Like William Reed, I spent over 10 years in the Orient learning martials arts from men who had dedicated their life to the practice. This book ranks among the best written concerning ki. The ideas put forth are universal, and can be assimilated by a broad minded and discerning person. Enjoy this book, I certainly did and continue to do so everytime I pick up my copy.

William Reed has tried to define and teach the meaning of KI so that we in the west can learn. The first part of the text helps us undersatnd KI, develop KI and pratcie KI. There are a series of excericses and a section on KI meditation. The second part of the text goes into KI development in the Japanese Arts (Shodo, Aikido, Kiatsu, Go, Noh and teh Tea Ceremony). And the third part, Ki in our ever changing world. A must have book.

A comprehensive history of kimono past and present, this book is so full of information that it's hard to summarize. The author covers not only "familiar" - i.e., formal - kimono, but also work clothes, folk clothing, and the modest beauty of stripes and ikat. Illustrations throughout the book are well annotated and informative.

My two favorite chapters are those on kimono in the Heian (9th-11th centuries) and Genroku (1688-1704) periods, with their wealth of history and beauty. The chapter on the Heian era covers, among other things, seasonal color combinations, with color depictions of how the layers would look. The Genroku chapter covers kosode, with commented (black and white) illustrations from pattern books of the time.

For those interested in wearing modern kimono, the chapter "The Structure of Kimono" includes information on several different aspects of what a kimono, obi and their accessories can mean according to how they're worn. For instance, how the V-shape formed by the collar differs according to age, or what an obijime placed slightly lower than usual can signify. It also includes charts on kimono formality (a wonderful resource) and descriptions - as always, accompanied by illustrations - of the different kimono and obi types.

If you are planning to make an Heian era woman's costume (modern term is junihitoe) and already have the patterns for the robes and Heian era hakama (pants, essentially) this book is excellent for giving you all the popular color combinations for the robe layers.

This book is intensely intriguing. My past experiences with such intensity were reading the Tom Clancy and Harry Potter books. I could not put the book down and ended up finishing it after three days in a Fountainbleu Hotel room while all my friends were out in the Miami beach.
Because you can almost believe that heart-pounding adventure is real.
The main character ex-SAS commando Scott Hugh is like James Bond made human. Scott's character has more depth to it as he encountered numerous dangers and struggles throughout his life - his wife died, his love lost and even his plan sabotaged. Yet he still emerged as a hero because he triumphed not in physical successes but in his stubborn will to fight for what legitimately belonged to him. He was a survivor of painful events and his search for love, revenge and sometimes even the unknown made him a person of flesh and blood that readers can relate to. His Japanese opponent policeman chief Kai was like an alter ego to him and hinged between them was Yukiko, whom they both loved, the beautiful Japanese woman who sacrificed love for traditional piety. The author, with clever planning, intricately interweaves the strategic crossfires between the two men who thought alike and hated the same. The cat has become the mouse at times. It was a fight between regrets and aspiration, traditions and freedom, and ultimately the West and the East.
The plot happened in Japan and the author has carefully described the architects, roads, shops and even road signs in the area. He wrote with such familiarity that the readers move in the palace of Kyuden with him. The attention to details proved that the author was knowledgeable and widely traveled. As a foreigner, the author has demonstrated his superb observation skills and understanding of the Japanese culture and history through his portrayal of Ryuichi Yugao. Yugao was a descendant of the Southern Emperors who was denied the legitimate Chrysanthemum throne by the agents of Northern Emperor Meiji 600 years ago. He was determined to restore his kingdom by hiring Scott to steal the sacred regalia from the most tightly secured palace. The author connected the true historical account to the fictitious plot seamlessly with the ritually rigid, honor seeking, and inwardly apprehensive Yugao, who, undeniably, reminds me of some extreme Japanese patriotic figures during the Second World War.
I am impressed by the writing skills (especially the multi-dimensional presentation of the same event) of the author. The only problem I see in this book is the description of some underground sex scenes, which I consider them vulgar existences in the dark side of Japan and Thailand.
This book is "real" because the history is true, the places are there, the people are humans and the fear is authentic. I highly recommend this book to others and I also agree with William Corr at Asiaweek that, "One can imagine Kyuden being turned into an action-packed film with a Japanese setting such as the recent Black Rain . . . . This title offers the brightest hope in a long, long time for Singapore book publishing to make its mark on the world" (Asiaweek, 1997). This can easily become a bestseller with the right promotion.

