Japan Books

I picked up a translation of this series while living in Japan. The entire series is fantastic. I could relate very well from my past experiences working as a temp and as an administrative assistant. Things aren't so different in the US from how women are treated in business environments in Japan. There are sharp jokes about the way that women are under valued and how the OL's adapt to deal with it. The girls are also hung over in every third strip. Very VERY funny!

A.K.A. "OL Shinka-Ron". "OL" is Japanese "English" stands for "office ladies," usually means women office clerks. This is popular gag cartoon series, which shows the daily business scenes in Japanese companies with satire and black humor. If you are doing business with Japanese companies, this book will give you some understanding of what Japanese business persons are thinking and doing at their office.

One of the best, ever, of WWII books by U.S. GI's.

Every college history class should have this book!

Highly recommended.

Frank Grady was a personal friend of my fathers. Maybe because I grew up knowing him, the story made more of an impression on me than it would have normally. But whatever it is, it was a moving story about the resiliency of the human spirit. It is also about the humor, obstinacy and stubbornness; which contributes to that resiliency. Mr. Grady and others like him were true heros. It was an honor to have known him and it is an honor to know more about him through his book.

Technically what I can say about this item is that I can't wait for the next volume to come out ^_^

i'm not gonna lie - i'm a fan of this series, so this review may be biased. i watched the anime first and was hooked on it, but found out the manga goes beyond what the anime covered, so i decided to buy the manga as well.
the anime is more mature than the manga - there's no nudity and not much fan service. it covers the story in a deeper tone. the manga, so far, is a bit more lighthearted, but there's a great story under all the fluff. i think the ecchi part of the manga may deter some readers from giving it a better score. i recommend watching the anime first because then you'll know what the main story is about, and then read the manga to enjoy the extras.

Although not as rich in full-bleed, high-quality photos as other books about his works, this book captures Tadao Ando's sensitivity, through his texts that accompany each project portrayed. It has a true, "studio" feel, expressing Tadao Ando's feelings towards architectural teaching that comes across as extremely personal. The insights into his teaching methods and values come across as sincere, and it is through this text that his projects achieve even more depth upon revisiting. It's regretful that this book is out-of-print.

Although not as rich in full-bleed, high-quality photos as other books about his works, this book captures Tadao Ando's sensitivity, through his texts that accompany each project portrayed. It has a true, "studio" feel, expressing Tadao Ando's feelings towards architectural teaching that comes across as extremely personal. The insights into his teaching methods and values come across as sincere, and it is through this text that his projects achieve even more depth upon revisiting. It's regretful that this book is out-of-print.

Dads. Find out when your children are studying "tall tales" in novels class and volunteer to read this book to the class. You will have more fun then I can articulate in this review, but be sure to practice up on yer Applacian slang so you can bring the characters to them youngins right proper!

This was a fun and entertaining book to sit back read to my children. It was funny and well illustrated.

Along with the more famous works, such as the Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book, the Tales of Ise is another book which is on the to-know list of classical Japanese literature. This is a collection of short narratives about Ariwara no Narihira, one of the most famous poets in Japanese history. The stories are short, almost anecdotal, lending to easy reading. Probably more for the serious student or avid fan than the casual browser.

Something about "The Tales of Ise" really grows on you. If you are expecting characterization and psychological depth or even just a continuous narrative, you won't find it here. In fact, most any of the standards by which we tend to judge literature nowadays are conspicuous in their absence. And yet it doesn't seem to matter. The grace, elegance, and intense regard for the varieties of emotional experience found in these episodic vignettes gets you all the same.

There is also much of historical interest in this work, and that helps it out a little, too. First of all, in terms of literary history, this is definitely a transitional work, as the translator points out in her introduction. In the Kokinshu poetry anthology, for instance, each poem is preceded by a short prose passage explaining its social and situational context, but the poem is the main thing. In later prose narratives like the "Tale of Genji" or the many literary diaries, poems pop up in the characters' conversations but the story is paramount. "Tales of Ise" falls somewhere in-between. The poems are still much in focus, but the prose surrounding them has increased in length, importance, and development, transcending the status of headnotes though serving a similar function. And in terms of social history, this is of great interest, too, for each story gives us a precious fleeting glimpse of Heian courtier society and its values, and of the role of poetry in their social interactions (romantic and otherwise).

As far as waka (or tanka, as we call it today) poetry goes, these were some of the best I've read. It is readily apparent that this was still a relatively new poetic form, fresh and full of possibilities not yet hackneyed and worn thin (this would start to ensue soon enough). The emotion in them seems less affected and stylized, though definitely sublimated by the form's poetic conventions.

It should be noted too that this is definitely the definitive version of this work in English. McCullough has given us a very careful and scholarly translation that is nonetheless lively and literary. Her introduction is informative and extremely helpful in understanding the Tales, and each episode is annotated for specific info (in the back of the book, so that you can consult it if curious or not as you please). There is also a concise discussion of the different manuscripts of "Tales of Ise" and their textual histories, and a translation of the Kokinshu poems that also appear here, often in a different context that alters the import of the poem. So this charming classic has been given the classic treatment it so richly merits.

