Japan Books

Kazuma Azuma is on a mission: create the ultimate Japanese bread. His quest takes him to an audition/interview with the bakery Pantasia, where he bakes many of his creations, and where he meets friends and foes - sometimes one and the same person.

I loved this book (volume 1), and my seven-year old loves it. There are a few graphics that a are bit heavy for American eyes, but the basic themes of effort, persistence, and foodie values are pure joy. A bit of sex-ish stuff (one short bit of a girl apparently being spied on in a locker room) and violent-looking images (ie, plenty of stress lines and yelling people), but no physical fighting and no blood and guts.

For her, the focus is on remembering that Japanese books go "backwards" (which I appreciate as both a mental exercise and a way of opening her horizons) and on reading.

I recommend this for anyone 7 and up.

A must have source of inspiration for all those interested in small scale to miniature contemporary illustrative sculptural work. Would appeal to model builders, contemporary doll artists & sculptors alike.

Best. Macro. Book. Ev-arrr!

Seriously. American food. Healthy. Delicious. Try cooking the succotash and yams and squash for *real* traditional Thanksgiving sides.

Every recipe I have tried in here is fantastic.

Except for the Zuni water balls. They stunk.

But don't let that stop you. This book rules. Easy to read, mostly easy to make, good for you, and delicious recipes you can add to your all-american repertoire! w00t!

Professor Maga once again proves himself the master of the history of US-Japan relations with this study of the planning (on both sides) of what would have been the climactic battle of World War II. His efforts to discuss both the Japanese and American plans uncovers some interesting variations on some commonly held beliefs about the invasion, such as the American estimate of casulties or the Japanese willingness to fight to the end. I don't think his tale of the explosive-laden little clay pots that Japanese children were supposed to offer to American GIs and then use to kill the soldier and themselves will ever leave me.

A fine effort that deserves a place on the shelves of every student of World War II. It provides answers to some important questions that have gone unanswered for too long.

America's Japan was first published in Japanese in Japan in 1986. Although Grant Goodman is American, he wrote the book in Japanese for a Japanese audience. Now that the Bush administration has compared the attempt to democratize Iraq with the post-World War II efforts to democratize Germany and Japan, America's Japan has a new relevance and has been translated into English for an American audience.

The language in America's Japan is deceptively simple. Goodman describes his life in Cleveland. He is in high school when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. He is still seventeen when he begins his studies at Princeton, then volunteers to participate in an intensive Japanese language training course for Army officers. He does well, joins the Army, gets his lieutenant's bars, and is on the way to the Philippines in June, 1945.

As an interrogator, he doesn't see combat. There aren't many prisoners to question, because "the American soldiers usually preferred to shoot Japanese soldiers rather than take them prisoners. And really, it was probably unreasonable to ask the U.S. soldiers to take live prisoners under the extremely harsh conditions of jungle warfare."

The few prisoners they do see are pretty beaten down and don't put up much resistance. The interrogation room was "a dark room with almost no windows. The Japanese prisoners were brought into this dark room stark naked, then they would suddenly have a spotlight shone on them and interrogation would begin from a place high above them. The interrogation desk must have been elevated some ten feet above the floor."

Goodman arrives in Tokyo in October, 1945, after the surrender. One of his first assignments is to procure a desk chair for General MacArthur. He finds one in the office of the president of a Japanese company. The president is still sitting in the chair, so Goodman requisitions it from the astonished businessman by order of General MacArthur. Goodman explains that under the terms of the Occupation, the Japanese were obliged to supply the Army with whatever it needed.

Goodmans views of MacArthur, the Japanese Constitution, and the occupied Japanese are straightforward and honest. He was barely twenty-one when this took place, and there is an odd air of innocence in the narrative. But every so often, the older Goodman surfaces with an observation made with the perspective of time. He says that the American-style constitution was vital for the Japanese government to re-emerge on the world stage. He also mentions that the Japanese were not convinced of the importance of a constitution at the time, and that the Americans, who felt that time was of the essence, wrote the first draft on their own, although the Americans insisted that the Japanese had done most of the work.

