Japan Books - Page 12

Kids' Trips in Tokyo: A Family Guide to One-Day Outings

Ivy Maeda, Kitty Kobe, Cynthia C. Ozeki, Lyn Sato

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Despite all the concrete and crowds, Tokyo can be a great place for kids. Scores of parks, museums, and imaginative play spots dot the city, at prices that won't send parents into sticker shock. But for newcomers to Tokyo's bewildering urban sprawl, these hidden gems can be hard to find.
Kids' Trips in Tokyo is the answer to every foreign parent's prayers. No Disneyland or Tokyo Tower here-each chapter is a full day's outing that might include anything from a tour through a samurai mansion to an ice cream treat made fresh at a working dairy. Kid-tested and parent-approved, every tour includes complete information on transportation, eating options, schedules, and pit stops.
It's a sampling of the very best Tokyo has to offer young minds and active bodies, with sensitive attention paid to the complications posed by language and culture barriers. From interactive exhibits that teach kids about Tokyo's history to wildlife sanctuaries that will let them escape the city altogether, Kids' Trips is a treasure trove of creative ideas for parents to enjoy with their children ... or even without.

Enchanting Ikebana: Step-by-Step Japanese Flower Arrangements

Reiko Takenaka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A most inspiring book on the essence of form and beauty. 4 out of 5 stars.
37 of 39 people found this review helpful.

Ms. Takenaka is a remarkable artist. Her ability to combine shape and texture of natural (and man-made) materials to reveal the simple elegance of Japanese style is inspiring. Each of the 60 or so examples have reasonable instructions. I gave it only 4 stars because some of the plant materials are not readily available and alternatives are not suggested. Nevertheless this book will generate many ideas of your own.

Highly Instructive 4 out of 5 stars.
27 of 27 people found this review helpful.

If you love to learn flower arrangement but are frustrated by pretty books that don't show you HOW to make an arrangement, this is the book for you! There are detailed step-by-step instructions for each arrangement. As one of the reviewer had mentioned, the only shortcoming for this book is that some plant material may not be available in the US. Still, I don't see this as too much of an issue as it is not too difficult to substitute native plants with similar look and color. I highly recommend this to ikebana neophytes.

Editorial Review:

A practical guide to creating beautiful floral arrangements. With rich color photos and illustrations, this book introduces floral decorations for use in a variety of locations and styles.

Step by Step Hong Kong (Insight Guides Step By Step)

Ruth Williams, Joseph R. Yogerst

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Editorial Review:

Designed for the urban explorer, the Step By Step travel series gets tourists up close and personal with themed routes and itineraries for some of the most intriguing cities in the world. Local writers give lively overviews of the destination. Eye-catching spreads and clear, modern maps combine to create the ideal companion for an invigorating journey off the beaten path.

A Guide to the Japanese Stage: From Traditional to Cutting Edge (Origami Classroom)

Ronald Cavaye, Paul Griffith, Akihiko Senda

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Japanese theater is vibrant and exciting, with a wide range of unique genres to be enjoyed by both visitors to Japan and on tour at arts and drama festivals and theaters worldwide. From the stately refinement of No and the colorful spectacle of Kabuki to the avant-garde of the shogekijo and adaptations of Shakespeare or mainstream musicals, the world of the Japanese performing arts is thriving and innovative.

A Guide to the Japanese Stage covers all the main genres as performed today, from traditional to cutting edge. A brief history and introduction to the features of each genre is accompanied by recommendations of entertaining plays that are accessible to non-Japanese audiences. Brief synopses are provided for many often-performed plays, and the best-known companies, actors, playwrights, and directors are highlighted. The text is illustrated with 32 color pages and over 150 black-and-white photographs, and includes information on theater listings, how to purchase tickets, and which plays are available on DVD in English.

This guide is invaluable for anyone keen to experience Japanese theater firsthand, and will provide additional insights for students of Japanese theater and literature.

Business Guide to Japan: A Quick Guide to Opening Doors and Closing Deals

Boye Lafayette De Mente

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Practical, informative, authoritative, and well written 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I feel foolish praising such a small book to high heaven. But,I must say that this book is a fascinating read. I bought it duringmy first business trip to Japan and couldn't put it down.

