Wonderful Fool

by Shusaku Endo

ISBN: 4-8053-0376-X237 pp

At first light comedy, then fast-moving thriller, Wonderful Fool gradually focuses on its Christian Japanese author's favourite theme, the suffering and redemption of the common mass of humanity, but is never bogged down by overt religiosity. Its central figure, the eponymous fool, is a Frenchman with the physique of a sumo wrestler and the heart of a child, reminiscent in his dogged innocence of Dostoyevsky's similarly named Idiot. Like Prince Myshkin, Shusako's Gaston Bonaparte is descended from noble stock, but where Myshkin is feeble in body, Gaston's lumbering form betrays no Napoleonic dignity. What Gaston shares with Myshkin, apart from a lack of wits, is an instinctive, Christ-like need to help those around them that first exasperates, then dumbfounds, and ultimately enriches the people who are fortunate enough to come in contact with him.

When devil-may-care bank-clerk Takamori, living in Tokyo, receives a letter from an old penpal, he has no idea what impact his French friend will have on the life of himself and his haughty young sister. Nor does Gaston realise that his unselfish desire to come to Japan to help others will lead him into the clutches of a ruthless killer who is out for revenge on those who framed his brother during World War II. Shusako employs cinematic-style parallel storytelling that contrasts two worlds of Japan to good effect - the quarters of comparative ease and affluence in a quickly modernising Japan of the 1950s, and the accompanying poverty- and crime-ridden shanty towns that fringe Tokyo like a crusty excretion of sin.

Perhaps the only fault of this 2000 printing is that the translation, first published in 1974, retains explanatory footnotes that are no longer necessary: who, for example, doesn't know what sushi is?! But Shusaku's style itself, at first playful and lighthearted, and then unswerving in its recording of sordid incident, is served well by Peter Owen's prose. Some may find Gaston, like prince Myshkin, a tiresome do-gooder, but Shusaku's unsentimental approach does much to give his misadventures a ring of reality. Gaston's fate is ambiguous, but his effect on those he has touched - which may well include the reader - is decidedly positive.

Richard Donovan

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Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog

by Pamela S. Turner

ISBN: 0618140948364 pp

The story of Hachiko is a familiar one to those who live in Japan. The dog went to greet his master, Dr. Ueno, every day at Shibuya station when he got off the train. After the doctor's death in 1925, Hachiko continued to go to the station to wait - for ten years.

His loyalty was commemorated with a bronze statue which now serves as a popular meeting place. Japanese children read about the faithful canine in their textbooks, but Turner has given the story a twist to introduce English readers to Hachiko. She tells the tale, in simple yet elegant prose, from the point of view of a fictional boy named Kentaro.

Nascimbene's watercolor illustrations, evocative of traditional woodblock prints, give a good feel for the period.

Turner follows up with "The Story Behind the Story" so readers can get their facts straight.

This award-winning book should appeal to kids around seven and up.

Suzanne Kamata

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Japan By Rail: (2nd Edition)

by Ramsey Zarifeh

Trailblazer Publications

ISBN: 1-8737-5697-6 496 pp

The eagerly awaited, fully revised and expanded second edition of Japan By Rail was published in 2007 and is a definite alternative to challenge for space in your luggage along with the other so-called "major" guides on Japan.

This handy book is geared to visitors arriving with the Japan Rail Pass and planning to see the country by train. With some of the world's quickest and most punctual rail services, seeing Japan by train can be a joy in itself, whether you are speeding through the cities along the Pacific coast by bullet-train or chugging through the mountains of Kyushu at a more sedate pace.

Much of the first half of the book thus takes the reader through everything you need to know on the Japan Rail pass, Japanese railways (JR in particular), possible routes and essential train etiquette. The level of detail is impressive and the practical information for the visitor both on Japan in general and Japanese railways in particular makes this book pretty much a must for visitors who a) have bought the Japan Rail Pass and b) like traveling by train.

The book is also useful for residents of Japan looking to see more of the country by rail - a quick, greener alternative to the nation's packed and stressful highways and expensive domestic air network.

The heart of Japan By Rail are its guides to the country's two main gateways - Tokyo & Osaka - and detailed route guides to the cities and attractions of Japan's four major islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku.

A typical city guide contains a well-spaced map with place names in English and Japanese in the key, what to see and do in each place with opening times and prices plus information on the main station, local transport, where to stay and where to eat and drink.

