No comments about Empire and Aftermath: Yoshida Shigeru and the Japanese Experience, 1878-1954 (Harvard East Asian Monographs).

No comments about From Prison Camp to Caviar: An Autobiography from Java to Iran.

No comments about Village Japan: Everyday Life in a Rural Japanese Community.

3 comments about I-Boat Captain.

1. Excellent first person account of submarine warfare as conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The IJN had a very different doctrine on submarine and anti-submarine warfare than either the USA or Germany. Capt. Orita notes the IJN Admiralty's lack of faith and lack of understanding of submarine & anti-submarine warfare, and how their lack of understanding translated itself into a very poor underwater warfare doctrine that proved to be one of several undoings for the IJN. Orita believes that the outcome in the Pacific Theater would have been very different if the IJN had attached greater importance to anti-submarine warfare, and if the IJN had more aggressively deployed submarines. Orita's facts and figures are hard to deny.



2. Captain Orita was one of the most active Japanese submarine commanders to have survived WWII. He details his experiences in hunting U.S. and British ships throughout the Pacific Ocean. He discusses how other Japanese submariners sank the Yorktown carrier and the Indianaplis cruiser. He details the different classifications of Hirohito's submarines. He notes how and which various Japanese submarines were sunk on their missions. He describes how his submarines attacked Sydney Harbor and shelled Santa Barbara, CA. He discusses how Japanese submarines conducted resupply missions throughout New Guinea and Guadalcanal, and the difficulties that they experienced. He is able to put a very human face on the stoic pilots of the Kaiten "one way" suicide submarines, and how their one- and two-man crews trained, and sometimes failed in horrible drowning accidents. He seems to be a little vexed in that he believes that the Japanese submarines sank a lot more Allied ships that what the Allied navies are willing to admit. Not an "exciting" battlefield suspenseful reading book, but a nice, well written view from a true seafarer who survived the worst that Davy Jones' sea locker had to offer.



3. Captain Zenji Orita's book is a memoir and overview of the Japanese submarine service during the war in the Pacific. It provides the reader with an insiders's look at bitter arguments within their naval staff on the advisability of plans to attack Pearl Harbor and Midway Island. Orita writes the Japanese navy of WW2, "had the world's smallest,largest,slowest,and fastest submarines with a small airforce mounted on its decks." The book's dust cover proclaims,"How Japan's Submarines Almost Defeated the U.S. Navy in the Pacific !" This is a publishers attempt to capture interest and not an opinion shared by the author. Orita explains Japan's submarine operations changed after the defeat at Midway Island and were never effectvely "interposed between the beach head (and harbors) and supply sources." The Japanese had a superior torpedo, but suffered grave losses due to better anti-submarine tactics, weapons and radar. Orita describes the duality of trying to save his own crew while transporting individual Kaiten underwater suicide missions, and reveals canceled plans to bomb the Panama Canal by submarine launched aircraft. The book is illustrated with photographs of Japanese submarines, military personnel, and the Naval Academy at Etajima.

No comments about Modern Masters of Kyoto: The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions, Nihonga from the Griffith and Patricia Way Collection.

No comments about One Day in Japan With Hokusai (Adventures in Art and Architecture).

5 comments about Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game (Writing Baseball).

1. This is a very welcome addition to the growing literature on Japanese baseball. Oral history is hard work, but unlike the daily quotes of player pablum that fill newspaper game reports, reflections over long careers are often informative and moving (even if occasionally self-serving). The real virtues of this collection are the range of baseball people that Fitts was able to get to open up (from outstanding stars to working stiffs, from players to coaches, managers, and executives) and the range over time (with representative stories from six decades of Japanese professional baseball). Some of the most powerful chapters evoke the difficulties of Japanese-American players in the 1950s. Such range is extraordinarily valuable in demonstrating the surprising breadth of baseball experiences. It's a collection that instructs both the devotee and the neophyte to Japanese baseball lore.



2. Bought two books, gave one to friend and we enjoyed it so much that we laughed and talked about the contents for Hours. Great book, buy two to share with a friend!



3. Not to bemoan a point but where are the Japanese ballplayers' perspective since about the 1960s? I mean, how about some of the more post-'60s players like Furuta, Akiyama, Fukudome, Kuwata, Kiyohara...even Ishige, Nakahata, etc. Even the Japanese MLBers like Nomo, Ichiro et al takes on J-ball would be great to throw in there.
   
   Sure these are all interesting snapshots BUT why the focus so much on the import players from the '60s onwards? It skews the book way too much towards the same-old tired "gaikokujin (foreigner)" viewpoint. Frankly, if you are going to do a book about Japanese baseball and the import quota in their leagues is so low, why not have a better balance between the J-view and the "foreigners' " view?
   
   Very disappointing, if you follow J-ball at all. I'll wait for Volume 2 and hope we get a big more updated version.