The book's author, an American, has lived in Japan for 50 years. It's clear that he knows the language and the culture. Moreover, he also has kept in touch with the States, and still has the ability to communicate with an American audience. As I said, the book is small. It's only half the physical dimensions of an ordinary book. It is about 170 pages in length. There are 64 chapters, so each chapter is only 2-3 pages long. Each chapter is like a short essay on some minute but nonetheless important detail about Japanese business culture, or advice on how to successfully interface with it. Some of the chapter titles are : The Role of the Greeting Ritual, The Name Card System, How to Recognize "No," The Importance of Going to Japan, Making the First Contact, Seeing Behind the Facade, The Importance of Following up, How to Use Interpreters, Dealing at the Negotiating Table, More Mistakes Foreigners Make, and Mastering the Art of Business at Night. Each of these short chapters is very well written.

The author has obviously advised many foreign companies on how to approach the Japanese and how to get past all the suspicion and barriers that prevent the Japanese from establishing a formal relationship with a foreign firm. His descriptions of how the Japanese protocol functions, how the Japanese company functions, the importance of etiquette, the all-important socializing between potential business partners, the Japanese sense of caution, their fixation on outward appearance, their "group think" mentality, their concern that everything be right and that everyone be comfortable with any new venture before it can begin, and even his description of how Buddhism affects the Japanese business mentality, singularly and in toto indicate that the author really knows what he is talking about.

I've lived a year or more in four different countries, and written about the culture of three of them. It's hard to write about a culture in a way that does not sound like criticism or like proselytizing. Yet, Boye De Mente manages to do so. The reader becomes far more sophisticated in a couple of hours than (s)he was before picking up the book. I was so impressed that after reading this book, I ordered another by the same author. I'll definitely read this book again before my next business trip to Japan.

Editorial Review:

Everything you need to know to win at the business game in Japan is explained in this no-nonsense guide. Learn how to penetrate company bureaucracy, how to read the subtle signals of "belly talk," how to win the name-card game and how to master the art of business at night. Here are all the practical tips and insider’s hints you need to come out on top in
your dealings with the Japanese.

Wallpaper City Guide: Kyoto (Wallpaper City Guides) (Wallpaper City Guides (Phaidon Press))

Editors of Wallpaper Magazine

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

WALLPAPER* CITY GUIDES not only suggest where to stay, eat, and drink, but what the tourist passionate about design might want to see, whether he or she has a week or just 24 hours in the city. The guides feature up-and-coming areas, landmark buildings in an 'Architour', design centers, and a selection of the best shops to buy items unique to the particular city. WALLPAPER* CITY GUIDES present travelers with a fast-track ticket to the chosen location. The edited guides offer the best, the most exciting, and the most beautiful of the featured city. In addition to looking beautiful, the guides are expertly designed with function as a priority. They have tabbed sections so the tourist can easily find what he or she is looking for. Also included are color-coded city maps, rate and currency cards, and an easy navigational tool. They are the ultimate combination of form and function. Compiled by the well-traveled editorial team of Wallpaper* and by an extraordinary network of international correspondents, the guides are truly THE insider's guide to each featured city. The contributors to these guides have put their heads together to come up with fascinating, efficient guides that keeps the hip, urban traveler with his or her finger on the pulse. The City Guides are being published as Wallpaper* magazine celebrates its tenth anniversary. For the past decade, Wallpaper* has been the first to uncover and enticingly present the best in new design and urban travel spots across the globe. The City Guides are the perfect way to present a decade of experience in one precisely edited guide to each of the 50 cities represented.

Japanscapes: Three Cameras, Three Journeys

Ben Simmons, Johnny Hymas, Gorazd Vilhar

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Editorial Review:

