1 comments about Zen Haiku: Poems and Letters of Natsume Soseki.

1. We really get to see a different side of the great novelist Natsume Soseki in this compact little volume. The haiku are refreshing, often whimsical with a light touch of humor. A few thematize Zen ("Emptiness, no holiness, Bodhidharma's statue: Daffodils in the water" p. 107), some thematize Buddhism more generally ("Buddha Nature, if compared, Must be this White bell-flower" p.96), but most, while good, do kind of leave you wondering what is specifically "Zen" about them, but no matter. A real surprise though were the examples of Soseki's paintings and calligraphy; I knew he dabbled with watercolor painting but had little idea he was this accomplished in traditional East Asian art forms in this manner. These add a real nice touch to an artistically arranged book that can still fit in your pocket and travel along wherever you happen to go.

No comments about Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu (Tuttle Classics of Japanese Literature).

No comments about Lady Nijos Own Story: The Candid Diary of a 13th Century Japanese Imperial Court Concubine.

2 comments about The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey without Borders.

1. "Sam" Gilmour, heartlander, great sculptor, world traveler, free spirit, aka "Noguchi"--
   The sadly neglected tale of a shy 13 year-old boy traveling alone to LaPorte, Indiana for early schooling "as a true American" and known there as "Sam" Gilmour, was later to become widely known as one of the world's greatest sculptors -- Isamu Noguchi (a future Jeopardy question?). A new biography "The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey Without Borders" includes revealing details and childhood snapshots for the first time from the archives of Lilly Library at Indiana University. This biography, only recently published in English, unfolds like a panoramic tapestry of life ... colorful, insightful, personal. It includes his stressful adaptations to cultural duality, personal relationships with notable companions, and his bonding with the idea of "mound builders" of native Americans.
   
   After traveling alone across the ocean and the country, he began his new, Midwestern experience by hiking down the remote dirt road for the first time past the farms, fields, and woods to the Interlaken boarding school, feeling overwhelmed by the "vastness, the sweep, the panorama of that open Indiana countryside." Soon, when fateful WW I events abruptly closed the boarding school, he lived alone on the abandoned premises for a month "like Daniel Boone". Finally good fortune had him transferring to the public LaPorte High School and living with a locally prominent family in town, he graduated four years later in 1922. Typically, he had a newspaper route. Aspiring to be an "all-American boy", the yearbook included his illustrations and classmates elected him "Biggest Bull-Head."
   
   And so goes the first 100 pages. The next 340 pages of this epic follow his footprints through the Sands of Time, continuing 'Sam's Splendid Adventure' to the peaks of artistic expression in dance theatre, architecture, and sculpture. Along the way, this "Hoosier" sojourns with many of the greatest artistic spirits this world has ever seen.
   
   On a very personal note, I met with Noguchi a couple of times ('70s) in my New York work, and had once played a basketball game ('50s) at his Indiana high school (big deal there, then). Regrettably, I didn't realize at the time that our paths had previously crossed, albeit if only in space-time. Somewhere, sometime, "somewhat" dedicated individuals must necessarily put out a wake-up call to the Arts in Indiana patrons at colleges, museums, and libraries on this wholly unusual and neglected chapter of American cultural history at the turn of the 20th Century with its demographic changes of nation building immigration, new industrialization, and new urbanism. Fittingly, the Noguchi Foundation has an extensive curriculum guide available. His centennial birth date is November 17, 2004.



2. I really enjoyed reading this book .Not only was it informative but beautifully written .The book deals with Isamu Noguchi's life with insight and sensitivity .Definitely worth buying.

5 comments about The War Journal of Major Damon "Rocky" Gause.

1. "The War Journal of Major Damon 'Rocky' Gause" is a well-told, exciting survival and escape story of World War II. Lieutenant (at the time of the events related in this book) Gause was a pilot stationed in the Phillipines when General MacArthur was ordered to retreat. His plane being destroyed, he fought with the American troops to the bitter end of the defeat of Corregidor, and through the kindness of the Filipinos and natives of the South Pacific, escaped via a 3,200 mile route to Australia.

   This story may perhaps be the greatest survival and escape tale from World War II. It's full of close calls (a Japanese submarine surfacing next to their craft), thrills (a disguised Nazi officer trying to murder Gause and his companion, Lt. Osbourne, in their sleep), quirks (getting much-needed help from a leper colony) and hardships (their small wooden craft being thrown about in a storm). The book also has some truly touching moments--the kindness and loyalty of the Filipinos who were willing to aid Gause despite the risk, and the picture of Gause with his son, whom he saw for a mere few hours before his deployment and subsequent death in Europe in a training exercise.

   The book is written simply (but is not a simple book), and not too politically correct (which I don't think Maj. Gause would care for being, anyway). The story flows well, and the foreward and afterword by Maj. Gause's son are well-done. The book would be improved by the inclusion of more maps showing their route and a timeline, and perhaps the reproduction of some of the original ship's log pages.

