zero could outfly, outdistance, and outfight any fighter that the United States had in service, and was rightly feared and respected by allied fighter pilots. So were the Japanese pilots themselves, who were largely battle-hardened veterans of tough aerial campaigns over China fought during the late 1930s. The Zero's range and other attributes were what made much of Japan's Pacific campaign possible, as the Zero had an unprecedented combat radius which the authors explain was central to Japan's strategy of establishing a tough perimeter for its aspiring empire.

The book is fascinating. It fully explains how the earlier American fighters were outclassed by the Zero, how the P-38 Lockheed Lightning was the first viable answer by America to the Zero (it had wildly different flight characteristics which required both sides to modify their tactics), and how finally, by late 1943 newer American designs i.e. the Hellcat, Mustang, and Corsair, finally relegated the Zero to obsolescence even as America gained the upper hand.

Other wonderful insights abound. Japan never gave its heros medals, not even to the great Japanese pilot/ace Saburo Sakai (a great chapter is devoted to him--see also the book "Samurai" and my review thereof)-- the authors' regret and perhaps resentment of this policy is plain. Japan was in awe of America's ability to hugely supply distant outposts shortly after launching an invasion--Japanese forces in the Pacific were always undersupplied and not only due to American action--the Japanese never really developed a modern logistical capability equal to the demands of global war. Similarly, the authors lament that Japan simply did not attach importance to such things as insect control and other dimensions of jungle hygiene for their outposts. This lowered the efficiency of the men markedly, as no doubt bureaucrats in Tokyo expected the men in distant jungles to overcome disease, hunger, and discomfort with warrior zeal. And yet, throughout all of this, the American reader will gain a respect for the determination, discipline and dedication of the Japanese foe of the time.

I have never read a better book about the Pacific war. This one is a keeper.

Masatake Okumiya, Jiro Horikoshi, and Martin Caidin teamed up in 1956 to write a balanced account of the Battle of Midway. Zero! is such a book. It tells, from the Japanese point of view, the story of the Battle of Midway. It goes from China through the Battle of Midway and beyond. A rip-roaring good read. It makes you feel like you're in the cockpit of the famous Japanese naval fighter alongside the likes of Saburo Sakai.

It's been a long time since I read the book, but I particularly recall Okumiya telling about losing an eye in aerial combat, and returning to fly and fight again, as a one-eyed fighter pilot. Also, the accounts of how he felt about seasoned pilots being "invited" to fly Kamikaze missions; and his description of the conditions late in the war when the Japanese pilots were out-planed, out-gunned, out-numbered, and virtually starving on remote islands. I think this book is well worth the read.

As a B-29 co-pilot, Saipan, 1945 (883rd BS, 500th BG, 73rd Wing), I was hugely impressed to read this sober, carefully chronicled report of how it was for the Japanese. The book is written by two intelligent, loyal Japanese aviation experts who tell it as it was. No boasting, no whining, no alibis. The authors detail the Sino-Japanese war of the late 30's, the attack on Pearl Harbour, Guadalcanal, Midway, and there are 2 chapters about our B-29's, starting with the chapter, "Defence of The Mainland, The Superfortress Appears". Some of us in the Marianas felt uncomfortable about the fire bombing in the Spring and Summer of '45. Now for the first time in my life, the Japanese explain to my complete satisfaction that the fire bombing was what ended the war, not the 2 atomic bombs. The book contains no bitterness, they just tell it as it was. This book should be a must for everyone who had anything to do with the air war in the Pacific in World War 2!

I simply loved the book. The history of "Toyoda"....does a great job of describing the Japanese culture from the early 1900's to the 1980's. Although Toyota is the subject....the reader is exposed to the resilience of the Japanese people. Sakichi Toyoda is a rural country boy destined to be a carpenter like his father. He chooses a different path and becomes one of the greatest inventors in the world. He conceivably is the first author of the "Six Sigma" methodology using the "5 Whys" problem solving method (fixing the source of the problem). His son Kiichiro Toyoda is obsessed with manufacturing cars and bankrupts an empire trying to build them. The spawn of this failure is born after World War II. While basically bankrupt, Toyota built and sold trucks to the US for the war in Korea. The Marshall plan infused the company with money and engineering. The result: Toyota Motor Company the Worlds largest Automaker. The story covers everything from the loom factories to the creation of Lexus....a must read for anyone who loves history.