4. "As a longtime fan of Japanese baseball, I eagerly anticipated the arrival of Rob Fitts's new book and was not disappointed. The accounts of these great and often colorful players are fascinating to read. The fact that the accounts are presented in the player's own words add tremendously to the book's validity and substance. Though any reader will appreciate the breadth and depth of this book, those of us who are particularly interested in the subject are very grateful for this contribution that expands on a chapter of baseball of which too little has been written. Well planned and well executed."



5. I had the pleasure of hearing Rob Fitts give a presentation on his book recently, and it helps answer Brian Maitland's question about the relative lack of Japanese players. Why are there fewer? It's just plain hard to make the connections over such a long distance and then surmount the language barrier.
   
   We should be glad there are as many players represented as there are. The breadth of decades is impressive, and the material is woven together very smoothly from the interviews. This is no easy task, and the individual personalities do shine through to a great extent. There are plenty of historical nuggets and cultural insights too. I most certainly was not disappointed.

2 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Architects Other Passion.

1. It's almost unimaginable that anyone could find something new to say about this protean figure of the 20th Century. And, in fact, another author, Kevin Nute, has also written in recent years about the architect's lifelong fascination with things Japanese. Yet where Nute concentrates on the Orientalist ideas and design concepts that Wright so readily and brilliantly adapted in his own work, Julia Meech turns her attention to a different--and darker--side of the architect's personality: his passion for Japanese prints and art collecting. As she tells it, this obsession (his print purchases often exceeded the money that he took in on architectural commissions) not only drove Wright into bankruptcy, but ensnared him in a debilitating scandal over the resale of "revamped" artworks to several of his wealthy patrons.

   Wright, the driven, self-absorbed genius, is everywhere apparent in this fascinating, well-researched saga. But so is the conflicted man behind the famous persona. (This isn't to say that he emerges as a particularly sympathetic figure: Meech relates, for instance, how Wright helped organize a memorial exhibition following the untimely death of his Japanese mentor, the young and talented printmaker Hashiguchi Goyo. She adds, however, that no evidence exists to show that Wright ever owned one of Goyo's prints--a bit ironic given the high regard in which Goyo's work is held today.)

   Equal to Meech's riveting account, I would have to say that this is one of the most beautifully-designed catalogs (it accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Japan Society Gallery in New York City) that I have ever encountered. It is both lavish and tasteful, if that's possible, with gorgeous color plates and scads of rare photographs of the architect and his cronies, his places of refuge (including hotel suites and other temporary dwellings chock-a-block full of art treasures), and persons and places relevant to the story. For Frank Lloyd Wright fans already burdened by a surfeit of wonderful books, make room on your shelf for a fine new acquisition.




2. To anyone familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural designs, the fact that love of Japanese art, design and print work should come as no surprise. The book 'Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Artist's Other Passion' by Julia Melch gives clear details of the influence of the Japanese on his thinking and creativity, both in narrative and in glorious photography and print.
   
   Frank Lloyd Wright
   Wright was born in Wisconsin shortly after the American Civil War. He studied in the late nineteenth century with noted architect Louis Sullivan, with whom he had continuing and occasionally strained relationship. Wright is probably best known in America for the design of the Guggenheim Museum of Art In New York City; more generally, though, he is known for a particular style of low-built prairie-style houses and institutional buildings, that utilised open-space planning, and often had an element of interaction with elements such as water (in fact, a perennial complaint of Wright buildings is that they leak!). Wright was an innovator in incorporating engineering principles into the design of his buildings to provide sturdiness and creative forms of support and room design. In Japan, Wright was well-known for his design of the Imperial Hotel in Japan, as well as other buildings, including private residences of many prominent Japanese citizens. His work in Japan did not extend much beyond the early 1920s, however, and even the Imperial Hotel was demolished in 1968. Wright himself passed away in 1959 at the age of 91.
   
   Wright and the Art of Japan
   This book was produced for the Japan Society Gallery of New York by Julia Melch. It traces early affinities and influences of Japanese art on Wright and his work, continuing interest including Wright's almost voracious collecting habits, and the final selling and distribution of his collection late in Wright's life.
   
   'When Wright died at the age of almost ninety-two, he owed money to several Asian art dealers in New York, and there were six thousand Japanese colour woodblock prints in his personal collection, not to mention some three hundred Chinese and Japanese ceramics, bronzes, sculptures, textiles, stencils, and carpets, and about twenty Japanese and Chinese folding screens.'
   
   Some of this collection remains as part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, but much had to be sold to pay debts, including tax bills.
   
   Japanese art probably first came into Wright's sphere of creative influences with the World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago. Louis Sullivan had many books of Japanese design and art in his offices when Wright first joined the firm of Adler and Sullivan. This probably represents the earliest introduction. However, Japanese art was becoming widely available in American and Europe by this time, and Japanese principles were beginning to be introduced in novel ways to various buildings. Wright's first trip to Japan came in 1905, the first of many.
   
