1 comments about Drifting Toward the Southeast: The Story of Five Japanese Castaways.

1. Although John Manjiro never came to Maui, an annual dance festival in his honor has been held in Lahaina several times. Now, for the first time in English, we have the man's story in his own words, as translated by Junya Nagakuni and Junji Kitadai and accompanied by gorgeous reproductions of the illustrations that decorated his handwritten 1852 account -- words and pictures that helped revolutionize Japan, even though they circulated in a limited number of handwritten copies, each with a somewhat different set of illustrations.
   Manjiro was a poor fisherman, too low in status even to have a family name, when he and four companions were shipwrecked on Hurricane Island (Tori Shima) in 1841. At the time, Japan was almost cut off from the rest of the world.
   The quintet was rescued by an American whaling captain, and the older men were taken to Oahu, where one of them married an islander and disappeared from history. Manjiro, only 14, was taken to New Bedford and educated in English, Christianity, surveying and navigation and coopering.
   He spent six of the next 10 years at sea, as he and his companions struggled to return to Japan. Whether they understood that, by law, returned exiles were subject to execution is uncertain, but according to the editors, there is no record that the Shogunate actually did kill any returnees.
   However, on one attempt to land, the local Japanese were frightened enough to run away from the suspect exiles.
   The American captain, then, refused to let his refugees land, carrying them back across the ocean.
   The bitter disappointment of the yearning exiles must have been profound, but Manjiro, a stoic, relates his dismay in just a line.
   In 1852, Manjiro, who also used the American name John Mung, and two of the others managed to get close to home on a whaler and then to sail a whaleboat into Okinawa, a somewhat more welcoming re-entry point than the home islands had been earlier. It was happily timed for Manjiro, because just one year later Commodore Matthew Perry came demanding trade and refuge for whaleships, whether the Japanese wanted it or not.
   Other castaways had made it home earlier; in fact, footnotes to this edition of Manjiro's "Hyoson Kiryaku" ("Brief Account of Drifting toward the Southeast") suggest that Japanese waifs were thinly spread all over the Pacific in the mid-19th century.
   The connection of Manjiro to Lahaina comes from this little diaspora. Four other shipwrecked Japanese sailors had landed in Lahaina in 1838 -- before Manjiro ever left home -- and were given succor by missionaries. Manjiro's later fame rubbed off on these men, who never played the role in introducing the two nations to each other that he did; and in legend Manjiro became a visitor to Maui, but his charts reproduced in "Hyoson Kiryaku" show that he landed on Oahu several times but never on Maui.
   A few elite Japanese at home had learned something about the outside world before Perry showed up, including a samurai, Kawada Shoryo, who was assigned to write down Manjiro's story.
   Shoryo, an accomplished painter, also elaborated Manjiro's sketches.
   The book was a sensation, though not available to very many. The power elite of Meiji Japan saw it, though.
   Only a few copies survive, with illustrations of variable quality.
   Shoryo had European books and prints, supplied by the Dutch at Nagasaki, to help with street scenes as described and roughly sketched for him by Manjiro, but some things were utterly mystifying to stay-at-home Japanese.
   One illustration of a "sea horse" looks like a deformed horse, and the editors speculate that perhaps it was an attempt to draw a walrus from no more than a verbal description.
   Since Manjiro said he had seen it while sailing around Cape Horn, it could not have been a walrus. Was the sailor spinning a yarn, just once, in his otherwise very serious account of suffering and revelation?
   Whichever, John Manjiro comes across as an attractive personality.
   He went to California in the Gold Rush and struck it rich -- $600 for only 70 days work. According to Kuwada, "he thought it would be indecent to continue" and set off for Honolulu to collect other stray Japanese and go home.
   Once there, he became an expert, though the Shogunate officials never quite trusted him, suspecting him of being a pawn in an American plot.
   Manjiro did much better when the Meiji emperor took over, becoming a samurai, a university teacher, translator of Bowditch's "New American Practical Navigator," author of a primer for teaching English and acquiring the privilege of a patrynomic, Nakahama.
   The editors comment, though, that "Manjiro must have struggled inwardly with his own identity and the clash of different cultures." When he died in 1898, they say, he "must have felt great satisfaction that his self-appointed mission to open Japan to the West was accomplished."
   Their final assessment is that "Manjiro's real message was perhaps born out of his inner struggle between 'John Mung' and 'Nakahama Manjiro.' Out of this unique identity crisis came wisdom and character."

