Japan Books

I have found most books concerning "foreigners" or "foreigners running businesses" in Japan to be either overly pedagogical, overly repetitive, or downright depressing. Kudos to Carl Kay, Tim Clark and the editors. They have done a marvelous job putting together a fast-paced book, rich with facts and unique insights on real "gaijin" success stories. And, it's not about the typical white, Anglo-Saxon corporate raider from New York City. We hear feel-good stories of Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs, too. I couldn't put the book down. Order it now and you'll end up recommending it to your friends, as I have.

The authors accurately portrayed how foreigners living in Japan can become successful entrepreneurs and address the country's unmet needs in financial, real estate, IT and health care services. Shortcomings in the market have been corrected by persistent foreigners who don't take "no" for an answer.

Although this 2005 book was intended for non-Japanese readers, it contained so much insight (which was not available in Japanese publications) that it had to be translated into Japanese.

In the 1980s, Japan was seen as an unstoppable economic juggernaut, a tsunami that would wash over the entire world. Then, suddenly, everything went wrong. Japan went through a decade of correction for its sudden rise. China and India stepped up on the stage as Japan faded into the background. An entire sub-industry of knowledge - that of the so-called "Japan expert" - has mostly disappeared. The general consensus seems to be that Japan rose rapidly, stumbled, and is now quickly on its way back to global irrelevance.

But then Carl Kay and Tim Clark produced this small book. It essentially says, "wait a second, there's a lot of opportunity in Japan. In fact, now might be a better time than ever!" It is a message that is absolutely correct, and one that the outside world still seems to be ignoring. Outsiders seem to get caught up on the macro issues in Japan; the aging and shrinking population, the looming national debt, the general national malaise, the long and prestigious list of foreign multinationals that have gone to Japan and failed. What Carl and Tim's book advises us to do is to understand and embrace what is still there. Japan is still the world's second largest economy in nominal terms. Even after the "lost decade," Japan's economy is still larger than China's and India's combined. There is a shortage of workers, and a shortage of new ideas. Japan doesn't need foreign multinationals to come in and swallow up her domestic companies. Japan needs entrepreneurs! Japan needs thinkers and builders! And unlike China or India, foreign entrepreneurs won't face hundreds or thousands of domestic entrepreneurial competitors.

Carl Kay and Tim Clark interviewed dozens of entrepreneurs in Japan, many foreign born, some Japanese, all of whom succeeded because they "thought different." It is a testament to Carl and Tim's skills as writers that each story is clear, engrossing, and illustrative. It is the best book on Japanese business or economics I have read in at least two decades. Read this book, become inspired, then move to Japan and make your dream reality.

As a layman who is neither well versed in Japanese business practices nor inordinately interested in Japanese culture, I found this book to provide fascinating insights into Japanese culture. The book is easily accessible for the non-MBA type and for those who are not intimately associated with the nuances of Japanese culture. Very interesting read and I would highly recommend it.

This book is good value for money. In accepting the end of Japan Inc, it shows how and where opportunities are opening up in a range of service related areas from healthcare to shopping malls. The economics behind the book is that Japan neglected services and frills when it was playing economic catch up with the West. The business potential stemming from that is immense; while the Japanese excelled at making electronic gadgets, they lagged in a range of other areas. Instead of clobbering us over the head with a dense academic treatise, the authors give us plenty of examples where huge gaps in the market are creating lucrative market niches for a range of foreign players. If you are interested in running a service business in Japan, this small book will give you quite a few hints and a lot of hope. Definitely worth a read: so much so that I gave my copy away to some fashion designers who are making headway here.

The Souvenir is a marvelous book for book group discussions, and is especially appropriate for Jewish groups. Ms. Steinman writes poignantly about her father, her family, and herself in relation to the military experience of the World War II theater of operations in the Pacific, and its aftermath. This is a story that is relatively unknown, since many histories and memoirs of World War II focus on Europe. Although not a book about Judaism, this is a very Jewish book. It is very much in keeping with the Jewish storytelling tradition: of creating and telling a good story that is important for the audience to hear, and to feeling a connection to the characters and values in the story. The themes of repentance and renewal (tshuvah in Hebrew) are vital to maintaining and nurturing relationships of family and friends, especially at the time of year when the Jewish holy days of the New Year (Rosh HaShanah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) occur. I was moved to tears a number of times. There are valuable lessons to share that will broaden our understanding and compassion for veterans, their families, and Jewish values.