   Wright became well-known in Japan, and entered a period he sometimes referred to as his 'Oriental Symphony'. During the time of his work on the Imperial Hotel, he gave an interview which showed his standing and mis-understanding in the Japanese architectural community:
   
   Wright was not only a collector, but was himself a dealer of some standing. Particularly in Oak Park and the Chicago area, his designs for buildings would often include artistic recommendations that he would provide as dealer.
   
   This lead to a major scandal, which Melch recounts in some (sometimes juicy) detail, including Wright's egocentric way of viewing the world and attempt to 'get away' with various controversial practices of manufacture and transfer of art work.
   
   'Wright was an immodest foreigner operating outside the guidelines of the closed community of Tokyo print dealers. He flaunted his money and exuded the thinly veiled bravado of the ace dealer. Prices were escalating, the stakes were high, and h is jealous rivals were no doubt pleased to take him out of the game. Revamping was a new technique, totally unexpected. Greed and anticipation of huge profits had made him careless.'
   
   Wright left Japan in 1922, before completion of the Imperial Hotel. He never returned. In fact, he had few international dealings in art or architecture after this period. He longed for greater international acclaim and exposure, but save a few unfinished projects in Hungary and Baghdad, he had few foreign assignments, and none of note.
   
   Disposing of the collection, both before his death and by his widow after his death, is a tale in-and-of itself recounted in the book. Trading with friends and other art dealers, auctioning off pieces individually and as collections, and giving gifts away reduced the collection somewhat, but Wright continued to add pieces throughout his life.
   
   Julia Melch
   The author, Julia Melch, has had a career devoted to Asian art. Educated at Smith College and Harvard University, she has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art organising exhibitions of Asian art. She is currently a senior consultant to Christie's, the famous auction house, specialising in Japanese art works.
   
   This book is produced by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., which has a strong reputation, well deserved, for producing outstanding volumes of art. The colours are vibrant and attractive; the pages are firm and well-suited to the art represented. This is a reference volume, a great coffee-table book, and an interesting narrative read. Giving a perspective on both Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the lens of each other is a unique perspective, well executed.

1 comments about What a Way to Spend a War: Navy Nurse Pows in the Philippines.

1. The Navy nurses who were imprisoned in the Philippines have a great story to tell, and this book recreates the strange and depressing life they had to share all those years. Never knowing what the next day would bring, or if they were ever going to be rescued, these brave young women survived terrible starvation,and malnutrition with great spirit and fortitude. I know some of these nurses, having written about them in No Time For Fear: Voices of American Military Nurses in World War II. Dorothy Danner's story is included, and I will never forget her voice, telling how they continued to be Navy Nurses to other prisoners, despite their own hardships.

3 comments about Talking to High Monks in the Snow: An Asian American Odyssey.

1. I was reading "Growing Up Asian American" and had it for over a year. Recently I have been wanting to hear more from other Asian Americans and so, resumed reading the excerpts authors shared. I read Ms. Minatoya's story and was disappointed that there wasn't more! So the next day I went and bought Talking to High Monks in the Snow. And I have just finished reading it. It's one of those books that I come across infrequently, the kind that I absolutely MUST get to the last page before I go to sleep. Because of school I longed for the moments when I could sit and enjoy my newfound treasure, on trains, breaks, at home. Ms. Minatoya is subtle in her writing but it sure hits you when you're through with the sentence. I felt the pangs of pain and embarassment and degradation when she did. It brought back sad memories. The great thing though is that she isn't sappy and she doesn't want my pity just because I relate to her. Ms. Minatoya is eloquently matter-of-fact. With each section of her book, I was amazed more and more. I wished I went to all the places she has been to, Boston, Japan, China, Nepal, and done the things she has. Actually, I admire her because she was and probably still is BOLD and DETERMINED. She has gone to all these countries and actually lived and worked there, not just visit as a tourist. She has taught and communicated deeply with people in these countries. Thanks to Ms. Minatoya, I have this urge to start a club at my college. A reading and discussional group for Asian Americans and non-Asians. I feel that many in my school and city do not appreciate our rich heritage as much as I wish they did. A club that will teach and show through discussions, reading, and debate, the sincere, talented, proud people such as Ms. Minatoya. Talking to High Monks in the Snow is a truly wonderful book for Asians and non-Asians alike. Before I read it for the second time...Thanks Amazon for letting me share my thoughts!

   Debbie Yeung




2. I would suggest that you read this only after reading The Strangeness of Beauty, which is a wonderfully written novel.



3. Traveling always brings a new dimension to yourself. This is an odyssey of a Sansei(the third generation of Japanese-American) woman, who has been wondering about who she is and where she belongs.
   Like Amy Tan's "The Opposite of Fate", she wrotes about her background (her immigrant grandparents, Nisei-Kibei parents, sister and herself) and her identity crisis.
   After growing up, she went on a trip to Asia (Japan, China, and Nepal) and met nice local people, and found some family secrets and her new Asian identity. Eventually, she comes to feel more comfortable to be Asian-American.
   I recently happened to take this book while traveling in Seattle. I'm so glad to find such an amazing book.