Japan Books

This book is awesome. It provides interesting insights into cat behaviour with great photos. If you like cats, you'll love it. It's out of print so you may have trouble getting a copy, but if you see it buy it! Ee the cat is really cute!

This book is a wonderful read for anyone interested in cats or animal behavior. I'm even thinking of applying to Mutsu-san himself to see if I can work at the Kingdom! Read it...you'll be as impressed as I was!

I would reccommend this book for students studying the Japanese tea ceremony. This month by month guide tells which flowers, foods, pottery and poetry are appropriate for each month and season. It also has lists of all the important days of every month and gives key words and phrases asscociated with each month. It has some history regarding tea masters and it has a great glossary which gives the meaning of many tea words. This is a beautiful, useful and well written book if you are planning an actual ceremony...However, I must warn anyone considering buying this book of a few things: This book DOES NOT teach you how to perform a tea ceremony! This very thick book does not have many pictures other than a few dozen small black and whites of various scrolls and ancient art. There is not much in this book regarding different types of matcha. This book does not have photos of the many (and fairly expensive) tools you will need to make matcha the traditional way...In fact, if you have never taken a tea lesson I would hesitate reccommending this book. I had no idea what most of this meant until I took lessons! I have been taking tea lessons for about two months and TRUST ME when I say, it's practically impossible to learn how to do a proper tea ceremony from any book! (It would be like trying to learn martial arts by watching TV!) Most teachers will tell you this too. You learn the steps of a ceremony with your body and not just your mind. Other students in my class have been taking lessons for over ten years and are still perfecting their skills. The tea ceremony is a wonderful, relaxing and fun hobby. Like any fine art, it takes years of practice, patience and dedication to get really good at it. Please don't let this discourage you from learning or reading about tea ceremonies. Green tea can bring you a lot of joy and many health benefits! I made matcha lots of times before I ever took lessons and I always had fun but nothing compares to learning how to do it correctly. Overall, if you already have a fair amount of knowledge about tea you will really appriciate this wonderful book. If you know nothing about tea you might feel a little lost and may be better off with a more basic Japanese tea book. Either way, it is a very rewarding and most beautiful hobby. I encourage anyone who is interested to learn more about it. Tea ceremonies are truly the kind of thing you can keep learning more and more about for as long as you live and you may learn a lot about yourself in the process!

This book is reference work. It contains information about the seasonal topics of Japanese Tea. It is not for beginners. It is for people with alot of experience with tea, and preferably knowledge about chaji.

I loved the way this book explored the differences between being Japanese and Japanese American. It really captures the feeling of isolation that a Japanese American can feel living in Japan. The illustrations are gorgeous examples of contemporary Japanese kiri-e art and provide a beautiful and striking balance to the two children's view of life in Japan. The book provides a wonderful introduction to Japanese life and culture that will strike a responsive chord with anyone who has ever visited Japan. A wonderful gift book!

As a teacher, I am always looking for good books to supplement what I am covering in class. My sixth-graders loved this book. They really enjoyed discussing the notion of moving to the country their own ancestors came from and about what life in Japan was like for Americans. One of my students told me later that based on this book, when she grows up, Japan is the first country that she plans to visit. Gorgeous pictures, too.

One simply cannot begin to understand Japan without understanding this turbulent period in its history and one simply cannot being to understand this period without studying the history of a few key feudal domains that spear-headed the major changes in Japanese history. Craig's work remains the definitive one on the subject, in spite of its age.

If you want to understand how Japan catapulted from being a nation of feudal swordsman to being a a world power that beat the stuffing out of Russia in just 50 years... then you need to study the Meiji Restoration. If you want to understand the Meiji Restoration... then you need to study a bit about Choshu, the fuedal principality that was most responsible for making it all happen. Craig's magisterial study is still the monograph on the subject, even today.

A fine memoir of a scholar of the highest order, written with grace and modesty.

This book will especially be enjoyed by those with an interest in the culture of modern Japan, and also those familiar with previous works authored by Donald Keene.

This slight volume on Professor Keene's long and fruitful life is enhanced by the delightful art of Akria Yamaguchi.