   The book also has a prologue by Stephen Ambrose (whose imprimatur should promptly silence those questioning the credibility of the story).




2. Beautifully written and unpretentious, this book amazes and inspires! A classic World War II account!



3. Written in the first person, this is one of the better personal accounts of WWII that I have read. Despite the the author not being a professional writer, Gause has the ability to tell a story. If some of the stories have perhaps become blurred with the passing of time, it does not distract one bit from the overall deeds of the author and him comrades. I have had the wonderful opportunity over the years of talking with and listening to many veterans of this war and others, and having spent over twenty years in the service myself, I can pretty well spot crap when I see or hear it. This is honest stuff. Recommend you read this one and also add it to your collection.



4. 
   
   I dont doubt any of the details of Major Gauses escape story,its no doubt a great and authentic ocean survival story: but being written during the war, which Mr Gause did not survive, its perhaps fancifully fallacious in its account of the US defence during the Japanese invasion of the Philipines itself, in the tradition of wartime flag-flapping movies like 'Bataan', which attempt to make a glorious rallying cry of something pretty ignominious.
   
   If the campaigns of Singapore/Malaya and Philipines were Allied victories instead of complete, total, and lets face it, easy Japanese victories, we'd be deifying them as brilliant miraculous Allied offensives against a numerically superior enemy defence.
   
   As it is, and as I see here in some of these reviews, and as we understandably did at the time, we cop out and falsify the truth talking about 'overwhelming Japanese forces' in places like Corrigidor, Bataan and Malaya/Singapore, or similiarly excuse German walkover victories in 1940-42.
   
   the truth is, as all serious military historians certainly know now, and those in the know knew then, is that the Japanese forces that took half the Pacific and Asia as far as the Burma/India border in 1941-42 were not 'overwhelming' numerically, were in fact typically outnumbered overall by the US and British Commonwealth defending forces-add to that, the defenders typically were in possession of lavish supplies compared to the spartan Japanese.
   
   In context here, what Im saying in relation to the Gause account of Corregidor and Bataan, is I perhaps doubt the complete accuracy of his claims of Japanese killed in some incidents, as an ex-WW2 German said once of our war-movies,
   'if you had killed as many of us as easily and cheaply as in all these movies, we would have been already losing in 1939 and completely wiped out by 1940, instead of mostly kicking your arses for at least half the war and lasting 6 years against half the world.'
   
   its true. Some historians , Allied, have soberly admitted that Allied victory was in fact rare except where the ALLIES showed up in overwhelming numbers, where the Allies were either defending or attacking. And there probably were no Allied offensives from numerical inferiority, whereas, even with the Japanese, less than 50000 rampaging Japanese SOMEHOW took the Kra peninsula from at least 100000 British Commonwealth troops, and in the Philipines, it was about the same ratio Japanese to US.
   
   More honesty and credibility in some areas, please.



5. I read this book about 4 or 5 years ago when I was stationed in Germany. It is one of the best books about WW2 I have ever read. And what makes it so fascinating, is its a true story! I wrote the author after reading it to tell him how much I enjoyed it, and he wrote me back! Great guy. Highly recommend this book to everyone with an interest in the subject.

3 comments about I Am Alive!: A United States Marine's Story of Survival in a World war II Japanese POW Camp.

1. I AM ALIVE! is a collection of short stories told by Marine Sergeant Major Charles R. Jackson, a West Point graduate who resigned his Army commission, in 1926, to become a Private in the United States Marine Corps. Fifteen years later, he was a sergeant major in the 4th Marine Regiment, fighting for his life on Corregidor, and later dealing with life as a POW in the bottom of a copper mine in northern Japan for nearly four years.
   Much credit is due to Major "Doc" Norton,USMC, who edited this work and ow presents this story as a masterpiece of World War II experiences. I know the phrase, "I couldn't put it down," is well-worn, but that is exactly what happened to me. One story leads to another, each one better than the last. The finished product is a marvelous collection of observation of fellow Marines, soldiers, Japanese officers, and even Shoo Chow the mongrel mascot of the 4th Marine Regiment, who also survived being a "guest of the Emperor."
   I have read many of Major Norton's books, but this is without question his best effort yet. There is no doubt in my mind that this is an award-winning book. I would encourage every veteran, every parent, and every service man and women, to read
   this great book. They will immediately learn where their military heritage comes from. Without doubt, a 5-Star book. I'll buy 25 copies as Christmas presents.

   found himself




2. I was somewhat disappointed in that the author seemed to focus more on times before capture than times inside the prison camp and mine. The book seemed to jump around alot and the writing styles seem to change from chapter to chapter which detracted from the stories the auther told. Over all though, he went into great detail in describing to the readers about what made each man unique. The author shows an incedible talent in portraying each man's stengths and weaknesses. He shows how even the Japanese guards that tormented them had human and good qualities that kept him from hating them outright. This book seems to focus more the human soul than the life of a prisoner.