Author Zarifeh rounds out the book with four appendices: a Japan rail route guide, glossary, useful Japanese phrases and train timetables.
There are also some reasonable color photographs and a number of special boxed texts on various points of interest. Recommended.

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Jazz Up Your Japanese with Onomatopoeia

by Hiroko Fukuda
Kodansha International

ISBN: 4-7700-2956-X238 pp

Originally published by Kodansha as "Flip, Slither and Bang: Japanese Sound and Action Words" as part of their Power Japanese series, this volume has undergone a makeover for the 21st century. Fukuda has added a useful overview introduction, and revision quizzes, both of which should help key Japanese onomatopoeia stick in your head. And there's a lot to remember.

While Japanese has appropriated Chinese script for most of its conceptual words, and promiscuously borrowed from English and other languages for more recent phenomena such as computers, it can be proud of the homegrown nature of its pervasive onomatopoeia - not to mention their expressive 'punch'. While in English, such words are often associated with animal noises and children's tales, Japanese uses onomatopoeia widely, in anything from literature to everyday adult conversations, and to express everything from a simple sound to a complex emotional state. What English often uses metaphor to express, Japanese gets across with onomatopoeia.

Wanwan may indeed be the sound of a Japanese doggy, but mukamuka means seriously cheesed off, gennari means worn out, and sesseto means as regular as clockwork. Adult enough for you? Fukuda's introduction helps the learner contextualise the different forms and uses of Japanese onomatopoeia. This, along with an overall book structure based around situational dialogues, creates a fairly structured learning approach. As usual with a book focusing on one aspect of language, there is the temptation to pack in as many target expressions as possible until the dialogues become a bit buyobuyo (bloated). But apart from this, the language is very natural (in fact, "too" natural for the beginner, who should first be learning standard Japanese verb forms, for instance).

The dialogues are followed by clear explanations of the target onomatopoeia and example sentences. All text is provided in original Japanese (with furigana readings) plus an English translation, while the dialogues also come in a romanised form for the less able reader. Helpful cultural notes are also scattered throughout the text. The quizzes at the end of each section review the onomatopoeia, and the handy indexes allow you to find both Japanese and English definitions, so you can locate a particular expression you've heard in Japanese, or find an equivalent for the English concept you want to get across, independently of the dialogue contexts. Note though that this book is not a substitute for a dictionary of onomatopoeia, as it chooses to be selectively detailed rather than comprehensive.

Jazz Up Your Japanese with Onomatopoeia is subtitled For All Levels, which I think is a little ambitious, as much of the material would be overwhelming for neophytes. But this very density of information is a boon for the more advanced student. It will reward close study by significantly enhancing your knowledge of an underemphasised aspect of Japanese language that in many ways embodies the Japanese mindset.

Richard Donovan

エリックさんの新・和食

The Breakaway Japanese Kitchen

by Eric Gower

Kodansha International
ISBN: 4-77002-949-7 112 pp

A dedicated gourmet, the author spent 15 years in Japan but never lost his carefree, Californian touch. Bemoaning the fact that people "come to like and expect the standard repertoire when it comes to Japanese food" and that Japanese "learn from childhood that there's a right way to eat almost anything," he relishes the opportunity to ignore convention and combine the quintessentially Japanese with the distinctly non-Japanese.

"Orange Tarragon Cauliflower Simmered In Sake" or "Miso Apricot Glaze" for white fish give a fair idea of what to expect. This is not a Japanese cookbook, but rather an eclectic selection of dishes incorporating Japanese staples like soy, persimmons and shiso with the olive oil, butter and fresh herbs such as mint and coriander found in a Western kitchen.

Some dishes such as the "Boozy Japanese Potatoes" (parboiled then cooked in sake and rounded off with soy and butter) or the "Shiitake Ginger Pasta" manage a happy marriage of flavours. Others might seem a little too outlandish, but this depends on how experimental you like to be. What the book does do is give a much-needed reminder that there’s a whole lot more you can do with any given ingredient if you leave straight and narrow conventions behind and try something new.

While the book has gorgeous photographs throughout and is very slick, one of its strengths is that, not being a professional chef, Gower’s recipes are undaunting and he makes a good guide for those looking for a little more zest from familiar ingredients.

Aidan O'Connor



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Tokyo Vice: An American reporter on the Police Beat in Japan

by Jake Adelstein

Pantheon

ISBN: 0-521-58810-3

346 pp

With so many books promising untold riches, then failing to deliver, this journalistic adventure by Jake Adelstein is rare: it is unputdownable and a real eye-opener into a side of Japanese society that foreigners and Japanese themselves very rarely see, and as such is highly recommended.