1 comments about A Guide to Food Buying in Japan.

1. I love this book. I live in Japan and regularly take it the store with me. It has helpful language information, packaging information and explanations of all the "foreign" things I'm looking at in the store. My book has a different cover (older edition, I assume), but it was worth every penny...and it's not cheap!

2 comments about The Japan We Never Knew: A Journey of Discovery.

1. This is a book about the Japan that even Japanese urbanities unfortunately do not know. I recommend it for anybody seriously interested in the anthropology of the different native people of Japan and their heritage. It is easy to read and first hand report. I felt touched by the interviews. However, to have a whole picture, I suggest to read it after you know the stereotypes of Japan that are written in most of introductory books in the market, or better, after you live there for some time. I have read other books about indigenous people of other lands, and many times I finish with sadness, for the loss of their treasures and way of life. Preface of this book mentioned something that I felt very valuable. It said that Mr. Suzuki purported to show that such native people may provide a clue to the future, to our survival. I appreciate your message very much, Mr. Suzuki.



2. Abe-san's review elsewhere on this page focuses on the treatment of the Ainu in Hokkaido -- Japan's indigenous people -- and indeed, this is one of the issues that Suzuki and Oiwa's work takes up; but it IS only one of the issues. Suzuki, for those of you who don't know, is a Japanese Canadian who, like many others, was forcibly relocated with his family as a child during the Second World War. The Canadian government, in a move they since have apologized and made token reparations for, confiscated the property of all persons of Japanese ancestry on the west coast and sent them into the interior of the province to camps, similar to Manzanar in California. Suzuki, driven to excel by these experiences, to prove himself as a Canadian, grew up to become a political activist and passionate environmentalist (and TV celebrity, university professor, etc). Oiwa, the co-author, believed himself ethnically Japanese until discovering that his father was a Korean -- a revelation, since Koreans are not treated as equals by some Japanese, and there are enduring tensions from the days when Japan occupied Korea. Together, the two writers travelled to Japan to probe into many current political problems, with considerable concern for the environment and aboriginal issues, but also dealing with political problems in Okinawa, the tendancy in some circles in Japan to deny guilt for war atrocities, the treatment of the burakumin, Japan's "untouchable class," and issues that spring up from the Japanese concern for treating "outsiders" differently from "insiders" (Japanese who grew up in South America are interviewed, for example, about being treated like outsiders in their own country). Everything they write is supported by excellent interviews. The emphasis of the book is NOT on criticising the Japanese right or such, however, but rather speaking with people in Japan who are fighting to change things -- including Katsuichi Honda, a controversial author who has written a substantial book on the Nanking Massacre (and who actually visited China for purposes of research). Suzuki's main concern in his work has been the environment, so much attention is given to farmers experimenting with alternative, back-to-nature methods of farming - more than interested me, but environmentalists might feel otherwise. I'd recommend this book for anyone concerned about Japan.

4 comments about Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (Tut Books. H).

1. The Cosimo edition of the Nihongi is only the first half (up to the reign of Buretsu--or Muretsu, according to Aston's rendering of the name). This is probably because the original edition was in two volumes, and the Cosimo edition only reproduces the first volume, while claiming to be the entire Nihongi. The Tuttle editions have both volumes in one book.



2. Mr. Aston outdid himself with this work, which must have been an undertaking of many a year. With more detail on the creation story than the Kojiki, the book runs a similar ground but as Aston will point out on occassion, has a large Chinese influence as well. I have been researching world myth for eight years now, and find this a great ancient source for the subject. The time of the gods lasting just over the first hundred pages, however the remaining literature provides in depth custom and legend that others around the globe can appreciate, and in some cases relate to, reguardless where you dwell.



3. W.G. Aston's Nihongi is the standard translation of one of Japan's greatest works of early literature. For those studying early Japanese history or folklore it is a must read. It describes the creation myths of Japan, the origin of Amaterasu, the sun goddess and the descent of the emperors from the gods (kami). It transitions slowly from myth to history somewhere around 400 AD as it begins to describe the acts of the emperors and Japan's interaction with its neighbours, most notably the kingdoms of Pekche, Silla and Koryo in what is now Korea.
   
