No comments about Japan (Eyewitness Travel Guide).

1 comments about Utopia Guide to Japan (2nd Edition): the Gay and Lesbian Scene in 27 Cities Including Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya.

1. This guide is just a cut and paste of their own web site (Or the web site is a cut and paste of the book)
   
   Free online, don't bother!

No comments about Simple Guides Shinto (Simple Guides).

3 comments about Japanese Pilgrimage.

1. Oliver Statler's Japanese Pilgrimage is a delight. Retracing the steps of generations of past pilgrims, he brings their stories to life and evokes a gentle reflective mood for the reader. As well, modern Japan is brought into focus through his appreciation of the links between tradition, Buddhism and Shinto and contemporary culture. A really delightful read, and a good "travellers tale" that will be enjoyed by those who have or are planning to visit Japan.



2. This book tells the story of an American man who makes a famous pilgrimage around the island of Shikoku with his Japanese friend.
   Having lived/studied in Zentsuji Shikoku for a year, (the home of Kobo Daishi the monk who created the pilgrims trail) I can vouch for the books authenticity.

   It is a tale about the 88 temples along the way, the political intrigues, secret love affairs between villgers and pilgrims and the stories of despair and pain. Oliver weaves a beautiful web between the past history which he quotes and the present conditions of the modern pilgrims and village people he meets along the way. It is not only a book about Japanese culture accurately and sensitively crafted but the spiritual journey of the author also and his struggle with his inner darkness. Its a great read.

   Each temple along the way has a personality and a shadow and the pilgrim connects the stories of the past with his present journey as he interviews the local people and describes their various characteristics. The journey traverses various provinces from Kagawa to Kochi where the various people display unique attitudes towards the pilgrims varying between open hostility to hospitality.

   It is a good book to realize the complexity of Japanese culture and to appreciate the beauty of this amazing island of sea, temples and mountains. Oliver is truly an amazing oriental observer with the spirit of zen in each page. He writes honestly, openly and without pretention.




3. They just don't make books like this anymore! This is a wonderfully rambling, lyrical, impressionistic portrait of the Shikoku Pilgrimage, anecdotal and episodic and yet gradually unfolding according to an underlying narrative plan. It's accessible and simply written and yet well-researched, informative, and highly evocative of Japanese religiosity as it functions in real life. At times it's intensely personal, based as it is on the author's own pilgrimage experiences (mainly a complete walking circuit of the eighty-eight temples accomplished with a friend in 1971), and yet at other times it's intriguingly biographical concerning monks and pilgrims prominent in the pilgrimage's long history. The author's fervent enthusiasm and deep esteem for this religious phenomenon and its underlying spirituality overflows on every page, and yet he's quite realistic and straightforward about some of the shadier and unsavory aspects of the pilgrimage. Finally, the icing on the cake, the book is profusely illustrated with fine woodcuts and paintings both premodern and modern, once again proving the principle that a picture's worth a thousand words.
   
   The book is divided into three sections, and with each section the reader gets closer and closer to lived religion in Japan. In the first part Statler concentrates on outlining the historical personage of Kukai (later known honorifically as Kobo Daishi), the 8th/9th-century monk and founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism in Japan upon whom the pilgrimage is focused. In the second part Statler attempts to portray how layers and layers of legend and belief enlarged and eventually apotheosized Kobo Daishi and of how faith in him as a divine savior was spread among the populace by wandering, itinerant holy men (many pious if unlearned, some inevitably charlatans). Finally, in the third section the pilgrimage itself comes into sharper focus, including discussions with current pilgrims and priests along with accounts of many past pilgrims such as the Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danzo VIII, the feminist writer Takamure Itsue, the Chicago anthropologist Frederick Starr, and the haiku poet Masaoka Shiki, to name only a few. And of course all three sections are permeated with legends, folk stories, anecdotes, and miracle tales that are fantastic or even bizarre--and that capture the mood and feel of the pilgrimage perfectly in all its ambiguity.
   
   Just a word of warning, though, this is not a guidebook. Statler does not describe every single one of the eighty-eight temples*, and for those temples he does describe he skips around a lot and backtracks now and then with no attempt at going along in their order on the pilgrimage route. And there is absolutely no concrete information on travel and accommodations or the like, so don't count on this book for such purposes. Instead, allow this book to get you into the spirit of the pilgrimage, whether you really intend on actually performing it or not, in fact. Indeed, you don't need to know a thing about Japan to follow and enjoy this fine account, and yet those who've studied Japan for years will doubtlessly find much to learn and enjoy as well. And if you happen to have fond memories of life in rural Japan, then believe me, this book will definitely take you back there in spirit.
   
   *(In the back there is an appendix with each temple listed by name and number along with the principal deity and sect affiliation of each, though this is more in the nature of an FYI than a guide per se).

2 comments about Still Clueless In Tokyo: Another Sketchbook Of Weird And Wonderful Things In Japan.