After graduating from Sophia University in the early 1990s, Adelstein became the first Western reporter for the Yomiuri Shinbun, the biggest Japanese–language newspaper in Japan (and the newspaper with the highest circulation in the world). He was soon assigned to the crime beat and after a stint in Saitama (north of Tokyo and as the author describes it, "the New Jersey of Japan") he was sent to cover the notorious red-light district of Kabukicho and the foreigner's playground of Roppongi in central Tokyo. In doing so he made contacts of pimps, prostitutes, hostesses, yakuza gangsters, various members of the police force, and other assorted characters for information.

He details the various complexities of his job and illuminates the necessity of having good connections, which means spending almost every other night wining or dining police connections, or turning up at their houses with gifts. The loyalty Adelstein has for his profession, his colleagues, and his sources is truly admirable, and the friendships he makes are unforgettable. He also makes his way between various competing factions of the police agencies, the media, the government, and other organizations to try and get what he wants.

Adelstein details his descent into this world with both glee and weariness; his evenings become drunken prowls around hostess bars, sex industry establishments, and the nightlife and detritus of Tokyo as he searches for information. His insider's view of the Lucy Blackman case and the way the police handled it are fascinating. He details his involvement in other cases involving various lowlifes of Japanese society and opens up a whole new world to the reader.

The Yakuza are very prominent throughout - indeed, it appears that there are few businesses in which they do not have some kind of presence - and the sheer power that they command, both in physical presence and financially, is breathtaking; the police's role appears to be just to keep them in check as much as possible rather than to attempt to try and eradicate them.

Adelstein eventually gets in way too deep. Knowing too much about Goto Tadamasa, leader of the Goto faction, a branch of Japan's biggest Yakuza organization, the Yamaguchi-gumi, and a man who was able to enter the USA and obtain a liver transplant despite being on various blacklists, Adelstein is threatened to "either erase the story, or we'll erase you. And maybe your family." He decides that enough is enough and to get out, but not before a showdown with Goto.

The book succeeds on all levels - it is a fascinating glimpse into Japanese society on a level rarely penetrated by Westerners and Japanese alike; it is the journey of a man who loves his job and family but wades in way too far; and it is a truly great read. With stories like these, Jake Adelstein would make a phenomenal drinking partner.

David White

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Tsukiji: The Fish Market At The Center Of The World

by Theodore C. Bestor

ISBN: 0-5202-2024-2
456 pp

Long a popular destination for foreign visitors to Tokyo, Tsukiji, the world's biggest fish market with some 450 different types of fish and a daily turnover of more than 2,000 tons of fishy products, is nevertheless facing a crisis in Japan's changing business and food culture. Though it is only a short hop from Ginza, its appeal to foreigners has left some locals bemused. A recent article in the Nikkei Shimbun marvelled at the number of tours for foreigners to this most Japanese of institutions.Luckily for us, the unique nature of this great market has been captured by Bestor, an anthropologist, in this fascinating book.

Though it is an ethnographical study of Tsukiji as a trade and economic institution, at no point does the prose lose the layman. Bestor approaches his subject from a dazzling array of angles, with the focus shifting from the lives and routines of market families, to its colourful history, to more serious discussions on its significance in Japan's economic and cultural history as well as the influence it exerts on the world fishing industry.

What Bestor manages to do is to walk his reader through this complex world and bring it all gloriously to life. He starts out with his own boozy induction to the joys of sushi and first visit to the market. This helps the reader remain anchored when the greater cultural, historical, economic, culinary and social implications of the market come to be discussed. The stall banter, wheeling and dealing, market slang and nuggets of fish lore interspersed throughout help make this much more than just an academic treatise.
The arrival of kaiten-zushi, the kombini and family restaurants, and what all that actually implies for us who live here, is also discussed.

Getting to understand Tsukiji helps to put so many more pieces of the Japanese jigsaw in place and sheds light on both past and present. No matter how familiar you may be either with Japan or her greatest market, this study, the result of a decade of research and observation, will prove rewarding. There is even a welcome guide to getting the most out of a visit to Tsukiji, which anyone will surely want to see after reading this. Indeed, most Tokyoites would learn a thing or two.

Aidan O'Connor

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不動智神妙録

The Unfettered Mind
by Takuan Soho
Kodansha International
Translated by William Scott Wilson
ISBN: 4-7700-2947-0

William Scott Wilson has made a name for himself translating the martial-philosophy classics of 16th-century Japan. He is best known for his version of Hagakure, also available in this Kodansha series, which reached new heights for product placement in Jim Jarmusch’s film Ghost Dog.