Excellent book. Highly recommond for any one who would like to know "What is TPS?". As you see in this book one can try to copy a system but to understand and implement the philosophy behind such a system is very very difficult. Once you start reading it you will not put it down till you finish.

I thought the book was as informative as interesting. I learned a lot about Toyota, and management in general. More impressive was the writing I could not put this book down. It was exiting from start to finish.

This book will open your eyes to the unique story of men and machines in Japan, USA and Europe. There are also accurate accounts of the history of the automotive industry in the early days. You will come to realize a new appreciation for the honor and ethics of the Toyoda family and the companies and systems they founded and developed.

Excellent collection of essays- some repetitive, all comprehensive, accompanied by extremely good illustrations and photographs.

Often scholarly volumes have excellent content but are poorly produced and edited while musem volumes are often well produced and edited but lack serious and contemporary scholarly material--they become catalogues of artifacts without real contextualizing material.

Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People manages to overcome both of these problems. As a scholarly volume it has excellent content (much of which has not been previously available to non-Japanese speakers) and is well-produced and beautifully laid out.

Aside from some small quibbles I have with some other articles seeming truncated for space concerns and others for not presenting enough information (notably the articles dealing with Ainu language/linguistics), I find little to find fault with. Even my concerns about some aspects of the volume are only a request for more, not a complaint with what is in the volume.

Overall this volume does a wonderful job of making contemporary Ainu research accessible to the lay reader while also presenting enough scholarly material to make it worth-while reading for those with a deeper interest in the Ainu. Even though the volume does not deal directly with the area of my research, the amount of knowledge it conveys has foced me to rethink aspects of my own work.

Despite the fact that I have lived in Japan for more than fifteen years, my visit to the Smithsonian's fabulous "Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People" exhibit last year provided my first meaningful look at this long overlooked or misunderstood part of East Asian cultural heritage. I ordered a softcover copy of the (at the time yet to be released) book right away and have since poured through it time and again. Written largely by anthropologists, as a layman I feared that it might well be too scientific to appreciate; happily such is not the case. The book is beautifully written, edited, and illustrated. Anyone with an interest in Japan's northern culture and/or the animist nature of the nation as a whole will find this book profoundly enlightening. I regret that a hardcover edition was not available sooner.

In addition to what the other readers have written I would also add that this book is truly a "must-have" for anyone having an interest either in the Ainu specifically, or native peoples such as the Aleuts, the Inuits, the Polynesians, the Moari, etc. This, in part, because anyone interested in the Ainu will be hard-pressed to find a great deal of books in print regarding this topic, in any case in English. Photographs or Ainu artifacts are perfect and highly details, and there are a great deal of reproductions of "Ainu-e", or paintings done by the Japanese when they were slowly but surely in the process of taking over what is today Hokkaido. These are invaluable because they are rich in detail and depict a way of life that no longer exists, much in the same way that Edward Curtis' photographs of the Native Indians in the US are. I would personally recommend the hard-cover version though more pricy is a much better book to own in one's collection.

What a great book! If you've had the pleasure of living or spending any time in Japan, you'll love these stories of the ever-changing city of Tokyo, as told by Rick Roa, a successful if unorthodox, American entrepreneur. He really gets to the heart of what makes this city so irresistable to so many Americans and Europeans. Even if you have no interest in Japan, pick up a copy of the book for its inspirational value. The story of a poor kid from Brooklyn surviving the streets on his own and then going on to see the world and finally making it big. And from the anecdotes in the book, seems like he had a great time along the way! And thanks to the fine writing of Tony Teora, I feel like I've spent a few hours drinking beer with a good friend and listening to the stories of a great man. I didn't want it to end.

Rick Roa was in the right place (Tokyo) at the right time (1970s, 1980s, 1990s). There weren't so many foreigners in Tokyo then, and it was like the Wild West for entrepreneurs. Now those pioneering days are over and the corporations have taken over most of the exciting business opportunities and have driven away the mavericks, the cowboys, and the samurai. But if you let the odds squash your dreams, then you might as well crawl back into the womb!

Never having been to Japan,this book peaks my interest to do so.
Also Rick Roa's life as depicted in this book, is interesting enough to be made into a movie and Tony Teora's writing skills suggest he be the screenwriter.