   The creation myths are somewhat jumbled in format and, without Aston's copious footnotes, would be almost unintelligible to the uninitiated. While at times the translator's commentary threatens to overwhelm the actual text, for the most part it plays a key role in aiding our understanding. The expert may find the notes annoying (and possibly dated since the book was translated in 1896) but I found them quite helpful. As the book proceeds into the more narrative historical sections, the footnotes decrease accordingly.
   
   It appears that the Nihongi was written to provide the back-story to the role of the emperor as it existed circa 800 AD. Thus genealogical information forms a large part of the book and there are a lot of names in here. Aston also points out, with considerable annoyance, that many of the speeches and acts of the Nihongi are anachronistically cribbed from Chinese material extant at the time of the Nihongi's writing. Poetry, as well, is a large component of the work, often with inscrutable translations but tempered by copious notes. It should also be noted that to avoid corrupting the morals of the youth, passages dealing with sex are translated from Japanese into Latin. The curious and prurient may wish to brush up on their classical studies.
   
   I was completely unaware, as I read the book, that the Cosimo edition of the Nihongi is only the first of two original volumes. Nowhere in the book is it made clear that there is another volume, although if you read the preface closely you will note that Aston refers to the "thirty books" of the Nihongi - in this edition there are only 16. The errata published at the back are for two volumes, one of which is that in hand while the other is clearly not present, and the title indicates the book will take us to 637 AD while the table of contents only goes as far as Muretsu in AD 499. It is difficult to believe you could publish this book without being aware that there was a second volume and almost as difficult to believe the publisher deliberately misled the readers into buying what was effectively only half of a book. Whatever the answer, I am quite disappointed in the lack of a second volume.
   
   The writings themselves are excellent. While I usually enjoy folklore more than history, in this case, the best and most moving tales belong to the "historical" portion of the book. Tales of the evil emperor Yoriaku, the bold empress Okinaga and others are quite entertaining, while obviously not completely factual. I would have to give the Nihongi 5 stars as a great work of literature, Aston's translation 4 stars due to is dated nature and the publisher 1 star for delivering only half of the great tale.



4. William George Aston was one of the three or four major British japanologists of the 19th century, along with Ernest Satow, Basil Hall Chamberlain and Frederick Victor Dickins. As such it is good to see this book, or rather half of it, available here. It is the first ever English translation of the Nihongi and is full (perhaps too full) of copious annotations.
   
   Ernest Satow wrote in a private letter to Dickins on April 26, 1896: "Aston's translation of the Nihongi, Vol. I, reached me the other day. It is a capital piece of work. It is a subject for legitimate pride that this and the Kojiki have been Englished by us, before any other Europeans." It has also stood the test of time quite well.
   
   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), also available on amazon.

2 comments about My Mother is a Tractor: A Life in Rural Japan.

1. Before I went to Japan to study in October of 2004, I visited the internet and discovered Nicholas Klar's webpage. He told some really entertaining stories about his times in the JET program (or programme). I was not going to be a JET, but I really wanted to discoved some the "people" side of the Japanese. So I read all I could of his adventures and essays online. Then I emailed him. He was kind enough to reply. In fact, when I inquired about buying his future book he nearly fell all over himself with enthusiasm. This was probably the starving author coming out in him. In any case, I was impressed that he would remember me a year later when the book was published and I was also impressed that the book is a fun read.
   I think Nicholas's JET kids were fortunate to have him in their schools. His book does indeed show the Japanese to be both quirky and fun, which many people might find unexpected. He can tell a story that brings a tear to the eye, as well as one that brings a chuckle to anyone, familiar with Japan or not.
   Buy the book and have a good read.



2. A friend reccomended this book to me before I begin a study abroad in Japan. I had read alot of "memoir of Japan" type of books and was prepared for something similar to "36 Views of Mt. Fuji" or "Learning to Bow". I quickly learned that Klar prefers to push copious amounts of information all into one fun book. I was taken aback at the lack of organization at first. Klar will launch into a brief, but detailed, talk of perverts in Japan and immediately jump into a Memorial Peach Park opening ceremony. However, the book has a ridiculous amount of (semi) useful information and still remains a memoir of sorts. The book will have you laughing out loud and enjoying Klar's writing style.

No comments about Japan Diary: A year on JET.

1 comments about Culture Shock!: Success Secrets to Maximize Business in Hong Kong.