Rabbi Wendy Spears

You see all the reviews having 5 stars out of 5 stars--I couldn't bring myself to agree. This book starts being really quite good--it drew me in--but then it started to dddddddrrrrrraaaaaaaaggggggggg. I put it down for a while and tried again (I did this 3 times) when I decided to give it up for good. I think it could have been better. :(

Louise Steinman has hit it out of the park with this wonderful, moving memoir about her father, Norman Steinman, his war experiences, and the way those experiences shaped his life--and his relationships with his family. It is also about Ms. Steinman's own odyssey in experiencing her father's war, through reading hundreds of her father's war-time letters discovered after her parents' deaths, talking to other Pacific War veterans, and visiting long-forgotten battlefields in the Philippines. Ms. Steinman eventually makes a special journey to Japan to visit the family of a long-dead Japanese soldier. It involves a simple errand: she needs to give something back...

Ms. Steinman shows that the scars of war run deep and the impacts are felt through succeeding generations. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

A page turner, I could hardly put it down. Moving and poignant. Through reading about "the war" of the author's father, I learned a lot about my own father and "his war". He too faught with the 25th Division at Balete Pass in 1945, earning a combat intantryman badge and purple heart. He has rarely spoke of his experience and after reading this book, I better understand why. The Souvenir is a must read for anyone whose father fought in "The Pacific War". Thank you Ms. Steinman, The Souvenir is truly a gift.

Like so many in my generation, the author, like the rest of us, really had no clue as to what made her father tick. These men, and women, of the "Greatest Generation" were a different breed. I had to blink twice when the author described her father, his attitudes, work ethic, treatment of his family and on and on. She could have well been describing my own father.

The author, after her father's death, discovers a box of letters written to his wife (the author's mother) during the war. Her father fought in the Pacific, taking part in some of its most brutal of battles. Amongst the letters, in an envelope, was a Japanese Flag, a "souvenir flag" which her father had sent home. The flag was of the type carried by many Japanese soldiers, which was a sort of good luck piece. The story is basically Ms. Steinman's search for the family of the soldier whose body it was taken from and a story of Ms. Steinman's search for her father, i.e. who really was her father, and how had the war changed him?

Now I will be honest, there were parts of the book that disturbed me. I am not all that certain if the author ever did have a clue as to what made her father the man he was and how the war truly affected him. The author never actually says it, but after reading her description of her father, which gave us some idea of the kind of man he was, there is really no doubt where he got the flag, and how he got it. He did not seem the type of man who would simply pick up a flag off any old dead body and keep it. While this falls into the realm of speculation, I think it probably would have been better if the author had faced reality. Be that as it may, the author did quite a good job with her research and I certainly admire her objectives.

The book is well written, easy to read, and quite informative. Like another reviewer here, I have the feeling the author actually found out more about herself than she did of her father, and that is actually a very good thing. I do recommend this one highly. You certainly will be richer for having read it.

D. Blankenship

This manga is unsophisticated in its artwork, storytelling, and politics. Yet that very lack of sophistication seems to me to be what gives it power that probably could only otherwise be generated by poetry, or perhaps opera.

You might as well go ahead and buy the four volumes in this series now, to save time & postage. Then you can wait, like I am waiting, in the hope that Project Gen manages to publish the next six volumes in the series.

Note: there is at least one prior English edition of Barefoot Gen, and the volume contents are not the same as in the latest edition. So if, for example, you buy volume 3 of the earlier edition (1979), you will find that it overlaps the latter part of volume 2 of the current edition (issued in 2004.) The volume titles seem to be the same in each edition, so things can get confusing if you don't stick with the same edition. If you buy used, pay attention to which edition you are getting.

