any good books? [Archive] - GaijinPot Forums

trip_hop

2001-12-09, 06:37 PM

Greg

As promised, here are some books for you.

Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone by Ian Macdonald
Cyber world - Manga - Pop culture - Zen

Speed Tribes by Karl Taro Grenfeld
Dark side of Japan - Yakuza - Rebels

Harpoon by C.W. Nicol
Based on life of first Japanese whaler - excellent - author is Canadian who took Japanese citizenship

Accidental Office Lady by Laura Kriska
Realistic but enjoyable account of life in a Japanese company

Japan think - Ameri think by Robert Collins
Great cultural comparison

Enigma of Japanese Power by Karel van Wolferen
The classic analysis - heavy going but accurate

Any book by Jon Woronoff
Ignored by very practical writer on Japan - economy, social structure, future

Quake by Albert Aletzhauser
Simple but superb fictional account of next Tokyo earthquake, packed with insights into today's Japan. I keep my own backpack at home ready for the next one, and trust no-one, especially the emergency services.

The House of Nomura by Albert Aletzhauser
Excellent account of one of the world's biggest brokers and finance houses

Pink Samurai by Nicholas Boronoff
The world of sex in Japan, and attitudes to the people who go there and work there.

Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr
Slightly bigoted but accurate view of Japanese construction and environment today

Silent Thunder by Peter Tasker
Big business detective story, based on collusion and tradition

The Ministry by Peter Tasker
The truth about the Ministry of Finance, who until recently wielded tremendous power in Japan, and the elite who join it and run it.

Mitsui by John Roberts
Excellent history of one of the world's biggest trading houses, an almost de facto second foreign ministry in Japan in the past, and their influence on both Japan and the rest of the world

The Brothers by Lesley Downer
Account of the two rich Tsutomi brothers who control a lot of Japan, their rivalry and their influence on the Japanese Royal Family

Geisha by Lesley Downer
Forget the popular Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden which is drivel, this is a great book on the real world of Geisha by a great writer

Japanese Society by Chie Nakane
Timeless account by a great psychologist

Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe
Great novel by the nobel prize winner

idoru by William Gibson
Novel of a future world, of virtual images taking life, and the rivalaries of the cyber universe

Bitter Sea by Akio Mishima
Account of the Minamata Poisoning Outbreak and the attitude of authorities, and the battle the common people had to fight for compensation

Before everyone writes to criticise or complain about my choice, there are about 400-500 books on Japan weighing down my bookshelves in downtown Yokohama, both in English and Japanese, and I had to select just a few of them for availability and readability, and to try to give an impression of Japan today. There are many more out there, and everyone has their favourites.

Hope you manage to enjoy some of them

Trip Hop Ms.

trip_hop

2001-12-12, 05:45 PM

3 days and no replies on the book list?
Doesn't anyone read them anymore?
Does everyone prefers the shallow but hyperlinked vagaries of the internet?
Think you're missing a lot.
At least I can read a book in the bath, on the train, in bed; without worrying about broadband connections, browser incompatibilities, operating systems, and the like. And the contents are generally more reliable and easier to assimilate, than peering at aliased text on screen.

Comments?

Trip Hop

Anonymous

2001-12-13, 12:17 PM

Books? I think I remember those. They are the things with lots of pages and words, right? Weren't those made obsolete by now? Well, if newspapers can survive radio, television, and the internet, then I guess books will survive too.

Greg

2001-12-13, 11:05 PM

no one funny,

what is your point?

greg lalonde

Anonymous

2001-12-28, 11:36 PM

i have read speed tribes and silent thunder both of which i enjoyed a great deal.

so there ya go! a comment for trip hop!

Anonymous

2002-01-29, 02:50 AM

I'd recommend the book "The Emperor's General" by James Webb. It's an historical novel about MacArthur's occupation of Japan after WWII. The novel is a fun read and provides interesting insights into Japanese thinking.