Donald Keene's Chronicles is an enjoyable read. At first I hestitated to buy it because I had already read On Familiar Terms (now out of print) and I didn't want a rehash. I was wrong. Keene took the basic structure of his life from On Familiar Terms and wrote with great insight and humor and presented his anecdotes at a different angle. He expands on things said in his preivous book and both books read together give a complete picture of Keene. He actually said more with less. Chronicles is only 183 pages compared to Familiar Terms at 287.
In Chronicles, Keene talks about how he was "lucky enough" to even start Japanese language. He studied Japan at a time that was before WWII, the bubble economy of the 80's, and the recent otaku devotion to anime, manga, jpop, and video games. Now, many students probably come to Japanese classes because of some aspect of pop culture. Keene developed an interest in Japanese literature that would led to many excellent translations and non-fiction books on Japan. He recalls humorous dinners with such famous writers as Mishima Yukio, Abe Kobo, and he even spent time at the house of Tanizaki Junichiro.
How many scholars of Japanese Studies are that fortunate?
This is a great read about a young man who studied Japanese and eventually matured into an older man who became a gifted translator and teacher. I think more people should read memoirs like this. My regret is that few people will probably read it even though it deserves to be read.

The only book that explains the history of japanese warfare so you can see why the martial arts evolved as they did.

The book in the beginning suggests that we will meet long and profound explanations about how the values and characteristics of the classical warriors in ancient Japan developed... Well, they are not that long, not that profound... I wanted more... BUT... What we have in the book is just great!

Maybe I'm so greedy about this matter that I'm thinking the book could go longer, but it is an excellent work! You can't understand the original martial spirit from Japan if you don't read a book like this...

In the end, the author shows some details about the main traditional Martial Arts in Japan, but the great point is the focus on the development of the characteristics of the classical warrior through the telling and analysis of the historical period in which they developed. The text is dry, economic, and goes straight to the point, telling especially what is important to understand the spirit behind the facts. After all, it is a classic anyone who loves Martial Arts, especially those Japanese, must read!

This book is very very helpful. The illustrations are outstanding and with each picture there is a value. It is full of very beautiful and unique pieces and I use it constantly to look up a particular piece prior to purchasing it. I would highly recommnend that anyone interested in MIOJ purchase this book.

This book is very very helpful. The illustrations are outstanding and with each picture there is a value. It is full of very beautiful and unique pieces and I use it constantly to look up a particular piece prior to purchasing it. I would highly recommnend that anyone interested in MIOJ purchase this book.

We lived in Japan and I homeschooled when I first read this book. Much more interesting way to learn about the opening of Japan than through a text. Another excellent book that is a great companion to this one is "Born in the Year of Courage."

Its a very good book!!!It has alot of detail on the Japanes life in the very old days of the world.Its the best you can get!!!!

Contemporary Japan by Duncan McCargo is an exceptionally well written and succinct overview of Japan today perfectly suited for use in a course on Asian politics. The book is particularly helpful in that it begins with an overview of the various perspectives and approaches which characterize the debate among Japanese experts today. In the following chapters McCargo refers often to the differing viewpoints of particular writers and scholars. McCargo also provides a concise historical overview--something often omitted by other texts. The book does not provide any detailed analysis of the current economic crisis. Nevertheless, Contemporary Japan is recommended for its clarity and good writing.

This book is just a marvellous description and explanation about how Japan is nowadays, and why it is like that. It addresses all the key points and gives all the hints for understanding Japan. I am living in Japan and needed some gide for understanding Japanese politics, society, working environment, culture, and others... I found that in this book. It contains many useful and updated information, but not in excess. Just marvellous! It is a pleasure to read it. Handy and easy.

I am lucky enough to have met Ben Waldron through family members that know him. I am not related to him in any way, but after reading this book, I feel that I know him better than some of my own family. This is a gripping true story of Ben's life, narrated by Ben, of leaving his family at 18 years old during the depression and joining the Army. Ben kept a diary for the three and a half years that he was kept as Prisoner of War under the Japanese. This book will take you through all of your emotions, and you will be left awestruck, bewildered, angry, sickened, happy and well informed about life as a soldier and as a POW during WWII.

Excellent book. I read it in one sitting because it was impossible for me to set it down. The author tells the story in real language with no extra words. It really shows the horrors of being a prisoner of war.