According to Wikipedia, these are the published & projected volumes in the current English translation series of Barefoot Gen:

* Barefoot Gen #1: A Cartoon Story Of Hiroshima (ISBN 0-86719-602-5)
* Barefoot Gen #2: The Day After (ISBN 0-86719-619-X)
* Barefoot Gen #3: Life After The Bomb (ISBN 0-86719-594-0)
* Barefoot Gen #4: Out Of The Ashes (ISBN 0-86719-595-9)
* Barefoot Gen #5: The Never-Ending War (17 April 2008, ISBN-10: 0867195967)
* Barefoot Gen #6: Writing the Truth (17 April 2008, ISBN-10: 0867195975)
* Barefoot Gen #7: (Not published in English)
* Barefoot Gen #8: (Not published in English)
* Barefoot Gen #9: (Not published in English)
* Barefoot Gen #10: (Not published in English)

Barefoot Gen - I grew up with this famous comic series by Nakazawa. It's about a boy called 'Gen' and his life in Hiroshima during the WWII and soon after the atomic bomb. Volumes 1 & 2 are probably the most important ones. After I read them in English, I just had to lend them to everyone I knew. If you read this story, you'll realise how silly to hear some popular opiniton 'Dropping two atomic bombs in Japan was necessary to end the war'. The author Nakazawa says that each and every event illustrated here is a true story. You'll see, for example, that two young brothers fight against each other for a little grain of rice. Gen trying to encourage a girl who used to be dreaming about one day becoming a professional dancer, but now her face was badly burnt by the bomb, although she still didn't know it - he refuses to let her see the mirror.

The bombs were dropped onto civilians in the two cities, and, in Hiroshima alone, 100,000 people, including children, elderly people and western prisoners of war, were killed instantly, and the pain they suffered from it was tremendous. The way some of Gen's family members, including a new born baby sister, were slowly dying is simply too sad to look at. But the reality is that it actually took place and was caused by human hands.

I sincerely hope that many people will find the opportunity to read this book at least once in their life-time, and I strongly believe that this book will enlighten the whole world with the message: 'What really happens when a nuclear bomb is dropped onto humanity', which hasn't really been talked about in history books for some reason. But I think it's time to face reality.

The manga form of presentation makes reading about the prelude to this event easy and fast. The book seemed to be reasonably accurate with historical documentation and the visual format allowed the author to include detail that might otherwise have become difficult to work into the story. The clothing, clogs, air raid hoods, etc. that are be depicted add depth of information to a quick read.

Keiji Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen (New Society Publishing, 1983)

Keiji Nakazawa's four-volume graphic epic Barefoot Gen has become legendary in the field of graphic literature, and also, in no small way, out of it. While many Japanese artists working in every medium have examined the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their aftereffects, Nakazawa, who lived in Hiroshima at the time the bombs were dropped, has an understandably closer perspective than most others who have tried it. For sheer power, Barefoot Gen's only rival in the subgenre is the similarly legendary Grave of the Fireflies.

This eponymous first volume takes us through the life of Gen, an elementary school student, and his family in the months before the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. Gen's father, while not a pacifist, is notorious in town for his speaking out against the war, which gets him and his family branded traitors. Because of this, they don't have an easy life. The family members try to find various ways to survive in the face of shunning at best, and aggression at worst, from the rest of the townspeople.

Do you need to be told that this is a book that's going to hit you in the face like a sledgehammer with its message? The artistry, or lack of same, in the delivery is the place where Grave of the Fireflies is clearly superior to Barefoot Gen, but while Nakazawa is not above letting his message get in the way of his story on occasion, it never happens for too long a period of time. Nakazawa's characters are well-drawn, and the story spends more time focused on its characters than on its message. There is a lot to be liked here, and a good deal to be mulled over, as well. Well worth your time. ****

In our present time this portal to the topic of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and our nature as the only nation to build and to use nuclear weapons, and against strictly civilian population centers may inform our moral consideration of the present failure of our total war alone against civilians to establish a peaceful and stable and democratic society.

This present volume serves as an excellent introduction to the topic. Centering on Hiroshima, as may supplement this strong introductory reading with the recent study by Prof. Takaki, or the new Racing the Enemy, which explores the lack of military reason for dropping the Bomb against an already defeated Japanese Empire. We may also read on this specific event of crisis the moving Letters from the End of the World, or HIroshima Diary, written as was Gen by eyewitnesses and civilian victims of this our nuclear holocaust. Hershey is also important to read of course, and the reissue of Hiroshima Mon Amour, but I keep returning to this child's eye view in Barefoot Gen.