Despite the fact that this book is out of print. I have been able to obtain many copies...check independent book stores! This is one of the best books I have ever read. It helped me understand Japanese culture and the Japanese way of living.

A Japanese tea master discusses his art, and throws in a few anecdotes of his own life and stories about famous tea masters from the past. Overall, this is a wonderful introduction to the spirit behind the tea ceremony, which as just as important as the particulars of the process itself. The author's warmth and sincere goodwill come through nicely in this slim, peaceful volume.

This is a book I recommend for all foreign teachers in Japan, especially for those who will be working in the public school system. The world of Japanese education is quite different from that of western countries, and without some sort of preparation, you might experience some culture shock. This book consists of several articles which discuss different aspects of Japanese education from elementary school through high school, and it even covers some esoteric teaching situations such as education in a zen temple, or as a student of Japanese Noh drama. The only aspect of Japanese education not covered is university education. However, if you are going to be teaching in a university, I think it would still be beneficial for you to read this book, so that you know what kind of environment your students come from and how it may be different from your own country's situation. For example, Japanese high school students don't do much critical or research based writing, so if you assign such a writing task, it may be the first time they have had to do it.

If you will teach in Japan, pick this up to prepare yourself. If you are already teaching in Japan, this may answer some of the questions that you have. Check it out.

I first came across this book towards the end of my first year in the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Programme as an Assistant Language Teacher at a junior high school in rural Japan. The essays in the book (particularly the pieces by Fukuzawa and LeTendre examining adolescent development in junior high schools) helped me to place in order and begin understanding what had up until then been a rather confusing and oftentimes frustrating experience.

The book consists of 13 essays, all based upon extensive first-hand observation, that examine not only formal education in Japanese pre-, primary and secondary schools but also looks at other manifestations of education throughout Japanese society from company retreats to a Zen monastery to the Kumon schools to the Suzuki violin method.

The essays are balanced and easy to understand, even for those like myself not formally trained in education. And they provide some fascinating insights; I found the essays on elementary school education to be particularly fascinating in that they made me realize that my stereotypes about Japanese education being factory style rote-learning are probably more applicable to the elementary school education I received growing up in the US. The essays reveal an appproach to teaching young children in Japan that emphasizes the sound development of both the hearts and minds of students and that strives to always place instructional content in meaningful contexts. This focus on nurturing both the "heart and mind" actually seems to be a unifying thread that runs through all of the essays in the book.

The observations in the book have all been borne out by my own experiences teaching and observing pre-school, elementary and junior high school classes over the past several years.

If you are planning to do work on or within the Japanese education system (and I say this in particular to new JET participants), this book is essential reading. I believe educators in general will also find this book to be a fascinating and valuable look at a very different approach to education.

This book contained everything that I needed to do my research for the genre of Japanese enka. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to get to the whys and how the genre is different for others. It is a very detailed book.

This may be the only English-language book on the Enka genre, about which it is difficult to find any guides or other information unless you are fluent in the Japanese language. Dr. Yano's approach to this (sadly underappreciated) genre is more from a scholarly approach than as a "fan" of the music, by her own admission, but this book provides a wealth of information about the history, lyrics and visual style of Enka music and its performers. Personally I would have liked to have learned about the "stars" of this genre, particular Hibari Misora, undoubtedly its most famous performer. Also, Enka does exist in the US, though through mostly Japanese-American fans and performers, but this may be another subject of study. Enka may be a declining musical art form, but there are some notable younger performers, like Kitayama Takeshi and Komura Miki. I'm very grateful to Dr. Yano for the information provided by her book!

I agree entirely with the excellent review written by R. Pelzer, I just want to add this this is a very dense scholarly book littered with footnotes. It is not a quick read and not stirring tales of action, it appears to be meticulously researched and very thorough. A reference book

This book presents an excellent and well-balanced presentation of Japanese monastic warriors based completely on primary and secondary sources. To my knowledge, it's the first work to present a trustworthy picture of who the monastic warriors of medieval Japan were, what the social context was in which they lived, the factors that played a role in establishing the currently held inaccurate image of them, how this image was able to survive in Japan and elsewhere until today and why it is still so powerful that until recently Japanese scholarship (despite the fact that according to the author the truth is there for everyone to see inside the primary documents) hasn't been able to dismantle it. Most interestingly, the author comes to his conclusions by systematically and thoroughly, although the author himself admits not comprehensively (which I believe, in this case, isn't adversely influencing the results of the research), analyzing the mistakes in the interpretation of primary sources by the Japanese academic world thusfar. A possible explanation for the fact that Japanese scholarship has sustained the inaccurate image of monastic warriors for so long is being given, and convincingly at that, as well as some recent attempts within Japanese academe at reconsideration of established views by a reinterpretation of primary sources. Besides all of this, the book contains a wonderful bibliography as well as excellent notes including Japanese characters that enable the interested reader to explore further. Well, to put it in a single frase, I strongly feel that this book is the product of excellent, first-rate scholarship and would therefore like to recommend it highly to anyone interested in the subject.