Comments about the book are welcome.

kurt

2002-02-06, 03:36 PM

there's a good list of recent books on Japan, covering a wide-spectrum of subjects, here:

http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/media/bukz/

Anonymous

2002-03-01, 11:10 AM

Trip Hop,

Your list sounds wonderful, if only I could afford all of those! And I don't know about the availability within Australia either!

I haven't read that many books on Japan but I am reading 'The Tale Of Murasaki' at the moment, which is okay.

I did like 'Memoirs of a Geisha' though!

Think I will try and find 'Speed Tribes', it sounds great!

Anonymous

2002-03-01, 01:52 PM

I have heard that Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict is a good read...sure would like to hear what Trip Top has to say on this book.
I personally enjoyed 'Straight Jacket Society: An Insider's Irreverent View of Bureaucratic Japan' by Dr. Masao Miyamoto. Now that the Japanese government is getting much attention these days, this book may help understand what's going on in Nagato-cho, and why.....

Anonymous

2002-03-01, 01:59 PM

Trip Hop, not Trip Top...
pardon the blooper!

Anonymous

2002-03-14, 02:08 PM

I know this SO college Eastern Lit class, but I'd recommend The Tale of Genji--the Edward Seidensticker translation (which is more true to Lady Murasaki's writing, so I'm told, than Arthur Waley's). It's one of my favorite books, and although I'm sure plenty is lost in any translation, it really gave me insight into the aesthetic of transience and sorrow that is so important in Japanese art and lit... such a beauty of a book. And it's perfect if you're at all interested in the Heian period (such an interesting time!!)

Anonymous

2002-03-15, 05:58 PM

Hey Julia

I too recommend The Tale of Genji, it's one of the most famous books in Japanese literature. It was written by a woman almost 1200 years ago!

I am also reading a very good book (though the title sounds heavy and boring) Japanese Aesthetics and Culture; A Reader - Edited by Nancy G. Hume. It's actually a collection of essays about the different aesthetic principles in Japanese literature, No theatre, haiku and arts and how they all reflect on principles of Japanese culture. It sounds heavy for a 17 year old but actually it's really good for a general overview to many aspects of japanese culture. It includes a look at The Tale of Genji and the Hein period that it was written in.

Anonymous

2002-03-18, 03:58 AM

One depressing thing I've noted about books on Japan available in English is that a lot of the ones available at Maruzen or Junkudo fall into a couple of categories. There are a ton of books related to World War 2 and the Showa emporer and a ton of books about Japan's postwar economic recovery/ books about Japanese business techniques written in the 80s for western businessmen. Niether of these subjects interest me in the least, so I often find myself leaving the bookstore frustrated in my attempt to find something good to read about Japan.

Not that good books aren't available. I liked Alex Kerr's 'Dogs and Demons', and don't understand why anyone would consider it bigoted. Allen Booth also wrote a couple good books about his experiences in modern Japan.

I like Eiji Yoshikawa's books a lot, even though some of them are kind of cheesy. I read through the English version of his Heike Monogatari and was really pissed off that he didn't finish writing it. I'm reading the Steidensticker translation of the Genji Monogatari now, but I'm finding his style of sticking more closely to Murasaki's original to be somewhat off putting and difficult to follow at times.

Lafcadio Hearn is the man to look to if you want to read something worthwhile about Japanese culture. He kind of romantacized things a lot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Pick up "Kwaidan, strange tales from old Japan" for a really nice read. I sort of think of Alex Kerr as being a modern day, bizarro Lafcadio Hearn. Hearn lived here a century ago and saw a beautiful country with a vibrant culture and wrote about it in glowing terms. Kerr lives here now and sees an ugly, polluted country that has in many ways destroyed key aspects of its culture and thus writes about it in a tone of disgust.

Natsume Soseki is supposed to be the most influential writer in recent Japanese history, but most people I have talked to about him don't care for his stuff and I'm not a huge fan either.

trip_hop

2002-03-18, 06:39 PM

Interesting choice Eddie. I wonder how much Lafcadio Hearn really knew of the old Japan, living in his relatively privileged surroundings. Did he see the poverty of the miners, the hard life of the rice-growers, the daughters sold into bondage, the cruelty of the army, the feudal landlords, the remnants of the bullying and bickering samurai? His romanticising reminded me more of James Clavell. I prefer Osamu Daizen for stories of the old country.