We are fortunate in this reprinting for the informed and astute introduction by Art Spiegelman, the creator of the Maus series which does a similar though more symbolic treatment of the Nazi Holocaust. Art strongly recomends this first person account of a small boy on the morning of the Bomb, and its immediate effects upon himself and upon his family. Please read this book and remember. Our Popes continue to visit the Peace Park at Ground Zero in Hiroshima, to pray for peace and nonviolence and for the development of peoples.

This book is a great book for a Akita owner. The author gives you lots of insight into the Akita behavior. Being a Akita owner, I found the book enlightening and a joy to read. This book is a must for any Akita owner or anyone considering a Akita.

I don't own an Akita, but this book caught my eye because it was a different kind of story. The subjects of sexual discrimination, poverty, wartime in Japan, and the Morie's singlemindedness in raising dogs are explored. If you love Akitas, you'll love this book. If you're not a dog person, you'll like this book, but may not go ga-ga over it. I thought the writer jumped around a bit in telling the story, and could have been better with the continuity. But all in all, I recommend this interesting look at a life far different from ours in America.

I bought this book for my brother, who loves dogs as much as I do. When he finished it, he sent it back, so I read it as well, and we both enjoyed it. This is a very sweet book which makes a great gift book for someone who loves dogs, someone who loves Japan and its history, and especially for someone who loves both. I would have liked to see Penguin go the extra mile for Martha Sherrill and spring for glossy pages for the many great photos in the book, but that would be my only criticism.

I had to leave it at the library because i wanted to leave it for my friend who i intended to send right down to check it out. It's about an eccentric in a culture not known for eccentrics. It's about his wife and family. His wife is a stoic and her relationship with her husband is like reading science fiction to a 21st century American. The dogs are great. Great. Please do not go out and buy an Akita though. This is a lot of dog. A whole lot of dog. They almost need a mountain.

This book has touched me. The main character is morally strong, and the result of his strength has affected a breed of dog to a point beyond comprehension. If you own an Akita, this is a must read. If you do not own an Akita, you need to read this as well.

If you're reading this then you have an interest in Japanese aircraft- so this is a book you should have. While not perfect, and not as exhaustive as some books on American, British and German aircraft, it still is very good. You get historical text, three view drawings, and photos on each aircraft. Also mentioned are Japanese engines, weapons, brief histories of the JAAF/IJN, and a brief history of the aircraft manufacturers. There are not many books that cover all Japanese aircraft so buy a nice used copy and you will not regret it.

Also buy Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941, it will be useful when the author refers to aircraft that were not used during the war. It also will help you understand Japanese aircraft trends and history.

If you are seriously interested in the Pacific air war, you need this book. It is an exhaustive listing of Japanese aircraft designs with extensive details on the development, production, and use of each machine. Combat operational details are extremely limited. Photographs are adequate--black&white, bigger than postage stamps, just barely large enough to get the job done. There are extensive technical details on each machine. Minor disadvantages are that indexing is frustrating to use, and that the author (correctly, but frustratingly) uses the confusing Japanese nomenclature exclusively. This decision was probably necessary, if only to accurately describe different modifications of each airframe (each modification is lovingly described), but it makes using the book more difficult for sheltered American readers! It would be easier if the American "code name" was more prominently featured in a standard place for each airplane, but the code names are buried in the text, and in some cases not mentioned at all.

Despite the irritating quirks, it is truly an essential reference, and I hope it goes back into print.