1. Went to Hong Kong for the first time and wanted to do some background reading. If you're fairly familiar with world history and politics and some background on the fact that Hong Kong was a former British colony, I don't think this book offers any earthshattering insights. Furthermore, this book was poorly edited with grammar and punctuation errors.

   If you're simply travelling for business, a good guide book will provide much of the same information. If you're trying to open a business or office, then you will likely need a more in-depth introduction than this book provides. In addition, the authors add several personal ancedotes, which I didn't find to be particularly insightful or instructive.

   The bottom line is browse through this book in a bookstore first. I think you'll find that you can much of the same information by reading a good guide book or even talking to other colleagues who have travelled to Hong Kong.

5 comments about Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei.

1. I am a Japan-born Japanese who lives in Boston for over 10 years and it is my strong pursuit to learn cultural encountering points between East and West especially, to name, Japan and US. The book caught my eyes immediately when I first saw it in a bookstore since I thought I can read about this Japanese American who know more about US than Japan although he must have been exposed to a some level of Japanese-ism over the course of his upbringing. My expectation from the book was to see the complex mosaic of his feeling toward Japan and its culture now that he lives in the country Japan. Unfortunately, it was not what I retrieved from the book since he was rather in a rare subculture of Japan and read little about his interaction with Japanese as cultural encountering. However, it was certainly a personal memoir of an expat who lives in a foreign country but knows the intricacy of Japan. This will not be a book for those who want to read his statements of Japan. But it will certainly be an interesting reading if you want to read the life of this expat who can describe his personal experience in more Japanese familiar terms.



2. I can't comment with any authority on this book regarding its literary merit. However, I can say that, having lived life as a sansei just as David Mura has, I found this book a compelling read -- a book whose feeling and emotion was/is quite consistent with mine. This is so even though for the most part we seem to have lived very different kinds of lives. Our principal commonality appears to be that a stay in Japan during young adulthood played a pivotal role in helping us learn something about ourselves. Trivial and obvious? Perhaps. Anti-white and/or anti-American (as has been stated by other readers here)? I don't think so.



3. An overwraught and overwritten diary about how hard it is to be David Mura, wealthy American of Japanese descent. Hello? Hard lives are lived on the West Bank, in drought-striken East Africa and in Northern Ireland. This self-indulgent work trivializes real suffering.



4. I appreciate Mura's contribution to Asian American literature and his courage to reveal himself, which is very atypical for Asian/Asian American men. His struggles with his racial identity and journey to find connections with his grand parents' homeland were fascinating. Being a person of Japanese ancestory, I believe Asian/Asian American men can personally relate to Mura's story. I also recommend his other book,"Where the Body Meets Memory", which reveals further on his issues and helps to complement this book.



5. I agree with the reviewers who found the book repetitive, a little boring and more about his family than Japanese culture. While he attempts to provide many insights I fear that most of them are dated now 16 years later. Also the author makes such a big deal about seeing the hometown of his grandfather and when he finally gets there after 300 pages there is absolutely no payoff.

No comments about Look into Tokyo (Japan in Your Pocket Series, Vol 7).

2 comments about On the Move in Japan: Useful Phrases & Common Sense for the Traveler.

1. This book has become my most used when I travel in Japan. The prases have the Kanji translation, so that you can point to a phrase, and any Japanese person will understand.

   From buying train tickets to what happens during specific holidays, this little book has packed a great deal of information into a convenient package.




2. After living in Japan for several years and purchasng several hundred dollars worth of Japanese language materials, this book is the best by far to quickly help you get around and survive here!!! Despite the fact that it is designed primarily for tourists, anyone who is residing in Japan and has not mastered the language yet will benefit from this helpful little book. A few of its outstanding features are:
   
   1. topical arrangement of materials from the basics to utilities; to getting along; and getting around; and getting in and out of trouble
   
   2. explanations of written Japanese for tickets and time schedules
   
   3. cultural notes about holidays and events
   
   4. general traveling advice about what to see and how to enjoy it. Although this information is not expressed in detail the size of this pocket guide makes it convenient and easy to use. It gives the reader a reliable point in the right direction.
   
   This little book is so much more useful than the standard phrasebooks because of the kanji characters it uses. I highly recommend it for anyone spending a week or a year in Japan. If you are planning on spending considerable time in Japan, this book is much easier to purchase there than in the United States.