Japan Books

I had this book for a long time and have read it at least five times.This book basically puts you into it and you can almost feel the cold environment as well as feel the chills and suspense that laces the book throughout.I found that it also captures Japan in a rare and realistic way. A must buy....when and if you can find a copy.

This is truly a great book. It may not be great as in deep and spiritual, but great as in really, really fun to read. It is too bad that this book is out of print. It deserves to be a bestseller.

Wow! I am so happy to find this great works on "amazon.com". This CD-ROM features "Historical and Modern Tokyo". You can comprehend real shape of Tokyo just clicking your mouse. Tokyo has lots of historical place and cultural treasures. There many stuff which introduce Tokyo to you. But this CD-ROM is completely different from any kind of them. It's so fun, and easy to use. You will be familiar with everything about Tokyo when you will finish browse this great works without

any patience.

I recommend you to purchase this CD if you'd like to enjoy real Tokyo without long trip to Tokyo! Enjoy!

I'm going to Tokyo next summer and got some books, but nothing compares to this CD. I can explore places and zoom in to really see the detail. I've never seen anything like this - it is very cool, and so easy to use. And my girlfriend loved the cute Japanese music in the background.

I would recommend this CD to anyone planning to visit Tokyo or wants a digital memory of it.

A successful businessman who once committed a crime with a partner now wants to keeps tabs on him...

A rising movie actor who is very cautious about his newfound success due to his secret murder of his lover - to which a single person was witness, and who is now his worst nightmare come to life...

A bar hostess so desperate for real love that she would arrange for pretenders to be murdered with other women as bogus love suicides...

A bank clerk hell-bent on revenge from a former co-worker who seduced his sister and left her for dead to cover up their affair...

A terminal-cancer stricken haiku poet who is tricked to be used as a pawn in the murder of another woman...

All these are examples of the short stories you'll find in this great book. Matsumoto's short stories really dazzle you as the criminals' motives are explained slowly and carefully. Adam Kabat does a terrific job in his translation. Mesmerizing... not to be missed!

Having two mystery novels of Seicho Matsumoto I had to get this book of short stories and I am very happy I did. Set in Japan, during the 50s and 60s, the stories are about unsolved crimes, 6 crimes which we, as the readers, follow along with the main characters, be they murders, bystanders or police. I really enjoy the feel of Matsumoto's Japan, a Japan still trying to find itself in a Post-World War Two/Cold War world, a mixture of train schedules, rare if modern phones, old fashion kimonos and tea.
I also enjoy the details he pours into each story. He gives you all the facts - he doesn't cheat and rarely tosses in come clue in the last sentence. I wish more of his work was in English!

I have to give Joseph King's book "Waiting to Serve" the highest rating for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was such an uplifting and delightful surprise to come across, (completely by chance), a book written by an old friend, an old Army buddy that I had served with more than sixty years ago. But even better than that was the reading, along with photos, and recalling our experiences together. It is a very well done and a thoroughly enjoyable read.I (Lou Trapasso) would like to get in touch with Joe to congratulate him personally so, if he, or others reading this review who can reach him, will type my name into an internet search, my name and connecting link will come up in the listing.

This book provides a touching and personal perspective of the latter days of WW2 seen through the eyes of a young man and a few of his friends from the "greatest generation" and how the war affected his life and the lives of his family and friends. This is not your traditional "historical war story" and provides an interesting slant on some of the way the military works "well off of the front lines." The author also provides some unique insights into some of the private sector industrial machine that supported our troops during this critical period of our history.

I read the book on a recent plane flight. Once I opened the book, I could not put it down until I finished it. It is a great one session read. The book is dotted with many interesting and unique photos and illustrations from this young soldiers collection of memorabilia which adds to the interest created by the book. Very recommended.

Written by Yokohama City University creative writing teacher Holly Thompson and illustrated by Tokyo-born artist Kazumi Wilds, The Wakame Gatherers is a children's picturebook about a young girl, Nanami, who has two grandmothers on opposite sides of the ocean: Gram in Maine and Baachan in Japan. When Gram visits Japan for the first time, Gram, Baachan, and Nanami go on a seaside trip to gather Wakame, a long, curvy seaweed that floats near the shore. Gram and Baachan share stories about how seaweeds are used in Maine and Japan, and Nanami translates for both. Enthusiastic color paintings illustrate this wonderful tale about family togetherness and forming connections between cultures.