JAPAN IS A PLACE OF BEAUTY AND MYSTERY.
It is also a land where the modern and the ancestral combine in endlessly fascinating patterns. Through the creative camera work of three consummate photographers, Japanscapes sets out to explore this country of startling contrasts.
American Ben Simmons captures the postmodern Blade Runner chic of urban Japan in a way rarely encountered on color film. With an uncanny eye for urban scenery and the fleeting shutter chance, Simmons' catches the colors of Japan's cities, the vibrancy of its architectural monuments, and the candid episodes in its citizen's lives.
British native Johnny Hymas gently unveils the understated elegance of the Japanese countryside. His three-decade love affair with the landscapes of rural Japan has led him to nearly every corner of the country. He portrays nature at its serene and dignified best (the silvery waters of the East China Sea, long-legged herons fishing at daybreak), and his unstinting affection for the ways of the farmers and fishermen as they work the heartlands and coastal waters is apparent in every shot.
Slovenian Gorazd Vilhar focuses on Japan's spiritual legacy. He has sought out the sites of centuries-old practices, often gaining entrance to rituals and celebrations few outsiders have a chance to see. His images capture the measured rhythms of Shinto and Buddhist customs and record the artful refinement of Zen gardens, traditional architecture, geisha in the Gion, and other aspects of old Japan the inquisitive visitor may still glimpse today.
Complementing this grand photo-journey is the informed commentary of three expatriate writers. Noted architect and artist Azby Brown contributes a penetrating introduction on the art of unearthing the real Japan. Reporter Lucille M. Craft provides a lyrical look at city life today, and author Charlotte Anderson rounds out the volume with a captivating overview of Japan's cultural traditions. In its images and insights, Japanscapes offers a refreshingly new take on why Japan remains one of the most intriguing countries in the world.

Living Japanese Style (Japan In Your Pocket! Volume 2)

Japan Travel Bureau

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A great introduction to Japan 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.

I ordered this book before traveling to Japan and have found that it was incredibly helpful in getting me up to speed on the subtle and not-so-subtle mannerism of the Japanese people.

All of the sections are direct and to the point and will save you lots of trial and error. For example, the section on Japanese public baths pointed out the main steps that I needed to take in order to not make a complete idiot of myself in my first visit to a Japanese Public bath.

The illustrations are humorous and cute in the typical Japanese manner and make the reading quite enjoyable.

I highly recommend this book for anyone thinking of traveling to Japan or even just interested in Japanese culture.

I listed the table of contents for this book below. Each section is main section is listed with asterisks and followed by its subsections. Each subsection consists of 1 to 5 pages of material.

*Living in Japan*

Exchanging greetings

Sleeping

Using the bath and toilet

Japanese clothes

Visiting a Japanese home

Finding one's way around

Taking the train

Using the municipal buses

Taking a taxi

Driving

Renting accommodations

Using the telephone

Sending mail

Keeping up with the news

Using the bank

Shopping

Eating out

Tea, coffee and Japanese tea

Drinking

Using the public bath

Barbers and hairdressers

Going to the cleaners

Putting out the rubbish

Going to the hospital

Typhoons and earthquakes

Cooking Japanese food

Studying Japanese

*Enjoying Japan*

Getting on with the Japanese

Singing to karaoke

Playing pachinko

Betting

Studying martial arts

Watching sumo or baseball

Adult amusements

Annual events

Street stalls

Going to fishing ponds

Traveling in style

Traveling on the cheap

Taking a sightseeing bus

Visiting a hot spring

Going to the seaside

*Understanding Japan*

Attending a wedding

Attending a funeral

Exchanging gifts

Good and bad luck

Zazen

Eastern Medicine

Soroban and calculator

Crime

Business

The Japanese factory

Going to parties

A typical Japanese family

*Appendix*

Self-expression

Physique

Body language

Etiquette

********************

Other titles released by Japan Travel Bureau:

Vol 1 - A Look Into Japan

Vol 2 - Living Japanese Style

Vol 3 - Eating in Japan

Vol 4 - Festivals of Japan

Vol 5 - Must-see in Kyoto

Vol 6 - Must-see in Nikko

Vol 7 - A Look Into Tokyo

Vol 8 - "Salaryman" in Japan

Vol 9 - Who's Who of Japan

Vol 10 - Today's Japan

Vol 11 - Regard Sur Le Japon (french edition)

Vol 12 - Vie Au Japon (french edition)

Vol 13 - Japanese Characters

Vol 14 - Japanese Inn & Travel

Vol 15 - Say it in Japanese

Vol 16 - Martial Arts & Sports in Japan

Vol 17 - Japanese Family & Culture

Ganbatte Means Go for It! Or. . . how to Become an English Teacher in Japan

Celeste Heiter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A thorough and insightful resource 4 out of 5 stars.
46 of 49 people found this review helpful.