Alex Kerr's Dogs and Demons is a kind of diatribe against the construction industry, the concrete shoreline, pork-barrel politics and the system that promulgates it. His preference for the lovely old wooden Japanese houses ignores the reality of living in one, cold in winter, hot in summer, dirty and infested, poor cooking and eating areas, inefficient plumbing. Many Japanese were glad to get out of them into modern faceless "apartments and mansions." One architect in particular seems to bear the brunt of his criticism - slightly bigoted was the expression used.

Though with all the books by foreigners on Japan here, it would be refreshing to see an equivalent in-depth book on another country by a Japanese. Do you know of any?

Anonymous

2002-03-24, 01:14 AM

I can see your points about Hearn. He wrote from an extremely priviliged position about the more romantic things that appealed to him about Japan and ignored the harshness that was the reality for most Japanese at the time. Most authors from that time period came from the priviliged classes though, so I don't think its a fair reason to dismiss his works on those grounds alone. If you can appreciate the fact that his is only one of many accounts of Japan at that time, then I still think his works are worth reading. Kwaidan is a collection of fictional Japanese tales that Hearn just translated, but I think they are worth reading for their beauty, certainly not for an accurate tale of the life of a Japanese miner.

The difference between 'bigoted' and 'slightly bigoted' is merely one of degree, and I really don't see how Kerr's book can be described as at all bigoted. He acknoledges the fact that traditional style homes are uncomfortable to live in and it isn't his position that people should live in discomfort simply to maintain the aesthetic values of traditional Japan. I don't know about the feasability of his claims, but he believes it is possible to renovate traditional homes to make them comfortable without significantly altering their appearance. This sounds great to me, I'm sick and tired of seeing these places being torn down and replaced by ugly, sterile houses with plastic walls. Even the most hardened of cynics would have to admit that something else important is being lost with these uncomfortable wooden structures. The main complaint I had with his book was that it was overly pessimistic and didn't offer any alternate vision. The lack of proper zoning laws seems to be a big one, as well as the run-away construction industry and corrupt bureacracy that supports it.

Personally, I found a lot of what he wrote hitting to close to home. I've lived for several years in both Europe and North America and know that you are never going to find a pachinko parlour as ugly and intrusive as the one I've got up the block from my place in a residential neighborhood in either of those places. His comparison of Kyoto, Japan's alleged cultural centre but in reality one of the ugliest cities on the planet, with major cities in Europe like Paris was also spot-on. I live in Himeji, near Hideyoshi's castle which is a world heritage site and by all accounts the most important feudal castle still in existance in Japan. So naturally the people whose job it is to maintain it have seen fit to build a zoo within the castle walls with huge, brightly painted, imposing signs that destroy the beauty of the castle. Thats not mentioning the draconianly small cages they keep the animals in. This seemed to me to be the sort of insanity Kerr was arguing against, and its high time someone did, even if it is in the form of an angry diatribe. Anyway, I can see I'm starting off on a rant, so maybe I'll just stop here.

I don't know of any books written by Japanese about foreign countries, but I'm not really familiar with the Japanese language book market. I'd like to read Osamu Daizen's work. I'm by no means an expert on Japan or Japanese literature and was mainly commenting on what little I have read in my previous post.

Anonymous

2002-08-11, 10:16 PM

"Secrets of the Japanese" by Katsuyuki hasegawa from "Hiragana Times" is a classic

"Silence" by Shusako Endo conjures up incredible images in my mind

"Educating hearts and Minds" by Katheirne Lewis, is about educating the little fellas and it is good reading ( if you are a spud like myself)

"Teaching and Learning in Japan" by Thomas Rholen and Gerald LeTendre is widely acknowledged as the most in-depth study on Japanese education

"The Cult at the End of the World" by Kaplan and somebody else is fascinating.....I could not sleep afterwards

"Aspects of Popular Japanese Culture" by Isolde Standish is another great one. Out in hardback now I think.

