Japan Books

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.'

From the the start to the end of the Art of Advantage it is the Way of the Longsword and the Side Arm.
For those men/women at Arms this is the cycle.

Minimalist, simple and direct. If you know the japanese culture, these three words are complements for this book. As the yagyu shinkage ryu, the book is the essence of a fantastic and very effective art. If you practice Yagyu ryu as we do or you're a martial artist, this book is just as mandatory as Inato Nitobe's Bushido, Tsunetomo's Hagakure or even Musashi's GoRi no Sho

Richard Storry makes his way thru the myth and presents the realities of samurai life. This lifestyle though complex, was able to maintain a powerful and refined culture. Of course the book is also greatly enhanced by the fantastics photos of Werner Forman.

The book takes us on a trip through an alien world. Out of it emerges an austere life drawn from Zen and Confucain ethics, which lead to the devlopment of Bushido.

Richard Storry makes his way thru the myth and presents the realities of samurai life. This lifestyle though complex, was able to maintain a powerful and refined culture. Of course the book is also greatly enhanced by the fantastics photos of Werner Forman. The book takes us on a trip through an alien world. Out of it emerges an austere life drawn from Zen and Confucain ethics, which lead to the devlopment of Bushido.

A very detailed book about uniforms in Japan, with major focus on school uniforms, but the book also deals with post-school uniforms in the work place and even in the home. Lots of examples and a solid foundation set on past studies, books and surveys. The author also shows the anti-uniform culture, which sometimes ends up being just as uniform. Formal uniforms vs. the cult of playful kawaisa (cuteness).
Really interesting, seeming to follow the changes within the life of the Japanese, from school uniforms, to the college rest period (where you wear whatever you want), to the uniform (and job)they will be wearing the rest of their life.

McVeigh examines how clothing in Japan, specifically the uniform, acts both as social control and socializing mechanism, and also functions as a site for protest and differentiation. Along with the first part, which deals mainly with uniforms, there's also fascinating discussion of Japan's "cult of cuteness", an aesthetic which is fundamentally Japanese and which ranges from Hello Kitty to hardcore .... Did you know that some Japanese schoolgirls actually choose their schools based on how "cute" the school uniform is? Too much. Cool book.

I've been searching for a book such as this for quite some time. I purchased this book as source material for 3D modeling, and all the hand drawn illustrations are simply amazing! Many interior, exterior and close-up shots of Japanese architecture. Several floor plans and isometric views of various homes and temples.

Having only recieved my book the day before, I have not had a chance to read it from cover to cover, but what I have read was informative and well written. While you may not be able to build your very own "to code" Japanese home with this book, as a source of information and inspiration, it's a tremendous book!

This is a good guide to Japanse architecture and it's styles. It contains many illustrations, and is a detailed description on types of Traditional Japanese architecture.

Yoon's words and pictures tell of a time when people were interned for the way they looked and their ancenstry. She allows the reader to be drawn in by the helplessness that must have been felt by Japanese Americans during WWII. Her descriptions are haunting and will never let you forget the words of those that were interned. She has a way of writing that conveys her deep feelings for those who were imprisoned and pulls the reader in emotionally. This book expresses feelings that I hope will never be felt again.

Yoon's words and pictures tell of a time when people were interned for the way they looked and their ancenstry. She allows the reader to be drawn in by the helplessness that must have been felt by Japanese Americans during WWII. Her descriptions are haunting and will never let you forget the words of those that were interned. She has a way of writing that conveys her deep feelings for those who were imprisoned and pulls the reader in emotionally. This book expresses feelings that I hope will never be felt again.

A lot of Manga titles stick to tried and true genres such as martial arts, fantasy, or Sci-Fi, which makes Tokyopop's Wild Adapter, that much more refreshing. This is a gritty, urban drama, taking place within the inner circles of the Yakuza, the Japanese version of the Mafia. It also has one of the more interesting anti-heroes ever seen in a Manga title, the mercurial Makoto Kubota. Kubota is a teenager whose skill at Mahjong gambling parlors, and aloof attitude, gains the notice of a local Yakuza leader, Sanada, boss in the Izumo syndicate.