America's Japan is a very short book, 147 pages, but Goodman touches on a number of subjects, serious and not so serious. On the lighter side, he talks about how the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado was received in Japan. More serious is his description of translating the diary of a Japanese civilian who participated in beheading the pilots of an American bomber that was shot down over their village.

It's interesting that America's Japan is finally available for Americans to read. It will be even more interesting to see if it is translated into Arabic for Iraqis to read.

This book examines the differences in communication strategies between Japanese and American Business people. Comparisons are made in terms of who initiate the interaction, who speaks the most, backchannelling in communication, and how their speech strategy differ from each other. Yamade concludes that Americans usually speak direct to the point and speaks the most in an interaction when he/she initiate the conversation, while Japanese try to familiarize themselves before getting into business. Other notable Japanese conversation strategies include bringing in examples, silent shifts in conversational topics and frequent backchannels. Yamada makes reference to other authorities in cross-cultural communication between American and Japanese business people, and criticise them in mentioning "talk things over" when communication with Japanese businessmen fails. This is not a wise move as Japanese people prefer silence over talking, and the attempts to "talk things over" may farther complicate the situation. I recomment this book to business people who need to deal with Japanese clients or trying to make a new relationship with Japanese business partner(s). I also recommend this to students and researchers alike who are studying the differences in communication strategies between American and Japanese. This book is not an 'introduction to business' type book like one by de Mente, but is a result of a detailed research into American and Japanese communication styles. The quality of insights into Japanese culture is also helped by the author's background, who is a second-generation Japanese living in America.

As a former student of Barbara Estrin at Stonehill College, I hear her loud and clear in this her newest work. As a social activist, her perspective and insight into this noteworthy subject deserves close study and reflection. The connections Estrin makes between literature and these historic yet tragic events provides an interesting view of our world. Estrin challenges each of us to not only look deep within literature, but she forces us to confront new and disturbing reader responses that further our appreciation of her subject. Today I realize what a honor it was to have taken courses with this skilled scholar.

Although the subtitle implies the book is about the intertwined fates of MacArthur and Hirohito, and there are biographical elements to it, the book is really a comparison between Japan's pre-war and post-war culture and power structures. Essentially this is a narrative history of the internal and external politics than led to Japanese aggression against Russian and China, which led ultimately to Japan's attacks across the rest of Asia and against the United States in December 1941.

The author argues that Japan's internal politics, economic concerns, and the power dynamic of the Emperor, the military, the bureaucracy, and the zaibatsu led to its wars against virtually all of its neighbors. He goes on to argue that after the war, despite MacArthur's best efforts, that same Japanese power structure survived and still exists today. And it's a power structure that believes it was the victim, that its invasions of its neighbors were justified, and that Japan was not militarily defeated but that it had to surrender because the US had nuclear weapons.

Another very interesting point the author makes is the amazing difference in the way the allies treated the Japanese after the war vs. Germany. Aside from a few show trials, there were no major war crimes efforts in Japan. At the same time, while Germany was subject to a rigorous de-Nazification program, the Japanese power structures were left intact.

This is an excellent, easy to read narrative history that puts everything in context. It begins with a brief history of Japan, especially covering the period between the time Japan was forcefully exposed to the world, through to WWII. It then has an overview of the war itself, followed by and interesting analysis of post-war Japan.

If you like WWII, you will want to read this book in order to understand the context of Japan's aggression.

To quote from the introduction "This book is a comprehensive commentary on technical analysis of stock prices in Japan. Each chapter was written by an expert unrivaled in his respective area. In a sense, this book provides a forum where Japan's first-class technical analysts are able to compete, and it is a test of Japan's technical analysis as measured by world standards."

This book is easy to read and serves as a guide and text for technical analysis from the Japanese perspective. A must for the library of any serious technical analyst.

hmmm...well who actually would buy this book anyway? haha yes im a rocket scientist and i read this book with my eyes closed. see that is how smart i am. a genius actually no need to be modest.