Japanese Books

Murakami Diary 2009 (Diary)

Haruki Murakami

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House UK Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $7.97

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Warning! 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 19 people found this review helpful.

Maybe i'm stupid but i assumed this was some kind of journal about writing, like a year in the life of Murakami or something. Instead its just a very expensive pocket diary with quotes from Mr Murakami's work. I'm dissapointed that he would allow such an expensive yuppy aaccessory to enter the market.

Beautiful 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a beautiful book. Yes, it is a diary. Included are short sections from his books, important Murakami dates are noted, nice images of Japan and cats and other Murakami stuff. This is a beautiful book in and of itself. I will buy additional copies as gifts.

Editorial Review:

Cats slink across the pages; the seasons are marked by cherry blossom and Japanese maple; spaghetti strands or telephone cords separate the days; and a generous selection of quotations, extracts, and facts from Murakami's novels and stories appear on almost every page to inspire, amuse, or entertain. This is a diary like no other, faithful to all that is witty, surreal, sexy, and beautiful in Murakami's work. A must-have for fans of Murakami and fans of unique design, this diary is the perfect quirky companion for 2009.

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

James Bradley

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Back Bay Books Amazon Marketplace: 282 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 79 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Interesting Slice of History 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I listened to this unabridged book on audio. It was a long listen. The story loosely centers around a number of servicemen who were shot down over Chichi Jima (north of Iwo Jima) and their stories. One of those shot down was President George H. W. Bush (he obviously survived). However, these stories only take up about 30% of the book. The rest of the book focuses on the Pacific theater in World War II and the role of air power in defeating the Japanese. The history of Japanese-US relations and of military air power are also explored.

I found the book to be very interesting, even considering I listened to it for about 14 hours straight. The history and background are illuminating when considering the story of the flyboys and the larger war in the Pacific. I came away from the book with an increased appreciation and understanding on the need to use the atom bomb, the very different psychology of the Japanese, and of the incredible destruction Japan endured. It was a very good history lesson.

There are shortcomings. The book does spend a long time on tangents which can be distracting. It also gets a little grisly at parts. However, I believe most students of history will appreciate this book.

Editorial Review:

This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. The fate of the others-an explosive 60-year-old secret-is revealed for the first time in FLYBOYS.

Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II

Darlene Deibler Rose

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperOne Amazon Marketplace: 61 new & used starting at $2.39

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Inspiring! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

An inspiring story of a young missionary woman and her complete surrender to the Lord under unbelievable adversity. God's tenderness and mercies are real in her life and it encourages every believer to move into such intimacy with the Lord. One biography you will not want to put down!

Evidence Not Seen 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

What amazing faith in God this young
woman had. I could only hope to be that brave and strong.

Evidence Not Seen is a must read for any Christian 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Evidence Not Seen is one of those books that make you just go wow! This is a must read for any Christian especially with so much made for TV christianity going around. This book is about the real thing. Darlene shares with us her experiences as she and other missionaries try to survive in a Japanese prison camp. She shares her close personal relationship with God and how He is there in her times of trouble and need. When you finish this book you will know that she serves and Awesome God and so can you!

Editorial Review:

This is the true story of a young American missionary woman courage and triump of faith in the jungles of New Guinea and her four years in a notorious Japanese prison camp. Never to see her husband again, she was forced to sign a confession to a crime she did not commit and face the executioner's sword, only to be miraculously spared.

In Defense of Our Neighbors: The Walt and Milly Woodward Story

Mary Woodward

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Fenwick Publishing Group Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $14.25

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Professionals & Academics -> Journalists
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A unique, informative, and highly recommended addition 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

One of the tragic consequences of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was the panicked reaction of the American government resulting in the forcible relocation of the Japanese Americans into internment camps for the duration of the war years. "In Defense Of Our Neighbors: The Walt And Milly Woodward Story" is the true and personal account of a husband and wife who used the pages of their Bainbridge Island, Washington newspaper 'Banbridge Review' to plead for compassion and restraint with respect to the government's relocating the 227 men, women and children of Japanese descent who lived on Bainbridge Island (a half-hour ferry ride from Seattle across the waters of the Puget Sound) on March 30, 1942 in accordance with orders originating with President Roosevelt. This was the first relocation effort the government engaged in and became the model for all the other community evacuations up and down the western coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. During the years of internments, Walt and Milly continued to publish news of their neighbors' weddings, births, deaths, and other milestones -- including details of the conditions of those internment camps to which their neighbors had been exiled. This obscure episode of 20th century American history is told in great and documented detail by Mary Woodward, the daughter of Walt and Milly and includes previously unpublished photos from local historical societies, poignant reflections from internment survivors and Bainbridge locals, and is a unique, informative, and highly recommended addition to academic and community library 20th Century American History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Editorial Review:

At the start of WWII, the Seattle suburb of Bainbridge Island was 10% Japanese-American, an ethnic community fully integrated into a small town way of life. Walt and Milly Woodward, publishers of the island's community newspaper, fought the forced internment of their neighbors, and helped the island community grapple with their exile. Mary Woodward tells her parents' story, fully illustrated with period photographs and documents. This brave, principled couple remain heroes to the Japanese-American community -- the story of their fight helps us comprehend how precious our civil liberties are, and how easily they can be lost.

Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman

Gladys Aylward

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Moody Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $3.15

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Little Woman who served a big God 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is an amazing book that I happened upon by accident. I have shared it with others who were impressed when reading about the life of this unassuming missionary. It was truly inspirational. I highly recommend this book.

excellent (the best) autobiography of a missionary 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Get this book!!!
You won't be able to put it down, there are many books and even a movie (made Hollywood style, which Gladys didn't like) but the movie let me know about Gladys Alward

But this book, written withe the help of a Christine Hunter, gives Gladys Alward's story in her own words!

Editorial Review:

A solitary woman. A foreign country.An unknown language.An impossible dream?No, God's call on the life of Gladys Aylward.With no mission board to support or guide her and less than ten dollars in her pocket, Gladys Aylward left her home in England to answer God's call to take the message of the gospel to China. With the Sino-Japanese War waging around her, she struggled to bring the basics of life and the fullness of God to orphaned children. Time after time, God triumphed over impossible situations, and drew people to Himself. The Little Woman tells the story of one woman's determination to serve God?at any cost.With God all things are possible!

Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles As Seen Through Japanese Eyes

Tameichi Hara, Fred Saito, Roger Pineau

Amazon Price: $18.45 List Price: $27.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Naval Institute Press Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $15.98

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Naval Institute Press is pleased to make available for the first time this cloth edition of a now-classic war memoir that was a best seller in both Japan and the United States during the 1960s. Originally published as a paperback in 1961, it has long been treasured by World War II buffs and professional historians for its insights into the Japanese side of the surface war in the Pacific. The book has been credited with correcting errors in U.S. accounts of various battles and with revealing details of high-level Imperial Japanese Navy strategy meetings. The author, Captain Tameichi Hara, was a survivor of more than one hundred sorties against the Allies and was known throughout Japan as the Unsinkable Captain. Called the workhorses of the navy, Japanese destroyers shouldered the heaviest burden of the surface war and took part in scores of intense sea battles, many of which Captain Hara describes here. In the early days of the war victories were common, but by 1943, the lack of proper maintenance of the destroyers and sufficient supplies, along with Allied development of scientific equipment and superior aircraft, took its toll. On April 7, 1945, during the Japanese navy s last sortie, Captain Hara managed to survive the sinking of his own ship only to witness the demise of the famed Japanese battleship Yamato off Okinawa. A hero to his countrymen, Captain Hara exemplified the best in Japanese surface commanders: highly skilled (he wrote the manual on torpedo warfare), hard driving, and aggressive. Moreover, he maintained a code of honor worthy of his samurai grandfather, and, as readers of this book have come to appreciate, he was as free with praise for American courage and resourcefulness as he was critical of himself and his senior commanders. The book s popularity over the past forty-six years testifies to the author s success at writing an objective account of what happened that provides not only a fascinating eyewitness record of the war, but also an honest and dispassionate assessment of Japan s high command. Captain Hara s sage advice on leadership is as applicable today as it was when written. For readers new to this book and for those who have read and re-read their paperback editions until they have fallen apart, this new hardcover edition assures them a permanent source of reference and enjoyment.

Farewell to Manzanar

James D. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

Amazon Price: $10.88 List Price: $16.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $6.02

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 226 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

During World War II a community called Manzanar was hastily created in the high mountain desert country of California, east of the Sierras. Its purpose was to house thousands of Japanese American internees. One of the first families to arrive was the Wakatsukis, who were ordered to leave their fishing business in Long Beach and take with them only the belongings they could carry. For Jeanne Wakatsuki, a seven-year-old child, Manzanar became a way of life in which she struggled and adapted, observed and grew. For her father it was essentially the end of his life.