This book is very detailed and for the most part satisfyingly complete. The illustrative photographs (or in the case of airplanes that were never photographed, rare original concept drawings) are very clear and effective. Service histories are often sparse in favor of development and technical details, but if you're in the market for a concise dictionary of Japanese aircraft you'll probably appreciate the attention to the harder to come by details.

this is the best book about Japanese Aircrafts ever done...my first impression was: an old book..it smells like grandpa... where are the colours???, but when I read the first page, I understood I had got the best information in a resume book...More than 100 aircrafts, each aircrat has one or more black and white picture, specifications, three view draw and extensive text with explanation of variations, roles, desperate missions, etc.
You can find a clear explanation about the japanese code name used by Navy and Imperial Army and of course American Code Name.
Finally you can find at last pages a sinopsis like index to get easily the page in the book for each aircraft....did you know japanese had aircrafts to catch easily P-51s, Corsairs and B-29s???...read it, and understand why they couldn't use them.
You have to waste a lot of time trying to get and resume this information by internet and even so, I'm sure you won't get all....My respect for this work.

Much in the same way that William Greene is the expert on German Aircraft of WW-II, Rene J. Francillon has researched this subject (off and on) over a period of about 30 years. The orignal edition of this book came out in the 1970's and has been updated as information from the files of the US Department of Defense has become declassified and "Pubic Domain".
One of the most interesting of the facts that one may come across is that many talented German Aircraft designers TRAINED Japanese aircraft design engineers during the 1920's and early 30's, because the Germans were prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles to engage in the design of war planes in their own country. This led to a close working relationship between German and Japanese warplane designers and a great deal of commerce between the two countries in war time designs.
Someone may eventually write a refernce book on this subject. I would if I had time.
Bob Clark
President
International Military Technology Historians
fsearch@yahoo.com

Dr Seuss comes through again. Fun to read, good morals, excellent story.
Lots of fun!!

This is my favorite Dr Seuss book (even though I discovered it only a few months ago). The story and pictures are excellent and (importantly) it is particularly easy and fun to read aloud.

Unfortunately, this book is advertised as being suitable for 5-8 year olds only - NOT TRUE! This book is for ANYONE of ANY AGE who enjoys stories.

This book is so appropriate today, maybe more than when it was written in 1948 (a response to the New Deal, perhaps?)! I'm sure I appreciate the message (beware of freeloaders!!) more than my kids, but they enjoy the story and the pictures (as always) are priceless. Dr. Seuss was a national treasure and his books are all terrific.

This book should be in every child's library (and most adults as well). This is the starter book for Orwell's Animal Farm.

I first read this book when I was a little girl. I was really impressed with it then, of all the Dr. Seuss books I thought it was the best because of the message. The poor moose is so soft-hearted, he lets everyone take advantage of him. It has a wonderful message for children to learn about "users". If you only read one Dr. Seuss book to your children, read them this one.

This book is a very good introduction to Deming's teachings. It is filled will examples to drive points home.

I bought two of them and gave them to business associates.

This should be required reading for anyone in a leadership position. Dr. Deming is the "father" of the Japanese business revolution that took place after WWII.

Timothy Kendrick Author-PTSD: Pathways Through the Secret Door

Mr. Aguayo writes as one who studies the efforts to produce quality, from an MBA, trained in the field, to view and review the management training in the US with that taught to the Japanese by Deming. His insightful examples and comparisons are invaluable to the reader, in furthering our understanding for the need to improve quality. Quality not as a product, but as a means and total way of life.

The Quality is far beyond a simple theory. It is a vision of the life and how it must be lived .
There is a powerful statement of the Samurai code : Do not make anything useless.
And this is the way you get close mre and more to the essential doctrine and quality philosophy .
Deming was a pioneer in this sense, because he knew to establish patterns of behavior and systematic direction for an issue that mostly of the real artists own in his inner world .
His reading is absolutely recommended for any kind of reader .
And his presence must be a perpetuum mobile for the management no matter your discipline field is!

This is a good that has stood the test of time that is very useful for those who need a gentle introduction to Total Quality Management. Although the book is about 15 years old with some rather dated examples, the message it gives is still relevant and important.

The book written in plain language that focus on the essential quality and productivity message without statistical abstractions, which make it easily understandable to a wide readership. Those readers that have not read Deming's "Out of the Crisis" or Mary Walton's "Deming Management Method" will benefit the most from reading this book.