3. "I Am Alive!: A United States Marine's Story of Survival in a World War II Japanese POW Camp," by Charles R. Jackson, has been edited by Bruce H. Norton. The introductory materials of the book note that Jackson graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served as an Army officer. He resigned his commission in 1925 and enlisted as a private in the Marine Corps in 1927. He rose to the rank of sergeant major and was made a warrant officer before retiring. This book draws on his experiences as a prisoner-of-war held by the Japanese in the Philippines and Japan.
   
   This is a remarkable book. While firmly in the tradition of the American military narrative, it is quite different in tone from any military true-life story I have ever read. Jackson's voice is that of a folksy storyteller. In the book he specifically mentions the tradition of military oral folklore, and his own style draws on that tradition.
   
   Most of the book is structured as a series of interconnected character sketches. The gallery he presents is a very diverse group: officer and enlisted, as well as civilian; Japanese, Filipino, and American of various ethnic groups; Christian and Jew; even non-human. I found some of the most striking pieces to be the following: "The Story of Lieutenant Asaka," about an enigmatic Japanese prison commandant who is respected as a "real soldier" by his own enemies; "The Story of the Old Swede," about a Marine first sergeant who is an alcoholic; and "The Story of First Sergeant Santaleses," about a formidable soldier of the Philippine Scouts. But my favorite tale is "The Story of Soochow," about a little mongrel dog who becomes a Marine mascot, and stands by his Marines in battle and in prison.
   
   Jackson's sketches bring all of these characters to life. Despite the serious subject matter, the author's tone is often quite funny--at times he made me laugh out loud. But he also unflinchingly describes the horror and violence of war, and the often horrific suffering of the POWs. Jackson also touches often on Marine tradition and esprit-de-corps.
   
   Jackson's is a truly extraordinary voice: witty, learned, clever, playful, and deeply humane. This book is a valuable contribution to the canon of military narrative, as well as to the literature of imprisonment.

1 comments about I Was There, Charley: An Autobiography.

1. This was insightful to the treatment of our POWs at the hand of the Japanese during WW II

2 comments about Disguised: A Teenage Girl's Survival in World War II Japanese Prison Camps.

1. The life of a teenager remembered by herself as a much older woman puts an interesting perspective on this story. As if being captured and held by the Japanese for 3 and a half years at the age of 13 or so is not interesting enough, this girl lived the experience by working in close quarters with the Japanese disguised as a boy for the whole time.
   
   Rita's memories of her early life in this environment were written as a much older woman, but none of the detail of those days has been lost, even though they may at times be overlaid with the sentiments of a much older and wiser person attributed to her younger self.
   
   Living a privileged life as a Japanese interpreter and office worker in the camps, she was not subjected to much of the poor treatment meted out to her fellow prisoners, and seems stunned at times that they should have resented her better treatment. Nevertheless, her achievements at such a young age of learning Japanese from scratch to become an interpreter, holding down a job, helping out her family, negotiating the adult male Japanese world, surviving the difficult world of the internees and staying safe throughout it all are to be respected.
   
   Rita writes about her experience before, during and after the war, with a focus of course on the Japanese run camps, the effect it had on the rest of her life and her resulting belief that that she could do anything with hard work and application.
   
   Recommended for those with an interest in the history of this time and for those who would just like an interesting read.



2. This book was trimmed and re-released - Disguised: A Wartime Memoir
   
   This has more detail, including the final two chapters explaining what happened to the family during the Dutch war for independence, and briding the gap between the end of World War II and when the author moved to the US.
   
   BTW - the review of this by BOOKLIST has some glaring inaccurcies. For example, the author was NOT "sent to school to learn Japanese". She had a job as a clerk working with Japanese government, and saw the announcement and signed up on her own - she told her supervisor afterward (she was the first to register). She worked very hard at the course - and that effort is why she became translator and camp clerk.
   
   And her mother was seriously ill from two years before the author was born, i.e., had been ill for 16 years before passing away during a time the family was allowed to live out of the POW camp for over a year.
   
   And about that Japanese soldier's attempted rape - she escaped. You can read the book for the details.

1 comments about My Thirty-Three Years' Dream, the Autobiography of Miyazaki Toten (Princeton Library of Asian Translations).

1. If you're studying Sino-Japanese relations, this book will fascinate you. Toten gives us history, adventure and touching human frailty all mixed together in his account of wanting to work for the greater good of China and Asia as a whole. His approach to China's plight was different from Fukuzawa's and Arao Sei's. I can't do this story justice in a short review. Look. Just buy it. It is so cheap and so darn good you will never regret it.

No comments about Sawtelle: West Los Angeles's Japantown (CA) (Images of America).