Sanada recruits Kubota to be the leader of a Yakuza youth group although these youths aren't out helping old ladies cross the street. They are selling drugs and paying shakedown visits to local brothels, and making sure the rival Tojou syndicate stays off their turf. We learn little about Kubota initially, other than some mysteries hinted at regarding who is father was and why Sanada made him a youth boss so quickly.

Kubota is an intriguing character. He has an air of superiority to him that angers some yet also brings him great admiration from his subordinates. He seems to carry little for everyday needs and pleasures. Women certainly don't interest him and yet he is not gay...It's more like he's above such earthly needs. He's perfectly happy going to the local 7-11 to try the new flavor of ice cream as soon as it comes out.

Despite his gangly, 80's new-wave band member appearance, Kubota is extremely dangerous. He single handedly takes out four members of the rival gang after they beat up his friend. Yet we see only Kubota leaping to the attack, and then the end result. Clearly creator Kazuya Minekura is keeping the secrets of his character very close to the vest. We also learn that Kubota's uncle is a well-known detective and yet seems to have little problem with his nephew's underworld activities.

The "Wild Adapter" of the title turns out to be a new designer drug that has hit the streets and is literally turning those who take it into raging beasts. When his friend Komiya dies from a savage beating, Kubota makes a decision that will change his life forever.

Wild Adapter took me by surprise because you usually don't see this level of character and plot development in a lot of Manga titles, especially in the opening volume. The book is rated M for 18 years of age and older due to violence, nudity, and strong language.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Wild Adapter predates Saiyuki or Bus Gamer, but it's hardcore. The latest Minekura work to be published in the US comes shrink-wrapped for a good reason. The sex, language, and violence are very graphic. But that's standard fare in "M" rated books. What makes the book borderline obscene--and disturbingly, uniquely brilliant--is not its imagery, but its power to make mere ideas intensely chilling.

Kubota, the protagonist, joins a yaukza youth gang. Motive? Unknown. Personality?...Also unknown. Even the other characters acknowledge his poker-faced apathy for their cut-throat world of drugs, whores, and guns. Why then, can he viciously dismember rivals, switch to being childish, and be accomodating to perversion and cruelty, all the while keeping a mild expression? Kubota embodies mystery. But like the rest of the cast, you don't question his actions. You believe in his ability to look naive, act casually merciless, and be serenely terrifying without a hitch. He is unquestionably sane, but disconcertingly immune to humanity. His internal dialogues (musings on death and bestiality) edges on the pathological, but are frighteningly lucid. Tokito is the other main character of the series, but as the first book is told prologue style, there's more focus on a underling of Kubota's. Komiya too has his fascinating complexities, but in a far more human sense.

Minekura's art is always good and suited to the settings she creates. The back describes it as being in the "noir tradition," which is absolutly correct. The drawings themselves are well done, but beauty is not the point; the grittiness, grimness, and gravity you feel from them is.

Wiild Adapter is all about things being a little twisted, so its approach to carnality and drug abuse and death are unconventional. It's a messed up, unsettling world for sure, but it'll suck in anyone who has the guts for it.

This was a wonderful little book and like many other Japanese novels such as Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters very litle seems to actually happen. The thing it alot does happen One just has to search for the happenings in the elegent words of Mori Ogai. At first it seems that the main character of the book is the Narrator's best friend Okada who is a wel liked medical student. we soon learn that Okada has been noticed by and is noticing a beautiful woman named Otama who is in fact a mistress of Suezo a money lender. The main character, however, seems to be Otama. We see her gpoo through evert day trying to figure out how to talk the man she loves. It is pretty much that simple, but the reader is deeply affected by this book. I know I was, and i'll never eat makerel boiled in miso

One small incident CAN be made into an entire novel, as Ogai Mori shows us here. The actual action in The Wild Goose is quite small, even insignificant. But the way Ogai informs us of every thought of every character more than makes up for it. What I found to be truly compelling was the point of view -- the narrator is the best friend of Okada, one of the main characters. Just when it appears that the narrator knows way too much about what Otama (the girl) was thinking, he goes and leaves us with a mystery at the end that brings about what I thought was excellent closure. I would say that the main theme of this novel is "zero reciprocity" -- those of the characters who are in love are never truly loved back, like Otama, who silently longs for Okada, or even Suezo, the man who has taken Otama for his mistress. In this novel, people lie, people cheat, people hide the truth. And people never say what they truly feel. Just like real life. An excellent story.