Yeah I know I didn`t put the publishers details in. _Use your noodle and find them ! You will feel well informed afterwards I am telling you my friends

From D.Paddle

Anonymous

2002-09-01, 03:51 PM

I just read the Donald Ritchie reader, a collection of works by the film critic who has lived in Japan for over 50 years. His understanding of Japanese culture and the conttrasts it presents to the westerner is spot on, I reccomend it.

2002-10-12, 02:18 PM

Ive gotta add '26 Views of Mt Fuji', tho im sorry, i cant remember the name of the woman who wrote it. Its slightly outdated, but the cultural observations are spot on. Also, for the Heian period literature, 'The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon' is pretty good, read it twice now, love it! As for books being expensive, thats true, (tho on a par with Australia unfortunately) but have you been to Good Day Books in Ebisu (for all those in Tokyo)? Take your old ones in, pick up a few new ones, keep them circulating!

Anonymous

2003-02-15, 06:13 AM

anything by murakami haruki...is quite popular...or banana yoshimoto....and the classic is always soseki....translations of these can be found in numerous languages...from french to russian

mark

2003-05-06, 02:23 PM

Let's not forget perhaps the funniest, and yet most accurate, takes on Japan from a foreigner:

"Dave Barry Does Japan"

Some folks may laugh at this choice, but Barry is spot-on with his observations of Japanese culture. His irreverent and off-beat sense of humor serves him well in coming to terms with the seemingly "inscrutable" Japanese people and culture.

No, it's never destined to become a classic. But, don't let that stop you from getting a copy. Highly readable and recommended!

Mark

Kent Brockman

2003-05-29, 01:30 PM

Kent Brockman went to the library. Took a walk around inside my brain. Didn`t take long. Lots of hinges without doors...lights without rooms...

Read a great book. "The emptiness of Japanese affluence" by "Gavin" "MacCormack".

Can there be any consumption without waste?

Anonymous

2003-06-14, 02:21 PM

This page has some reviews if you like to get some idea before you buy

http://www.soccerphile.com/japanvisitor/books/books.html

buds

2004-02-11, 11:17 AM

isbn 4-7958-1843-6
"point-and-speak" phrasebook by toshiya enomoto 榎本年弥
it's so good! (imo)
i'll try to find some good links of excerpts... peace

John

2004-03-04, 04:04 PM

If you really want to read an original book about Japan, I would recomend

VISIONS of JAPAN.

It is a gaijin view on Japan with humour and satire as you've never seen before. The plus of the book is that it does not fall in the usual stereotype but present some issues that even Japanese would like to keep quiet about. It is raw but true and entertaining.

It is published in Europe by a small publisher and is a limited edition (hence could be difficult to find if any left). I think they only printed 500 copies. But price is low for 128 pages of laugh and discovery.

The book is in english and with a Japanese translation.

If you haven/t read it yet, I would definitively hurge you to pick up a copy (again, if any left).

If you are interested in the e-mail address of the publisher let me know and I/ll dig it out for you.

Sayonara.

Bluedog

2004-03-04, 04:21 PM

I found this awsome little book called something like "Salaryman in Japan (I think it might be from the Japan in Your Pocket Series)" (don't have it with me so I can't remember the exact title) but it's a very small little book that explains how the salaryman goes about his daily life. The writing style is like that on the emergency exit instructions on aeroplanes. Helpful diagrams about omiyage, and about who bows to who and when. I still can't figure out if it's a joke or not, but it's great. Certainly the most different book on Japan I ever read. It might make a good gift if you can find it.

Oshino Books

2004-03-07, 10:22 PM

Hi everyone

We'd like to invite you to view our website (www.tokyostories.net), which has information on a new book called Tokyo Stories, which is a funny novel about expatriate life in Japan. It's just received several favorable reviews, and the latest review appeared just this weekend in the current issue of the Tokyo Weekender.

http://www.weekender.co.jp/new/040305/books.html

It's an entertaining read for foreigners living in Japan or planning to visit Japan, and for anyone who is interested in what goes on in this crazy metropolis we call Tokyo.

