One of the keys to learning Japanese is stroke order and drilling until each stroke is second nature. Jim Gleeson put together a wonderful workbook that lets you do just that. In a short introduction, Gleeson outlines the different strokes needed to form each letter, and he briefly provides a history lesson about how kana…
Category: Book Reviews
Japanese Ghost Stories: Spirits, Hauntings, and Paranormal Phenomena
Do you know what happens to a tool when it becomes 100 years old? What about a tree when it sees its 1,000th birthday? What does it matter if a dinner plate is broken? Cartien Ross answers these questions and more in her book Japanese Ghost Stories, Spirits, Hauntings, and Paranormal Phenomena. Ross looks at…
The Battle of the Books Memoirs of a Geisha vs Geisha, A Life
I am a bit behind the times with this article. Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha came out in 1997, with a movie of the same name back in 2005. I recently read the autobiography of the woman Memoirs was based upon, Mineko Iwasaki. In her book, Geisha, a Life, Iwasaki paints a very different…
Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt
There are a lot of ghouls, ghosts, and other nasty critters spooking around Japan. From bathrooms to cemeteries to the deep woods and everywhere in between, a traveler can find themselves running afoul of the worst beasties Japan has to offer at any time. What’s a tourist to do? Well, they could do far worst…
47 Ronin
John Allyn’s version of Japan’s classic story shows some of its age. Originally published in 1970, Allyn’s writing has some jarring elements common to books published at that time. Modern readers are used to seeing through the eyes of a single character with chapters or scene breaks marking a change of viewpoint. 47 Ronin jumps…
Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics & Culture
Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics & Culture is an introduction to Japanese design concepts and the people who brought Japanese design to the West. Obviously, it would take at least several books the size of cinder blocks to thoroughly cover the ocean of Japanese design. Patricia Graham does a good job in summarizing the high points…