Written by Benjamin F. Guiles, Col. USAF Ret., Wings, Women & War is a novel set during and after World War II. Following a young pilot from rural America who learns how to fly the top secret B-29 Strategic Bomber. An exciting chronicle of war, the experience of flying, and unforgettable encounters with women while living life on the edge. Wings, Women & War doesn't end with the close of World War II, but rather follows the growth of the man; it is love, marriage, and the responsibilities of raising a family that bring completeness to his life. Written in first-person perspective, Wings, Women & War is a rousing story from start to finish, that reflects what truly made the Greatest Generation great.

visual images, emotional connections, literary accumen and thoughtful topics all come together for the reader to care about the characters. This, I believe is the dream of the author and the joy for the reader. We thank you for guarding our precious freedom so valiantly.

This was a delightful read, one I'd come across by chance when it was mentioned in Hanley's Everyday Things in Premodern Japan. It tells the story of a woman named Shibue Io, who lived during the mid-19th century and died in the 1880s, her life spanning the late Edo period and the early Meiji. She was the wife of a scholar-physician named Shibue Chûsai, the subject of a long and very detailed biography by the great Meiji writer Mori Ôgai. McLellan, rather than translating Ôgai's book itself, extracted only those parts concerned with his remarkable wife, Io, and then interpolated his own musings and commentary on the woman and her times. He also provides excellent documentation in the form of endnotes, which give the book a necessary grounding in historical research. We follow the life and times of Io as she marries the well-respected Chûsai, bears a sizable brood (not all of whom lived long), raises and educates her children, is widowed, and endures the hardships that came to families associated with the samurai (or bushi) class during the time of the Meiji Restoration. This exceptional woman was extremely well educated for her time, and several of her children were themselves involved in scholarly pursuits. Io was not only intellectually inclined, she also--having been given martial arts training--had considerable physical bravery, as described in several vivid anecdotes. The book pursues the story of her husband, and each of her children, and by the time the volume concludes, after only 150 pages of narrative, we feel we have come to know not only Shibue Io, but her entire family, and a number of persons closely associated with the Shibue. Moreover, we get a marvelous picture of what life was like for an upper middle-class Japanese family living in Edo during the closing days of the shogunate, and how topsy-turvy things became when it had to adjust to the social, economic, and political upheavals surrounding and succeeding the Restoration. McLellan's commentary has just the right touch; knowledgeable and sensitive, and always helpful in engaging the reader's interest in and sympathy for the cast of characters whose story he (and Ôgai) is telling. He keeps the narrative clear, reminding the reader of who individuals are when they reappear in the story, and continually offering valuable insights into the cultural and historical circumstances of the times, including the place of women. This is a book that anyone interested in 19th-century Japanese life should read; since it was published in 1985, I regret not having known of it before, but I'm delighted to have finally made its acquaintance.

Working from Mori Ogai's biography of Shibue Chusai, a 19th century Japanese doctor in service to the Tsugaru Shogunate, the author of this book focuses rather on the extraordinary life of his wife, Io. Supplementing Ogai's text with his own research, McClellan covers the span of her difficult and remarkable life from her marriage to Chusai, the births (and deaths) of her children, the death of Chusai, and her latter days spent moving all over Japan with her family, trying to eke out a meager living. Japan at this time was going through significant changes as power was wrested from feudal landlords and "restored" to the Emperor Meiji. As a result, Io's entire life changed; born to privilege and affluence, she and her family lost both their status and their income in the restoration. What is amazing about Io is how unconventional she is, and how her story resists the stereotype of the demure, powerless woman (especially in 19th century Japan). Io is not afraid to carry a dagger and pull it out and threaten to use it on thugs who would harm her. And after her husband's death she declines invitations to live with relatives, opting instead to maintain her autonomy even with its threat of greater poverty. She is exceptionally well educated, and learns to read English in her sixties. But McClellan is also careful to place Io's story within its historical context, reminding us of the real limitations she faced because of her sex. He still surmises, however, on her opinions on the issues affecting her quickly changing society, such as women's voting rights and Western scholarship. Above all, Io is portrayed as a woman who combines qualities of strength and courage with tolerance. These are the exact qualities one needed to survive in the world she inhabited, and her possession of them ensured, no doubt, her remarkable success.