At age thirty-seven, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston recalls life at Manzanar through the eyes of the child she was. She tells of her fear, confusion, and bewilderment as well as the dignity and great resourcefulness of people in oppressive and demeaning circumstances. Written with her husband, Jeanne delivers a powerful first-person account that reveals her search for the meaning of Manzanar.

Farewell to Manzanar has become a staple of curriculum in schools and on campuses across the country. Last year the San Francisco Chronicle named it one of the twentieth century's 100 best nonfiction books from west of the Rockies.

Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family (Oregon Reads)

Lauren Kessler

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oregon State University Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $12.89

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Stubborn Twig is a classic American story, a story of immigrants making their way in a new land. It is a living work of social history that rings with the power of truth and the drama of fiction, a moving saga about the challenges of becoming an American. Masuo Yasui traveled from Japan across the other Oregon Trail—the one that spanned the Pacific Ocean—in 1903. Like most immigrants, he came with big dreams and empty pockets. Working on the railroads, in a cannery, and as a houseboy before settling in Hood River, Oregon, he opened a store, raised a large family, and became one of the area’s most successful orchardists.As Masuo broke the race barrier in the local business community, his American-born children broke it in school, scouts and sports, excelling in most everything they tried. For the Yasuis’ first-born son, the constraints and contradictions of being both Japanese and American led to tragedy. But his seven brothers and sisters prevailed, becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers, and farmers. It was a classic tale of the American dream come true—until December 7, 1941, changed their lives forever. The Yasuis were among the more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry along the West Coast who were forced from their homes and interned in vast inland “relocation camps.” Masuo was arrested as a spy and imprisoned for the rest of the war; his family was shamed and broken. Yet the Yasuis endured, as succeeding generations took up the challenge of finding their identity as Americans. Stubborn Twig is their story—a story at once tragic and triumphant, one that bears eloquent witness to both the promise and the peril of America.

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

James Bradley

Amazon Price: $17.13 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Little, Brown and Company Amazon Marketplace: 414 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 215 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Poorly Focused Book 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book had promise of telling a story that needed to be told of Japanese atrocities during WW2. However, the author was not focused in his efforts electing instead to tell the story of airpower in the military and trying to justif the actions of the Japanese by telling of what the Japanese held as US atrocities. In fact he himself indicates thet he might have crossed the line when he stopped just short of calling one naval aviator he interviewed a babykiller as a result of a mission he had flown. Interspersed within these pages was an effort to tell in very graphic detail the story of the death of several US Naval Aviators. Overall a poor experience and would cause me to stop and think before I read another one of his books

Editorial Review:

Flyboys is the true story of young American airmen who were shot down over Chichi Jima. Eight of these young men were captured by Japanese troops and taken prisoner. Another was rescued by an American submarine and went on to become president. The reality of what happened to the eight prisoners has remained a secret for almost 60 years. After the war, the American and Japanese governments conspired to cover up the shocking truth. Not even the families of the airmen were informed what had happened to their sons. It has remained a mystery—until now. Critics called James Bradley's last book "the best book on battle ever written." Flyboys is even better: more ambitious, more powerful, and more moving. On the island of Chichi Jima those young men would face the ultimate test. Their story—a tale of courage and daring, of war and of death, of men and of hope—will make you proud, and it will break your heart.

The Jungle is Neutral: A Soldier's Two-Year Escape from the Japanese Army

F. Spencer Chapman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

THE JUNGLE IS NEUTRAL makes The Bridge Over the River Kwai look like a tussle in a schoolyard.

F. SPENCER CHAPMAN, the book's unflappable author, narrates with typical British aplomb an amazing tale of four years spent as a guerrilla in the jungle, haranguing the Japanese in occupied Malaysia.

Traveling sometimes by bicycle and motorcycle, rarely by truck, and mainly in dugouts, on foot, and often on his belly through the jungle muck, Chapman recruits sympathetic Chinese, Malays, Tamils, and Sakai tribesman into an irregular corps of jungle fighters. Their mission: to harass the Japanese in any way possible. In riveting scenes, they blow up bridges, cut communication lines, and affix plasticine to troop-filled trucks idling by the road. They build mines by stuffing bamboo with gelignite. They throw grenades and disappear into the jungle, their faces darkened with carbon, their tommy guns wrapped in tape so as not to reflect the moonlight.

And when he is not battling the Japanese, or escaping from their prisons, he is fighting the jungle's incessant rain, wild tigers, unfriendly tribesmen, leeches, and undergrowth so thick it can take four hours to walk a mile.

It is a war story without rival.