Not only did Kodansha’s handsome red-on-black binding feature in Forrest Whitaker’s samurai/hitman hands, but extensive quotations from Wilson’s lyrical text are a key framing device throughout - making it the literate person’s Kill Bill.

While Hagakure is little more than a quirky compendium of samurai etiquette, The Unfettered Mind provides a coherent series of insights into the timeless Zen Buddhist principles that underlie the samurai ethic.

The monk Takuan Soho (1573-1645) was a polymath, as adept at calligraphy, painting and cooking as he was at advising the Shogun on political affairs. While not a swordsman, he understood the art of the sword equally well: as with all arts, it involves the dissolution of the notion of self, unfettering the mind from the ego so as to be able to perform any action effortlessly and smoothly.

This book contains the letters he wrote to his protégé, Yagyu Muneyoshi, one of the greatest swordsmen of his time (see his own work, The Life-Giving Sword). Their influence on the samurai’s book is obvious.

Takuan tackles the great mysteries of life such as the mind and spirit with down-to-earth analogies involving plenty of fruit (that’s the gardener side of him coming out there). He is even comfortable to explain ghosts as an equally real part of the continuum of existence.

Swordplay is the pivot for his discussion, because it is such a clear interplay of life and death. Even those with no interests in the martial will find a distillation of wisdom here that can be applied to everyday life. While there are moments of obscurity that even Wilson cannot retrieve, overall his fluid prose helps elucidate Takuan’s masterpiece and keep it relevant for our age and culture.

Richard Donovan

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日本軍のインテリジェンス

Japanese Intelligence in World War II

by Ken Kotani

Osprey Publishing

ISBN 1-8460-3425-6
232 pp; Hardback

Before the publication of this excellent book, little was known in the West about the methods and effectiveness of Japanese military intelligence during World War II. The general impression was that Japanese intelligence fared poorly in comparison to its more successful British and American counterparts. Based on new resources and memoirs only recently available in Japan and overseas, intelligence expert Ken Kotani has built an altogether more balanced assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of both Japanese and Allied intel in the war years.

The author begins with an introduction to Japanese intelligence and the establishment of the intelligence services of the Japanese army (IJA) and navy (IJN) at the beginning of the Meiji Period. This split in Japanese intelligence services between army and navy and the lack of a central intelligence agency was to have significant consequences for the Japanese war effort during the course of the Pacific War.

Kotani analyses both arms of the Japanese intelligence services, charting early successes and later failures as the tide turned against Japan after the Battle of Midway. At times the concise English, ably translated by the author's wife, reads like the pages of a spy thriller, making this book of interest to the non-specialist as well as the Japan historian. Individual spies and their work are brought to life from the dusty shelves of research institutes: the mysterious death of British journalist James Cox in Tokyo in 1940 and the nefarious activities of men like F. J. Rutland, Herbert Greene (author Graham Greene's brother) and Collin Mayers.

Both sides in the intelligence war underestimated their opponents, relying on racial stereotyping more than actual intelligence to gauge the effectiveness of their opponents' fighting forces, tactics and military hardware.

The author finds that Japan did indeed possess competent intelligence services but their efforts were undermined by inter-service rivalry and the bureaucratic failings of strategic planners and policy makers to make the best use of the often excellent intelligence made available to them. Fixed mindsets among Japan's politicians and operations staff allowed the Allies to gain a strategic advantage in the field of intelligence that helped to swing the balance of the conflict in favor of the Allies in the later years of World War II.

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Cultural Migrants from Japan: Youth, Media, and Migration in New York and London

by Yuiko Fujita

Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739128914; 216 pp

This is an academic and readable book on young Japanese who choose to live in London or New York for cultural purposes - to become artists, dancers, DJs, etc - rather than for purely economic reasons.

The book traces the lives of some of these Japanese "cultural migrants" as they move from Japan to New York or London, then back to Japan again. This is done in a series of interviews with twenty-two migrants who express their views, ideas, opinions, prejudices, etc regarding their lives in London, Tokyo, or back in Japan.

A huge variety of reasons are presented for going abroad, and women appear to outnumber men. These migrants also gain a degree of independence when abroad (in particular being away from family), and some feel that they have reached a deadlock at work in Japan and need to go abroad for more opportunities.