The book is now available at Kinokuniya, Tower Records, and Costco, as well as at many smaller English-language book outlets. The book will soon be available at National Azabu and online at Amazon Japan. However, signed copies are now available for sale on our website as well.

Please check us out. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Timmy!!

2004-11-24, 06:24 AM

'War without Mercy' is an exellent book for History fans. Foget who wrote it, but it is a very fair account of the war in the Pacific and the attrocity's commited by both sides. Think it would be of intrest to everyone as it looking at great detail the various assumptions/stereotypes each side had of one another.

salem

2004-11-24, 11:36 PM

One book that helped convince me to move to Japan was

JAPAN True stories of life on the road.
Edited by Donald W. George and Amy Greimann Carlson

It is from the Traveler's Tales Guides series. It is a collection of experiences written by different writers. Each story has a different feel and tone. I enjoyed the insight into what different people found attractive about Japan. So stories were very touching, and some were hysterical. For example, "Illiteracy and the Attacking Toilet", by Kevin O'Connor had tears running down my face from laughing so hard.

Good luck!

wendyinjapan

2004-11-26, 09:21 PM

When you get to Tokyo, Blue Parrot bookshop in Takadanobaba. They are not quite as big as Good day Books in Ebisu, but they give a better price on new books, and a good deal on used books that you bring back to the store. (you get more value if you take a book token, and not cash) I really recomend "Idoru" I read it twice, and gave it to my sister.
Wendy.

Timmy!!

2004-12-22, 02:05 AM

Just finished a book called 'Hagakure'. Excellent book about a Samurai who's master is killed and who chooses to become a hermit. Near the end of his life he decides to talk to a young Samurai who records their conversation (the book). Found it really interesting and would recommend it for those interested in these types of things.

salem

2004-12-22, 02:24 AM

Frungy

2004-12-22, 02:05 PM

Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Zap!You'reFrozen

2004-12-30, 01:19 PM

John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" is one of the best recent books on postwar Japan. It is an excellent examination of Japan's experience as a defeated and occupied nation in the late-1940s and early-1950s, and the ongoing repercussions of Japan's American experience.

"Postwar Japan As History", edited by Andrew Gordon, is also excellent, covering postwar economics, politics, war guilt, gender issues, popular culture, and other facets of modern Japan.

For a look at the seamier side of Japanese religion, check out "Zen At War" and "Zen War Stories" by Brian Daizen Victoria, both of which expose the seminal role played by Zen Buddhism in promoting militarism in the 1930s and 1040s.

Alex Kerr is worth reading, as he's an excellent writer and muckraker, but as other posters have noted, take him with a certain grain of salt.

For a more well-rounded critique of Japan's environmental problems, look for "The Japan We Never Knew" by David Suzuki and Keibo Oiwa. While it's fairly damning treatise, it also highlights the fact that grassroots activism, environmentalist and otherwise, is on the increase in Japan, and spotlights a number of activists who are making a difference in unlikely places. The book also focuses on issues of ethnicity, and the plight of Japan's ethnic Korean, Ainu, Burakumin, Ryukyuan, and Nikkei (Japo-Brazilian, Japo-Peruvian etc.) communities.

For lighthearted but highly informative travel reading, try Canadian author Will Ferguson's "Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan," a wonderful descriptive account of the author's hitchhiking trek from Kyushu to the northern tip of Hokkaido. Crammed with memorable anecdotes, many humourous, some saddening, others simply bizarre.

Happy book-hunting. I'll get back to you if I think of more.

2005-01-05, 04:21 PM

Hi there,

My new novel about life in Japan, "Sweet Daruma, a Japan satire" has just been released. Click here for more info http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595334679/qid%3D1104909501/701-7134751-7133159, or read on below--it's exactly the kind of book that you should read before you come here! Written by a fellow Canadian too! The cover illustration is by Wayne Wilson, of "Charisma Man" fame, and the book launch party is Wed January 26 at Fujimamas in Omotesando from 7-10 pm. Entry fee is 4,000 yen and includes a copy of the book, one drink, and food. Hope to see some of you there!

