City Travel Guides > Books > Japan

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.Japanese Tattoo
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Sandi Fellman, D.M. Thomas

January 01, 1991
This book is great! Having just flipped through it, you can see right away that the pictures inside are big and easy to see the detail. It also gives a little background to the different images used in a Japanese Tattoo. For example, it tells you what the dragon symbolises and where it originated from in the tattoo format.
I would recommend this book for any tattoo enthusiast.
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.Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Yamamoto Tsunetomo

April 03, 2000
This book is a must have for any serious martial artist. Bushido is unfortunately a term which is widely used but in the main part, very poorly understood. Even the modern understanding of Bushido is somewhat lacking, leading people to believe that the samurai were so honourable that they could do no wrong. This simply isn't the case. The samurai were human beings like everyone else and the passages in this book show this nicely. There are many lessons to be learned and applied to everyday life in the Hagakure and any person wanting to follow the way of the samurai should definitely read this book.
On a different note, this is something that REALLY irritates me so I must point it out: hiri kiri is a bastardisation originating from America. ... Read More:
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.Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Max Hastings

October 01, 2007
At the Winchester Festival, reviewing his book, Hastings made a misguided and alarming remark, "that the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, other than Taranto Raid, played no significant part in WW2". It is therefore no wonder that he has omitted to include in his book the British Pacific Forces's successful attack on the Japanese oil refineries at Palembang (Java) in January 1945. Four British fleet carriers with 244 aircraft embarked disabled the refineries that were supplying Japan precious aviation fuel. Glancing through the book Hastings does not do justice to the Royal Navy in the Far East during 1944-45 period, until he educates himselve on the Fleet Air Arm's war effort, I will stay clear of his books. Question for you Max, which allied torpedo bomber aircraft ... Read More:
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.Bushido: Legacies of the Japanese Tattoo
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Takahiro Kitamura

2001-01
This was a fantastic book, with some very interesting viewpoints and information. I found the relationship between the samurai honour system and traditional japanese tattooing particularly intreguing, and the photography and sketches provided a great insight to the visual elements described in this book. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to know a bit more!
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.Rivals: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan Will Shape Our Next Decade
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Bill Emmott

April 03, 2008
I have read this book quite quickly as I found it very interesting.It is well researched and very readable for a lay person like me. An essential read for people who are interested in the future!
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.The Samurai and the Sacred: The Path of the Warrior (General Military)
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Stephen Turnbull

October 10, 2006
Stephen Turnball is one of the foremost experts on Japanese religion and the Samurai in the west - if you are interested in either do not dismiss this book!

Both the history of Japan and the history of the Samurai have been shrouded with mysticism, confusion and misunderstanding. But Turnball's brilliance as both a military historian and a theologian seek to find answers and does so very convincingly in every book I've read.

Whilst 'The Samurai and the Sacred' is somewhat limited in its depth in any one particular area its strengths shine as a book which covers the religious devotions of the Samurai throughout their entire history, one that begins thousands of years ago and ends only last century.

As a previous student of Dr Turnball I thoroughly ... Read More:
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.Autobiography of a Geisha (Vintage Original)
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Sayo Masuda

February 05, 2004
This remarkable autobiography written by 32-year-old Sayo Masuda and first published in 1957 documents her struggle to seek out an ordinary life.

As a six-year-old, Sayo's mother sent her to work as a nursemaid for some wealthy landowners who tied her up if she misbehaved, forced her to sleep on a "hempen sack stuffed with rags thrown into the corner of the storehouse" and only allowed her to eat scraps that they left under the kitchen sink.

"Unable to go to school, unable to read, I had grown up as an abandoned dog does; and then, at the age of 12, I was sold," she writes.

"Actually, I didn't know how old I was; but around that time I heard someone saying that the child was twelve, and I recall thinking 'So I'm twelve years old then, am I?' Given ... Read More:
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.Bushido: The Way of the Samurai (Square One Classics): The Way of the Samurai (Square One Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Tsunetomo Yamamoto

May 16, 2002
I can't better the other review below except to say that this translation of the Bushido is far easier to read, understand, digest and put into daily practice than the hoards of other versions of "Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Tsunetomo Yamamoto" which this book is based upon.

Despite a totally different translation, nothing is lost when you put the two books side by side and compare them to each other.

An earlier, and I think more reliable, version of the Bushi-do was written by Daidôji Yûzan called the "Bushido Shoshinshu: The Warrior's Primer". A translation of which can be seen by either William Scott Wilson or Thomas Cleary.

By the way, the title "Bushi-do" does not mean "Hidden behind the Leaves", that is the translation of the "Hagakure". ... Read More:
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.Ando: Modern Minimalism with a Japanese Touch (Basic Architecture Series)
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Masao Furuyama

February 02, 2007
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation ... Read More:
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.A Modern History of Japan
City Travel Guides > Books > Japan
by: Andrew Gordon

March 27, 2003
I mistakenly didn't realise that this is a college textbook. It also reads like a college textbook on Japanese history. As a matter of fact it feels like I am studying! Anyway, a fine book but be warned, it's like taking Modern Japanese History 101.

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