I purchased this book to give to my brother-in-law who fought in the battle on Iwo Jima. He is suffering with Parkinsons and over the past couple of years has discussed his experiences on Iwo Jima more than ever. This book is filled with photographs taken mostly by the Marine Corps and has brought many memories to him, both good and bad. I sat with him for two hours and he explained so many things to me. This book is wonderful for Iwo Jima vets and/or their families. I can't wait to go back for another visit and be able to share more of his experiences.

Simply put---one of the best battle depictions I have read anywhere.Stunning pictures.Day-by-day breakdown of gains and losses make you feel like you are right there.This book made an impression on me that has not abated.Definitely at the very top of the military battles that I have read.

This book is very worth for the price, hundreds of photographs taken during the battle. For WW2 books collector, this book is a must!

This book is a treasure, especially for family members and children of the courageous men who fought and gave their lives during this battle. Through extensive use of text and photographs, Mr. Hammel thoroughly describes the conflict in a way that assists the reader in understanding the extreme sacrifice that those young men made for their country.

Hammel's text is spare but precise, and tightly interwoven with the photographs. It is difficult to exaggerate the quality of the photographs in this volume, which is beautifully produced and bound. The large format and glossy paper do justice to the photos. The extreme resolution and fine detail of the black & white photographs are breathtaking and haunting; use of a magnifying glass reveals the faces and expressions of men wholly consumed in, and being consumed by, their fearsome tasks. This is a work of beauty and awesome respect.

Kevin Sheehan has simplified the great qualities of important leaders and placed them in an entertaining text. A gift which I have passed on to my dearest friends, this book is both inspirational and educational. My highest recommendation.

Poignant, powerful stories. Beautifully written with a distinctive and important design. This book's not to be missed--by you, your friends, your business colleagues. Bravo!

Within his book A Leader Becomes A Leader, Kevin Sheehan delightfully illustrates the essence of true leadership. He poignantly definies a diverse group of past and present leaders; while exploring their life events and characteristics of greatness. Encourage your friends, family and coworkers to read this motivational book!

The author does a phenomenal job of breaking the topic down into small manageable and inspiring readings; also covers a great cross-section of leaders and the characteristics that made them successful. I ordered a dozen copies as executive and motivational gifts.

J. Kevin Sheehan presents a celebration of what's possible in his biographical snapshots of great leaders. By focusing on the unique character traits of outstanding leaders the author transforms the mysteries of leadership into something very real. He answers the question "what made them great?" in an extremely concise and inspirational style. Great as a corporate gift or graduation present. My children have used it for school projects and I have found inspiration for my own business. No home or school library should be without this most valuable tool.

I'm not much of a quilter, but I do love Japanese fabrics, both the old Japanese textiles and the current quilting fabrics. If your stash of Japanese fabrics is squeezing out of it's hidey-hole, this could be a great book to get that fabric out of the dark and up where everyone can see it in beautiful quilts, wall hangings, pillow covers, etc.
It's not just that Kitty uses Japanese fabrics to make them; all the quilts have a Japanese flavor to the designs. They make me think of the Arts and Crafts/Craftsman era of the early 20th century which was strongly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic. There is a mix of techniques, so you can either find something that you can do easily because you know how, or something new to try. Several designs use hexagonal elements, but some are nothing but rectangles, and a number have sashiko elements (patterns for which are in the back). They are certainly not what we think of as "traditional" quilt blocks.
A great addition to my library.

This would have to be the most interesting and inspirational quilting book I have bought. I was wary about buying a book I had never seen but am thrilled with it. I took it to my quilting group and am ordering five more for friends. Thanks Kitty, love it.

This has got to be my favorite book using Asian fabrics to create beautiful quilts. I am particularly drawn to the mosaic-style pieces and the hexagonal piecing projects with sashiko embroidery. The introduction explains all the different types of Japanese fabrics and the elements of Japanese design. There are many reproducible designs in the back of the book for family crests and other traditional designs for sashiko embroidery. This book contains dozens of beautiful color photos that are very inspiring to the quilt designer. Diagrams, drawings, full-size patterns, and instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

A welcome addition to my library. Would be nice to see more books on this subject!

I loved this book because the auther works beautiful fabrics in a way I would so love to do. It is so well illustrated and informative that I feel I can do great things without all the gadgets usually associated with quilting and I love to sew by hand.