This book is spot on when it comes to comparing and contrasting the cultures of two grandmothers from Japan and Maine (USA) as they harvest seaweed together with their Japanese granddaughter. The attention to details by the artist is a welcome treat as anyone who has actually been to this part of Japan will attest. The sweet twist at the end doesn't come as a surprise but begs for a sequel.

The first two chapters were a warm up for the real guts and glory! I have never met the author but just reading his book made me proud to be an American. Using the genious approach to cannibalizing parts to fly planes that had no chance of surviving against such great odds is overwhelming.

My advise is to buy the book and read, start to finish!

In any story one reads about Wake Island, Lt. Kinney is always mentioned as a key player. It is interesting to piece the Wake saga together with the individual stories and anecdotes of the men like Kinney who were there.
The story Kinney tells is a humble one, considering the events he has seen and endured. He is the original "MacGuyver," fixing equipment not only at Wake, but also throughout his career.
Kinney's story is like walking through nearly every chapter of military aviation history. Few can ever say they flew in everything from Curtiss Jennys to early Vietnam era jets.
A great read for Wake Island, WWII, aviation and Korean War enthusiasts alike.

America defense forces has become weak. We cannot put our troups in Iraq and Korea at the same time. We have cut our defenses back to far. There are so many potential hot spots in the Middle East and Central Asia in the next decade that we must return to strength. A must to read. Lets Wake Up America!

The book keeps you going and you will find that you will not lay it down. A side to WW-II I have never read before. There is a lesson in the book as to why America should wake up and keep our military strong. I never realized the extent of suffering we asked our men(boys) to suffer, fighting a ruthless enemy without supplies and equipment. The book has made me aware of how gratefull we need to be of our fighting men. A must to read. Kenneth Gatzke

I've been following Japanese baseball for a while now and I'm always eager to read the latest English language books about it. This book is one of the best. It's the first book that I've seen on the subject written by a historian rather than a journalist, so the viewpoint is unique. Fitts fills in the backgrounds, so you understand what it was like to grow up on a sugar plantation in Hawaii and how Japan rebuilt after the war. You learn about the violent crowds in Hiroshima and the problems of Japanese Americans living in a country where they don't look out of place, but can't speak or read the language. Definitely a great read.

The following is my book review, also available at:

http://www.japanesebaseball.com/forum/thread.jsp?forum=20&thread=54709

The full title of the book is "Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Change Japanese Baseball."

There have already been a few things about this book put on the web. Starting off with the official home page of the biography [http://www.wallyyonamine.com/], you can read some blurbs from others about the book, get the table of contents, and read a short excerpt. Cards and photo galleries are also available there, so you should be able to get a taste of what's in store for you there.Then there was Wayne Graczyk's promotion for the book [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sb20080907wg.html]. While I don't doubt the sincerity of his write up, it just reads like a PR piece, like he had to write something up about it before he was able to actually finish reading it. What he says is all true! But there's something intangible that bothered me about his review.

But this isn't about what other people said. And I'm most likely doomed to repeat others as well. But I'd like to really give you a feel for the book, and the emotion that a book like this can draw out of you. And I think that that's what's lacking in some of these other blurbs - that this biography is capable of stirring emotion.

First of all, there's the subtitle - "the man who changed Japanese baseball." I showed this book to a friend of mine and he said, "Yeah, right. Some gaijin really had that big an impact. It's just an empty statement to sell the book." My friend could not have been more wrong. I take to to pages 244 and 245:

"The fans wanted to see the league's new stars. In 1958 and 1959, an incredibly talented crop of exciting rookies entered Japanese professional baseball. These players did not play the slow, passive game of the 1940s. They had grown up watching Yonamine and his Giants while playing high school and college ball during the 1950s. They were faster, stronger, and more aggressive than their predecessors -- and the fans loved them. [...]"