"Sweet Daruma, a Japan satire" is a hilarious satirical romp through Japanese pop culture and the twisted politics of English in Japan.

Book Description
SWEET DARUMA
a Japan satire

Magda is thrilled to leave her globalization-protesting boyfriend in Toronto and head to Tokyo to teach English conversation…or so she thinks. Upon her arrival she is whisked off to save the life of a suicidal salaryman with the help of a strategic idiom. Magda has unwittingly joined the Anne of Grey Tokyo Emergency English Response Team, and she better brush up her vocabulary in a hurry, because the English emergencies keep coming. Suddenly caught up in the politics of English and pop culture in Japan, Magda soon realizes to expect the unexpected. She’s now the student—and Japan definitely has a lot to teach.

“From Orgasm Kabuki to troll girls in the pee trade, stackable Daruma apartments to a mute monkey named Kagemusha, Janice Valerie Young has written an irreverent send-up of the warped world of English conversation schools (and the zany international staff that fuel them) that is as imaginative and over-the-top as Tokyo itself. Strike up the chindonya, this girl can write!”
—Leza Lowitz, author of Green Tea to Go

“Janice Valerie Young’s absurdist satire of the turn-of-the-millennium Japanese pop culture and post-bubble society trots out an outrageous cast of characters, from Yakuza wannabes to Yamamba urine sellers and a particularly disgusting pet monkey…a mélange not seen since Thomas Pynchon’s ‘whole sick crew’.”
—Hillel Wright, author of Rotary Sushi

END

bdmp

2005-01-05, 11:03 PM

"you gotta have wa" and i think it is called "ameri-speak/ japan-speak". its real funny .

Timmy!!

2005-03-03, 11:31 PM

Hey Timmy, I read that book too. It is pretty amazing. Did yu see the movie "Ghost Dog"? They used that book in it. It was set modern day NYC and the main charcter is an assassin for a gangster. I think it was a Jim Jarmusch(sp?) movie.

Interesting film; I really liked the music and the choreography, but thought it was slightly OTT in terms of how they portrayed Forest Whitakers character. The part were the old mob guy is listening to Public Enemy and is shot through the drain pipe was a bit lame, and what's the deal with him waving his gun about?? It's not a sword! Although when he talks to his French buddy is classic! Definitely worth seeing for those of you that haven't already.

Junshi

2005-03-08, 10:36 AM

This is actually for anyone but I figure trip hop might have some suggestions.
I've actually been perusing the forum for years...since....since....and never really post.
Any good books lately?

I just finished "Surely you must be joking, Mr Feynman!!" Great book even though it's old. I'm looking to get Hyperspace (that's the title I believe) but I haven't been able to find it yet.

Finally finished all but two of Murakami's books. Now I'm looking into more Korean literature but that's much more difficult to find. Most of the stuff I've read is Japanese colonization period literature...newspapers and short stories.

Let's hear what everyone has been reading.

Timmy!!

2005-03-09, 09:39 AM

Hey Junshi, fun avatar!

Hey all, I've just started reading 'Killing Hope-US Military & CIA Interventions since WW2". F*** ME!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a must read for history fan/politics fans. It's written by an ex CIA operative and it is as detailed and informative as they come. There's so much in here that I was totally ignorant to!!

Sorry, I know it's not related to Japan, but I just had to spread the good word.

P.S anyone want to start a book review page? I think it would be fun as there are so many books on this list that I would never have thought about reading. We could have different categories etc, would be a good way of continuing this great thread.

wendyinjapan

2005-03-15, 08:45 PM

Does any one know the whole title of the Murakami(?) book, "Hard boiled wonderland and the Something something something???