"Ganbatte Means Go For It" is the latest and most up-to-date guidebook for becoming an English teacher in Japan. Concise and user-friendly, with a focus on utilizing the Internet as an indispensable resource, "Ganbatte Means Go For It" leads prospective Japan English teachers through the step-by-step process of researching the current job market from home, setting up interviews with employers, preparing for the journey, getting hired, finding a place to live, getting a work visa, succeeding as a teacher, and even a section on using a computer in Japan. It also includes an invaluable list of survival tips, cultural do's and don'ts, and a lengthy resource appendix. Each section features links to the best and most reliable websites to supplement the information in the text and to help readers make the best use of the Internet in their job quest.

Note however that, in addition to advising readers how to use the Internet to find a job in Japan, the author also relies on the Internet to supplement the text. So be prepared to have your browser open while reading "Ganbatte Means Go For It," and be sure to visit all the suggested links to get the most out of your reading and research.

One feature I found especially helpful was the questionnaire in Chapter 2, "Do You Have What It Takes?" This section is designed to help readers take a thorough personal inventory and assess their skills, assets and personal characteristics to determine whether they're made of the 'right stuff' to embark on an adventure in Japan.

And for a personal touch at the end, author Celeste Heiter recounts several of her favorite experiences in an epilogue called "Vignettes of Japan." Not only are her ten essays entertaining, they offer an enticing glimpse into the rich cultural experience that awaits adventurous English teachers in Japan.

Although it is written in an easy-going, conversational style, every page of "Ganbatte Means Go For It" is packed with useful, first-hand information. One thing I found lacking however, is that although the content is well organized, specific topics within the text can be difficult to locate. This book would have benefitted greatly from an alphabetical index.

"Ganbatte Means Go For It" is a 'must have' for anyone who is serious about seeking employment as an English teacher in Japan. Don't leave home without it!

Editorial Review:

Celeste Heiter left her home in California's Napa Valley to teach English in Japan for two years. Now back in California, she says, "Little did I know how profoundly that journey would shape the rest of my life."

In Ganbatte, she takes you step by step on this life-changing adventure. The book is packed with information and advice on getting a job, moving to Japan, succeeding in your new job and environment and enjoying your stay there.

The Blue-Eyed Salaryman: From World Traveller to Lifer at Mitsubishi

Niall Murtagh

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Blue-eyed or Any-eyed Salaryman 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Niall Murtagh is an Irishman who came to Japan to study the language. He ended up working for the Mitsubishi corporation for 14 years. Murtagh was a world traveler who did not stay in any one place for to long. So how is it he stayed with one company, a japanese company at that, for 14 years? This book attempts to answer that perplexing question. Though Murtagh has led a varied life, he devotes most of his book to his 14 years with the Mitsubishi Company as a Japanese kaishain, or salaryman.

Murtagh rose to a middle-manager position, almost unheard of for any gaijin (foreigner) in a Japanese corporation. He was always the only gaijin in the room. Because his Japanese was flawless he was always looked at askance. The Japanese feel that their language is to difficult for gaijin to learn let alone speak fluently. He tells of his daily commute to work on a bicycle, his unpaid overtime, company uniforms and he even the company song.

He says little of his personal life. His courtship and marriage to Miyuki is a good example of this. He sums up this chapter of his life by saying Miyuki's parents approved of their marriage because of his Mitsubishi credentials.

Murtagh keeps the story moving in a conversational style. He has an eye for the irony of the cultural differences between the west and the east.

I have a friend in Tokyo who is also a salaryman. I got this book for that reason. I wanted to see some of the things that he had to go through. He said that many of the experiences that Murtagh went through are quite common for a gaijin salaryman.

It is an entertaining book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has friends or family working in Japan. And for those of you who don't, it is still an interesting read to compare the cultures.

Editorial Review:

Niall Murtagh spent years as a world traveler—hitchhiking in Istanbul, trekking in Patagonia, crossing the Atlantic in a home-built yacht. In 1986, he closed the door on his life of adventure to settle in Japan. And then, in a breathtaking transition, he joined Mitsubishi as a "Salaryman"—a guy in a shiny suit with a shiny attaché case in a multinational corporation with 100,000 employees. What led to this extraordinary shift of direction, and why, despite the disillusionment, is it so hard to leave? In The Blue-Eyed Salaryman, Murtagh takes the reader behind the scenes of this huge conglomerate. By turn enlightening, astonishing, and hilarious, his book offers a fresh perspective on the nature of Japanese business culture as well as the many hurdles awaiting the outsider.