Wally joined the Giants in 1951, and less than a decade later, Yonamine's style of play had gone from being the exception to the norm as the next generation of players came up. You could argue that other foreigners had brought over similar dynamics, sure. But none had the national exposure that Yonamine had with Yomiuri's vast media empire.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The first three chapters deal mostly with Wally growing up a football star. What I found most fascinating was how different Japanese nisei were treated in Hawaii than on "lower 48." There have been a number of books and movies about how the internment camps during World War II were run, but this was the first I'd read about how things were in Hawaii. Take this excerpt from pages 26 and 27 for instance:

"Yonamine's success came at an important time for the Nisei community. With World War II raging, anti-Japanese sentiment was high. Japanese Hawaiians were not treated as poorly as mainland Japanese Americans, as their sheer numbers made them vital to the economy, but they still faced discrimination and hostility. Over three thousand people, mostly community leaders, were incarcerated and many Japanese Hawaiians faced hiring discrimination as well as racial slurs. There were not many Japanese American football players -- many Japanese parents, not wanting their boys to get hurt, discouraged football and pushed them toward baseball. Wally's triumphs made him a celebrity in the Nisei community and a source of pride in that troubled time. [...]"

One of the truly interesting thing about this biography is how Fitts-san will tie in what is going on in Wally's life within the social and historical context of the time. I can't say that I really learned much about history growing up. At least, it doesn't seem like it when I feel that I've learned more about history from watching The Discovery Channel than in middle and high school. This biography brings even more history to light, and makes it relevant as one watches Wally grow up in the midst of these social changes.

I think that at this point it's important to say that I'm not a passive reader, who just reads the words and notes them as facts to be pulled out as trivia at a later date. I like books that say something about society, give insight into how others think - be they real or fictional characters.

Following Yonamine from his sugar cane plantation roots, through his maturing as an athletic star in Hawaii during WWII, to his role in bringing nisei back into American society by playing football and later baseball in the minor leagues after The War, until his move to Japan, there is a constant undertow of social change going on.

Those who have read the Interview with author Rob Fitts at East Windup Chronicle [http://eastwindupchronicle.com/wally-yonamine-book/] may recall Rob stating, "I was a professional archaeologist specializing in 19th century New York City [...]." Reading this biography, you really get the feel for Fitts-san's background in history. I can't say that I've ever been much of a history buff (with the usual exception of dinosaurs and mummies as a kid), but the way that Rob brings history alive in this book is gripping.

The story about becoming a San Francisco 49er is interesting. As mentioned above, this adventure helps to heal a lot of wounds in the nisei communities in America. An injury sidelines that career, and Wally goes into baseball. After just missing the cut with the San Francisco Seals, Wally opts for the Salt Lake Bees where he does more good in integrating back the nisei to their communities.

One thing leads to another and Wally finds himself a Yomiuri Giant. And this is where all of the Jackie Robinson comparisons start coming in. Like the title that seems to be hyperbole, the Jackie Robinson comparisons seem to be another point where those who do not read the book find contention.

Have you ever thought about what kind of person it took to break the color barrier to MLB? I know that I never did before reading this book. I figured it just needed to be somebody really good at playing baseball. But reading how careful the planning was to choose Wally as the first post-war foreigner, I realize that the selection of Jackie Robinson was most likely similarly scrutinized. Both men had to bear the responsibility that if the "experiment" of their employment didn't work out, that there probably wouldn't be another for a long time. Both had to endure a great deal of taunting from the crowds. And in Yonamine's case, there were actual riots erupting on the field on numerous occasions.

Anyway, chapters 7 through 16 chronicle the Giants year by year while Wally played for them. If you like to watch a pennant race unfold, the pennants in the 1950s were absolutely incredible! The detail of various games, as important as the Emperor's game, to as little as one where Wally went 0 for 4 or broke out of a slump. Each game has its point. Each game makes you feel as though you were there in the stands. Even the most anti-Giants of fans will be swept away in the excitement and start rooting for Yomiuri to prevail. And, no, knowing the ending (how the seasons ended in the 1950s) already doesn't ruin the excitement of reading about those incredible past seasons.

Once Wally becomes a coach, then manager, the pace of the book picks up until it reaches its conclusion of Wally being inducted in the Japanese Hall of Fame. In stark contrast to the beginning of the book where any and every minor detail is included to reveal Yonamine's development into the person he became, the last few chapters just kind of skim over the rest of his career in a bit of a blur.

Of course, it's probably much like life. One develops and works hard to become defined by ones job, just to fall into a routine as the years go by. In that respect, I suppose that the final chapters did a good job in reflecting what eventually comes to us all - appreciation from the ones we care about (family) while leading rather anti-climatic lives.