W.

ananda

2005-03-15, 09:28 PM

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

my fave is a Wild Sheep's Chase - but probably that is because it was the first Murakami novel i read.

wendyinjapan

2005-03-18, 08:16 PM

Thanks ananda, you are a star! W.

sincity

2005-03-25, 03:01 PM

At the behest of my GF (I don't mind if the wench dictates my reading habits but there's no freakin' way I'm gonna listen to Ayu), I'm reading 火車 by Miyuki Miyabe, which of course would literally be translated as "Firecar" (apparently this is the car that transports one to hell) but Alfred Birnbaum, a very good translator IMO (he's done some of Murakami's books) has instead entitled the book "All She Was Worth." WTF is that all about? Well, I suppose I shall find out but as of now (I'm on page 30) she is not worth too much to me and nobody has even been transported to hell. If the story does not pick up soon, I shall store the book in my briefcase on the commute home and instead play "spot the pervert" or "guess the cup size."

gureichan

2005-03-29, 06:35 AM

In a triumphant return, this year at the ripe age of 21, Greg has returned to the scene at GaijinPot.com. Okay, sorry about that.

I started this thread over three years ago, before I knew the first thing about 日本放送会社, 女子高生 or ジャスコ. My experiences as an exchange student have shaped my future, indeed to a very exciting one. I am now studying at the University of British Columbia, majoring in asian area studies with a focus in japanese, minor in Commerce. Come september, I will board that trans-pacific airliner one more time, with a much clearer goal, to study at Aoyama Gakuin University and become a gaijin once more. Hence, my return to gaijinpot.com.

I realize this contributes nothing to the thread, but I was just excited to announce to the world that I'm going back. This is my thread after all (well, minus the fact that "gaijinpot is the supreme over lord.. bla bla bla...")

greg

Ian Powell

2005-03-29, 11:50 AM

Hi,

I am interested on studying about the Meiji period but have not been able to find one specifically on the topic. It seems that there is plenty on both sides of that period. I also have some concern about wasting my time with an author that pushes his agenda as opposed to presenting an rounded account of the period, it's causes and effects.

Ian

P.S. I remember being a jacka$$ and mentioning some of Kerr's "facts" about the govt's lack of regulation in the pharmaceutical industry... I was politely corrected.

Zap!You'reFrozen

2005-04-06, 06:24 PM

I am interested on studying about the Meiji period but have not been able to find one specifically on the topic. It seems that there is plenty on both sides of that period. I also have some concern about wasting my time with an author that pushes his agenda as opposed to presenting an rounded account of the period, it's causes and effects.

There are a lot of good books out there on the Meiji period. Probably the most thorough and exhaustive is Carol Gluck's Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. The book traces the political and ideological genesis of the modern Japanese state, with particular focus on the re-invention of the emperor as a modern head of state and the creation of State Shinto. Following in the tradition of Eric Hobsbawm's The Invention of Tradition and Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities, Gluck illustrates how so many of Japan's most hallowed "traditions" are in fact inventions of the modern era. Not to be confused with Roy Miller's book Japan's Modern Myth (singular).

The Meiji Period is an awfully big topic, and as such most of the scholarly writings on it are rather more specific. For a religious angle, look for Helen Hardacre's Shinto and the State. For an excellent look into the history of the Japanese press, check out Creating A Public: People and Press in Meiji Japan. And for a political focus, look for A Political History of Japan During the Meiji Period by Walter Wallace McLaren and Japan's Emergence as a Modern State: Political and Economic Problems of the Meiji Period by E. Herbert Norman.

Ian

P.S. I remember being a jacka$$ and mentioning some of Kerr's "facts" about the govt's lack of regulation in the pharmaceutical industry... I was politely corrected.

What do you mean here? Are you slamming Kerr or defending him here? He seems to attract a great deal of both. In any case he gets invited to a hell of a lot more conferences and literary events than I do, the _______!

Ian Powell

2005-04-07, 10:04 AM

With Alex Kerr, I was told his Lost Japan was better.

I really am not on either side of him. He provided information that a lot of people wouldn't have otherwise known, (myself).

However, it was a poorly written american rant in parts. The information is not referenced, or reliable.

I have a better idea of why there are so many boondogles and the corruption, but I am also used to things like footnotes, especially with such stong acusations. Yes, happy I read it, yes it is a good place to start.

Well, what did you think of him?

I will look into those books, thanks. Could you pick them up at a big store or is there a specialist, or special order?

Ian