AFTER LIVING 35 YEARS IN JAPAN , THIS BOOK TELLS IT ALL!

IF ANY ONE IS INTERESTED IN WHAT LIFE IS LIKE IN JAPAN THIS GUY DID IT ALL! BUT HE DOES NOT TELL US EVERYTHING, SO MY REQUEST IS TO THE AUTHOR IS GIVE US THE SEQUEL, & TELL US EVERYTHING THAT WAS NOT INCLUDED. ONE COULD VICARIOUSLY APPRECIATE THIS CHARACTER'S LIFE AS HE LIVED IT & IS STILL LIVING IT.

WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T GO TO JAPAN WITHOUT READING THIS BOOK.
IT'S A PAGE-TUNER, INTELLIGENT , AND A LOT OF FUN TO READ.

If you have ever wanted to play a trivia game using your knowledge of anime, here's your chance. The questions cover a wide variety of subjects, and they are grouped into categories. This makes it easy for you to use the book. And there is snappy banter included with the answers! Most of the comments are quite funny, and some had me rolling on the floor gasping for breath. I can't wait til the next volume comes out!

Japanese animated movies, called "anime", have received wide popular attention with the American movie-going public, and have long had an enthusiastic following among film buffs and students of Japanese popular culture. In the Anime Trivia Quizbook, Ryan Omega offers more than 400 questions that range from the very easy to the very difficult. Fortunately, he also provides the answers. The Q & A covers all the major anima genres, from giant robots and space aliens to silent samurai and "fan service" girls. From Ah My Goddess to Zetsuai and all the anime epics in between, Anime Trivia Quizbook is enhanced with sidebars, cells, and more! This is a "must" for all dedicated anime fans everywhere!

For those of us who like details, this book certainly questioned most of them. A very humorous book with comments for even the wrong answers, and a great guide for whether or not you are just starting anime or have become very obsessed with it. A variety of topics include romance, math, sci-fi, merchandise, etc. I can't get enough of this book! It contains all the current anime and puts your brain to work, but if you don't feel like doing that, the answers are easily accessible. A well-worth buy.

I was going to take this book to a party with my friends, but I missed the party because I was laughing so hard reading it! I was skeptical at first of the subtitle, "From Easy To Otaku Obscure," I thought, "Pshaw, what Sailormoon and Dragonball Z trivia probably." But no! It was a pleasant surprise to find references to lesser-known anime series' such as the Legend of Basara and Weiss Kruez, two of my personal favorites. I loved the Games section, Japanese anime-style RPG and fighting games are highly underappreciated in Western literature about contemporary Japan. When I met the author at a local bookstore, we had fantastic discussions about everything from the cultural and social implications in Final Fantasy to male and female sexuality in anime. It's refreshing to meet another anime otaku who has the brainpower left to discuss things intelligently. Everyone, including the smallest Pokemon fan to the otaku who's been watching anime since Astro Boy, should buy this book!

This autobiography of Dr. Juran, who overcame childhood tragedy to make an impact on business and society, examines his career and work life with an eye to showing how they influenced his professional development and eventual reputation in the business management world. His concepts of quality eventually became a part of businesses around the world: Architect Of Quality will appeal to any interested in how the quality concept became embedded in the business plan.

This book was a real eye opener for me. I know a little about the Quality world -- and Juran is the #1 man in Quality.

He pulled the tools together into one place for identification of waste, putting the ideas into forms management could understand, and developing problem solving methods for fixing it.

It was really interesting to see where this man came from and how his concepts and ideas came together.

Easy reading and the sort of book that will make you want to dig into his other heavier management and engineering books.

Juran is known as a Quality "guru", but this book makes clear that he made significant contributions to management theory, human resources management and consulting as well. The historical perspectives provided by such a distinguished leader in these areas is illuminating. The book is a fast read, and is focused on his professional journey, with only a little about his life outside work (I would have liked more about this side of his life). His affection for the United States, and his work with the Japanese come through as high points.

This is an excellent autobiography by one of the most renowned quality gurus in the world. His contributions to the field of quality management in his over 70 active working years is outstanding. Dr. Juran was the first to incorporate the human aspect of quality management which is referred to as Total Quality Management.