1. Still Clueless in Tokyo continues to delight while sharing knowledge about a wide variety of common things found in Japanese Culture. Keeps you laughing while you learn.



2. Artist Betty Reynolds entertains us while she enlarges our understanding of what is foreign to our own culture. Some may think it is more a preparation for a trivia game but it is written/painted with great delight and should be received the same way. "STILL CLUELESS . . ." is brilliant. Be sure to add it to your book shelves; it works magic on a gloomy day.
   
   The watercolors are as amusing as they are bright. Reynolds, an acclaimed family flag-designer, takes the reader 'every-which-way' - - what may at first seem strange is shown to make sense: foods (gingko nuts are grilled - and delicious); holidays - including religious observances; seasons; advertising & vending machines; and a double-page spread about "the talented & terrifying toilets" mentioned by others . . .
   
   The New Year celebrations seem more interesting than ours in the U.S., or perhaps they are more age-friendly? And what country could match "Harikayo," a ceremony for retiring broken or crooked needles by burying them in tofu? I will now cultivate my "morning faces" (Morning Glories) as I say a prayer of Thanksgiving that my toilet is low-tech & doesn't require Japanese language skills to operate - or something similar to a TV control. Betty Reynold's sketchbook is about as opposite as you can get from the sumi-e of mcHAIKU's previous review (# 0806908335) but they each give delight.

1 comments about Squeamish About Sushi: Food Adventures in Japan.

1. It is amazing how much information is packed into this small book written at a children's level. As an adult studying Japanese I highly recommend all Ms. Reynold's books. A classmate introduced this one to me and we were both thrilled by it.

3 comments about You Know You've Been in Japan too Long....

1. I glanced through this book being rather skeptic. Not that many books made by Gaijins can even be considered decent. However, this book actually made me laugh quite a bit, especially the part with "Yoisho..." I am an American, and have been living in Japan for almost 12 years now. I love it here, and this book really does hit the nail on the head. It's good for a few laughs, nothing serious... Read it, enjoy it...



2. Not sure what others meant by "Not that many books made by Gaijins can even be considered decent." Gaijin meaning "Not Japanese". I think a good author "Gaijin" would be "Lauren Weisberger" just for starters!
   
   Bill, I laughed all the way through! Good reading even if you not in Japan!



3. A very humorous, and I think, accurate book about how westerners feel about some of japan's quirks. While in Japan, my friends and I would gather around this book and laugh at it. Now back home, it serves as a fond reminder of the quirkiness I encountered through daily living. And if truth and accuracy isn't a good reason, the bunny in the corner makes up for it. This book makes a wonderful gift for anyone who's ever lived in Japan.

No comments about Samurai Weapons: Tools of the Warrior.

2 comments about A Diplomat in Japan: The Inner History of the Critical Years in the Evolution of Japan When the Ports Were Opened and the Monarchy Restored (Stone Bridge Classics).

1. If you are interested in Japanese history this is a great book. It gives a firsthand account of events between 1862 and 1869 from the perspective of a foreigner, which covers the very important period of Japan opening to foreigners and the overturn of the shogunate. Sir Ernest Satow was witness to many of the important events that formed modern Japan in his function as a translator for the British Consulate. The book reports his various travels through Japan as an official, his interactions with members of the different Japanese clans, negotiations between the foreign representatives and the Japanese government, including the first audience with the Mikado granted to foreigners. The book makes history come alive and fills it with real-life people. It also shows firsthand the difficulties of foreigners in understanding the very different culture of Japan, at a time when there wasn't even proper teaching material to learn the language (not even a dictionary) to make this process easier. A great book for anybody who wants to further his or her understanding of Japan.



2. The mere fact that this book has been through many paperback editions since it first appeared as a hardback published in London by Seeley Service in 1921 is on its own a powerful testament to its enduring fascination. This edition is the latest in a long line, and this reviewer hopes that it will never go out of print.
   
   What is the secret of its popularity? First, it is an eye-witness account by an acutely sensitive and intelligent insider, which many would argue is one of the best kinds of history. Based mainly on his diaries, it depicts not only the political situation of Japan, but also the social conditions of a society on the threshold of an enormous change: the Meiji restoration.
   
   The eyes are those of a sympathetic European - as he would have probably described himself - who was able to master the Japanese language in a time when there were hardly any text books available, and who later became one of the foremost japanologists of the 19th century. (Of course this is to say nothing of his subsequent career as a top British diplomat and theorist of international law.)
   
   A copy of this book is money well spent!
   
   Ian Ruxton, editor of Sir Ernest Satow's Private Letters to W.G. Aston and F.V. Dickins: The Correspondence of a Pioneer Japanologist from 1870 to 1918 (Paperback) and several other Satow-related books which are also available on amazon.

No comments about Japan Map by Nelles (Nelles Maps) (Nelles Maps).