Rather than ending on that note, I'd like to take you to perhaps my favorite passage in the book (page 107):

"One day, perhaps on this home stand, an eleven-year-old boy stood in the crowd. He had tried many times to get players to sign, but, as he remembered later, 'The players would walk past me as though I didn't exist. My brother would tease me because I always wound up feeling so hurt that I wanted to cry.' On that day, too, the players walked by him. Then the last player, Yonamine, stopped, looked directly at the boy and smiled. 'He took my board, asked my name -- which I could barely get from my lips -- and signed his autograph.'

"Sadaharu Oh still treasures that shikishi. [...] Oh commented, 'When I became a player it was always remarked how readily I gave autographs -- which is true -- but I did so for the best of reasons: because of the joy Wally Yonamine brought into my life one afternoon in my boyhood.'"

Excuse me while I blow my nose. I was on the train when I read that passage, and had to do my best to restrain my swelling eyes. With this one selfless act, it seems to me that Wally did much more than just change Japanese baseball.

The Japanese artistic sense continues incorporating the old with new sensibilities to produce new forms. The old culture impregnates the new artistic expression and women artists are having their say finally. There is something that is always intriguing about Japanese arts and crafts for it is hard to identify. The intensity of subtleness, the effort put into producing the beautiful and yet the faint hint of the ugly need for strength to survive one's environment all meld in Japan's current art. This book will intrigue, puzzle and make you think about art and its relevance today.

Written by Tokyo-based art critic Yumi Yamaguchi, Warriors of Art: A Guide to Contemporary Japanese Artists is a jaw-dropping showcase of contemporary Japanese art, from sculptures to drawings to photography to unorthodox media. Though some pieces are clearly influenced by manga or anime, many others are of a unique and refreshingly original style. Full-color photographs on every page immerse the reader in a grand visual spectacle, while the text introduces the reader to the basic concepts and message of individual artistic talents. A small number of pieces show nudity or even graphically sexual images; Warriors of Art is not for young children, though the majority of artworks presented are not erotic. Highly recommended.

In 'The Way of Liberation', Alan Watts offers a "rich selection of literay works and transcribed lectures", according to his son Mark Watts. Chapter 1, The Way of Liberation in Zen Buddhism, is an essay written in 1955 which was prior to his extensive work, The Way of Zen. Following this is Play and Survival: Are they in Necessary Contradiction? Watts offers much playful synthesis of philosophical insight and gives us some idea of how his 'thought evolved through all that followed.' With Chapter 3, The Relevance of Oriental Philosophy, Watts discusses the fundamental questions posed by Eastern Religions to Westerners of Christian background. After 'Suspension of Judgement', we get an interesting section on Chuang-tzu, a Chinese philosopher who Watts states is "one of the only philosophers from the whole of antiquity who has any real humour, and therefore, he is an immensely encouraging person to read." The book ends with 'The Practice of Meditation' which is delightfully written in his own calligraphy and stands as a fantastic essay for beginners. Quotes from mindful individuals like Bodhidharma, Mumonkan, Rinzai Roku, and Zenrin Ruiju give this book high markings. Much talk on Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and the essence of liberation within those faiths. Mark Watts gives a special thanks to Rebecca Shrophire George Ingles. Dedicated 'to our fathers and our mothers.'

In 'The Way of Liberation', Alan Watts offers a "rich selection of literay works and transcribed lectures", according to his son Mark Watts. Chapter 1, The Way of Liberation in Zen Buddhism, is an essay written in 1955 which was prior to his extensive work, The Way of Zen. Following this is Play and Survival: Are they in Necessary Contradiction? Watts offers much playful synthesis of philosophical insight and gives us some idea of how his 'thought evolved through all that followed.' With Chapter 3, The Relevance of Oriental Philosophy, Watts discusses the fundamental questions posed by Eastern Religions to Westerners of Christian background. After 'Suspension of Judgement', we get an interesting section on Chuang-tzu, a Chinese philosopher who Watts states is "one of the only philosophers from the whole of antiquity who has any real humour, and therefore, he is an immensely encouraging person to read." The book ends with 'The Practice of Meditation' which is delightfully written in his own calligraphy and stands as a fantastic essay for beginners. Quotes from mindful individuals like Bodhidharma, Mumonkan, Rinzai Roku, and Zenrin Ruiju give this book high markings. Much talk on Buddhism, Christianity, and the essence of liberation in the faiths. Mark Watts gives a special thanks to Rebecca Shrophire George Ingles. Dedicated 'to our fathers and our mothers.'