Among the quality management ideas and concepts for which Juran is well known include top management involvement, the Pareto principle, the need for widespread training in quality, the definition of quality as fitness for use, the project-by-project approach to quality improvement.

Juran was born in 1904 in Rumania. The family immigrated to the USA some few years later in search of the American dream and to escape poverty in their country. Young Juran was a gifted scholar with special aptitudes for mathematic and science. In 1920, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota. By 1925, he had received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He worked at the Western Electric Company in the Inspection Department of the famous Hawthorne Works in Chicago. This was a huge and complex factory, manned by 40,000 workers. This presented Juran with his first challenge in management.

Juran was one of two engineers for the Inspection Statistical Department, one of the first of such divisions created in American industry.

By 1937, Juran was the chief of Industrial Engineering at Western Electric in New York. His work involved visiting other companies and discussing methods of quality management. During WWII, Juran served in Washington, D.C. as an assistant administrator for the Lend-Lease Administration. He and his team improved the efficiency of the process, eliminating excessive paperwork and thus hastening the arrival of supplies to the USA allies. Juran finally left Washington in 1945 and chose to devote the remainder of his life to the study of quality management.

Juran became Chairman of the Department of Administrative Engineering at New York University (NYU), where he taught for many years. He also created a thriving consulting practice, and wrote books and delivered lectures for American Management Association (AMA). It was his time with NYU and the AMA which allowed for the development of his management philosophies which are now embedded in the foundation of American and Japanese management. His classic book, the Quality Control Handbook, first released in 1951, is widely used reference work for quality managers.

This is an excellent book that is highly recommended for managers as well as quality specialists.

Very Informative Great book To lean about grades of stones and thier uses

Men have always decorated their weapons. The main items being decorated in the United States have been guns. But in Japan it is the traditional Japanese sword. Being more of a land of tradition, the Japanese sword became more or less standardized in shape as long ago as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and polishing the sword had to have followed shortly after that.

There are many books that describe the techniques of polishing and blueing guns. But this appears to be the first book available in English that discusses the polishing techniques used by Japanese craftsmen.

The Japanese practice is a strikingly different process than that used here. Polishing stones, not unlike whetstones but in far more diversity are used. A shop selling such stones is pictured with what appear to at least a couple of hundred different types of stones. And unlike here where stones are simply given numbers to indicate coarseness, in Japan they are given names.

The polishing area used with Japanese swords is a traditional form as well. It sits on the floor, and the polisher typically sits in a traditional position that most of us would find difficult to get into, and impossible to maintain for any period.

All in all, a fascinating book on techniques very different to those commonly used here.

After reading the book entitled "The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing" I now have a much clearer and detailed understanding of the process used by traditional Japanese sword polishers. The book takes the reader though all of steps from the foundation polish, used to shape and sharpen the blade, to the finish polish, which is used bring out the details of the steel and shape of the temper line, using good text and a fair number of detailed photographs. It includes some Japanese sword polish theory and how Japanese swords have changed over the historical periods. It also explains how the age of the sword can affect how the sword should be polished and what damage can and cannot be repaired by a polisher. In the last section of the book it contains a few profiles of professional Japanese sword polishers the authors of the book had interviewed which I enjoyed reading.
As someone who studies and appreciates the Japanese sword I found the book very helpful in educating me more about the process of how a Japanese sword is polished. I would recommended this book to anyone interested in learning in detail how Japanese swords are polished.

I wish I had this book 20 years ago when I first started to investigate the art of polishing. This book provides a wealth of information on the technigues, the material and the different ways that can be used to get a sword polisihed. In fact, the diversity of the art is highlighted by the book and certainly dispells the notion that there is only one way to restore a blade. The section on foundation polish discusses how to achieve the proper shape without removing too much material. The different stones are described and how each is used to establish and refine the shape. The finishing section covers the range of materials and tools used to bring out the grain and tempered edge unique to the Japanese sword. It also shows the burnishing and how to highlight the boshi.
There are sections that talk about the history of polishing, the schools of polishing and interviews with several modern polishers. As always there is a note warning about the perils to the blade that can be inflicted by an inexperienced person. The book doesn't reveal all the secrets to the art, such as the various forms of nugui (other than the basic hadori and sashikomi formulas),what types of stones work best with each school or era, etc. But it certainly does provide a well documented, well photographed look at this art form. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Japanese swords.