The way the interviewees see their identity and/or the identity of Japan in the world, and how they view Western countries, makes for interesting reading. The images that many of them hold of New York and London prior to visiting these cities are very strong, and the influence of the media, in particular TV shows, is emphasized.

The book also includes discussions on identity in the context of the ideas of Nihonjinron ("theories of Japaneseness"), and the interviewees' sense of identity, often expressed positively (mainly for the men) and a little negatively (mainly for the women). The ideas that many of these young people hold relating to race and ethnicity changes when they live in London and New York; many of them make friends with Koreans and Taiwanese (arguably the countries that are culturally the closest to Japan), and find that their images of British people and Americans ends up being shattered, in both good and bad ways.

Some respondents claim their own hierarchy of racism, for example, looking down on other Asians, and many of the interviewees heighten their sense of nationalism when abroad. It was also particularly shocking to read of violence and racial taunts to some of the interviewees in both cities.

If there is any weakness in the book, it is this: a few months (or even a few years) is really not enough to understand and put in context the experience of living overseas, although it can be said that this often depends on the individual concerned. The reader comes away with the feeling that half of the interviewees have fleeting and superficial experiences abroad, while the other half find some depth to their time spent away from Japan and attempt to integrate and understand their unfamiliar surroundings, albeit for a short time.

Ultimately the book delivers an interesting mix of opinions and shows the sheer variety of views and the importance of focusing on individuals and individual experiences. Some of the interviewees returned to Japan and were later interviewed back home, and some remained abroad. In fact, one of the most important questions all of them faced was whether to stay or leave.

It is a shame that this book will not find a wider readership; it is academic in nature, which may put some off, but easy to read; unfortunately (as is the case for many academic works), it is expensive, and so may find a limited market, when it deserves a larger one.

David White

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Japan's Open Future: An Agenda for Global Citizenship

by John Haffner, Tomas Casas i Klett, Jean-Pierre Lehmann

Published by Anthem Press

ISBN: 1-8433-1311-1320 pp

The authors, a Canadian, a Spaniard, and a Frenchman, have written a book that falls squarely into the genre of books that explain "what is wrong with Japan and how it can be fixed," and is one of the better books of the genre.
Maybe because of their combined years of experience in Japan the book has a bit more depth than many of its type. The essence of the authors' argument is that while Japan made a remarkable and swift transition from a Pre-Modern to a Modern society, it has failed to make the jump to a Post Modern society, and still clings to the mercantilism that enabled its economy to grow and prosper, but which is no longer suitable for the modern world of globalism.



The introduction is excellent and gives a brief history of Japan without resorting to any of the myths that color much of other writings on Japan. The brief section on Japan's imperialist expansion and World War II manages to cover all the details that continue to haunt Japan and influence its relations with other countries.
The chapter on global communication covers Japan's poor performance with foreign languages, particularly English, but also has some interesting insights on communication issues within Japan. Many of the examples given come from the world of business, and this emphasis on business and economics continues throughout the book, with the next two chapters focusing on the Japanese economy.
Written in a way that makes the subjects understandable to a layman, one still needs an interest in the topics to stop the chapters from becoming hard going. The chapters on Japan's civil society and Japan's global roles cover most of the issues where Japan clings to exceptionalism. Throughout the book the authors point out that were Japan to open itself more (globalism in not so many words) the people of Japan would benefit greatly, however they barely touch upon any negative results of globalization.
In the conclusion they make an interesting suggestion that China's growing economic penetration of Japan may lead to the forced opening of Japan on a par with Perry’s black ships.

Book Review by Jake Davies

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Creative Space: Urban Homes of Artists and Innovators

by Francesca Gavin
208 Pages

Laurence King

Creative Space looks at the studios, apartments, and homes of designers, artists, novelists, and innovators in six cities: Barcelona, Berlin, London, New York, Paris, and Tokyo.

The interiors are as diverse as those who have created them. However, there are some commonalities. First is simplicity or minimalism.

The homes of the artists represented in the work are bare. White walls and blank spaces prevail.

Except of course when there is clutter. Many of the living and bed rooms are populated with Japanese toys, collectables, and other knickknacks (some bordering on junk).

Among those featured are Aya Takano, Yasumasa Yonehara, Julie Verhoeven, Gary Card, Idris Khan, Annie Morris, Fafi, Jaybo (aka, the Monk), and others.

The homes are beautifully photographed.

Author Francesca Gavin has done more than just travel to and catalog the idiosyncracies of creative types around the world. She has brought some sense to the various designs and sensibilities.

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