Could not put this book down till the end. The story is wild but believable. Better than John Grisham, I reckon.

Life Among the Samurai is a captivating account of the life of the warrior class during Japan's medieval period. Fascinating illustrations capture the imagination and combine with descriptive text, which engages the reader, no matter what their age. Stories about some of the most famous Samurai add to the mystique of the Samurai's role in Japanese history. The author, Eleanor J. Hall, has done a fabulous job making the Samurai's life as vibrant today as it was centuries earlier.

Life Among the Samurai is a captivating account of the life of the warrior class during Japan's medieval period. Fascinating illustrations capture the imagination and combine with descriptive text, which engages the reader, no matter what their age. Stories about some of the most famous Samurai add to the mystique of the Samurai's role in Japanese history. The author, Eleanor J. Hall, has done a fabulous job making the Samurai's life as vibrant today as it was centuries earlier.

Professors Yamanouchi & Quinn offer a much needed corrective to the five-decade old demonization of the Japanese soldier. This evocative, poetic, and compelling collection of soldiers' letters strikes down the dusty image of Japan's warriors as mindless, unthinking fanatics. In this volume we discover an entirely new and fresh insight into the mind-set and attitudes of young sailors, soldiers, and airmen who died in the service of Japan. The reader cannot help but be impressed by the sensitivity of these young men, by their literary yearnings, by their touching hopes for their families and futures, by the lyrical portraits they paint of even the grim and dangerous settings to which the war brought them. No little debt is owed to the editors for their masterful translation of these letters into useful and understandable American idiom. This is a rare and unforgettable reading experience which illuminates once again the common threads which bind humanity.

Dr. Midori Yamanouchi's translation of this post World War II collection of letters is brilliant. The work is a deeply moving collection of diaries written by young Japanese soldiers who gave their lives in a series of battles going from China, through the Pacific to the skies closer to Japan. Many of them were cultivated young university students, full of life and dreams, reflecting on the beauty of life, the love of their families and the painful duty that was their lot. These are sad voices, the now stilled voices of tragedy. Overall, an insight into war and the human spirit that rivals such western classics as "The Red Badge of Courage" or "All Quiet on the Western Front". Generations often forget the 'sins' of the past. Reading this book - now in English - may just remind us to avoid the trajedy of war at all costs.

I ordered this book before traveling to Japan and have found that it was incredibly helpful in getting me up to speed on the subtle and not-so-subtle mannerism of the Japanese people.

All of the sections are direct and to the point and will save you lots of trial and error. For example, the section on Japanese public baths pointed out the main steps that I needed to take in order to not make a complete idiot of myself in my first visit to a Japanese Public bath.

The illustrations are humorous and cute in the typical Japanese manner and make the reading quite enjoyable.

I highly recommend this book for anyone thinking of traveling to Japan or even just interested in Japanese culture.

I listed the table of contents for this book below. Each section is main section is listed with asterisks and followed by its subsections. Each subsection consists of 1 to 5 pages of material.

*Living in Japan*

Exchanging greetings

Sleeping

Using the bath and toilet

Japanese clothes

Visiting a Japanese home

Finding one's way around

Taking the train

Using the municipal buses

Taking a taxi

Driving

Renting accommodations

Using the telephone

Sending mail

Keeping up with the news

Using the bank

Shopping

Eating out

Tea, coffee and Japanese tea

Drinking

Using the public bath

Barbers and hairdressers

Going to the cleaners

Putting out the rubbish

Going to the hospital

Typhoons and earthquakes

Cooking Japanese food

Studying Japanese

*Enjoying Japan*

Getting on with the Japanese

Singing to karaoke

Playing pachinko

Betting

Studying martial arts

Watching sumo or baseball

Adult amusements

Annual events

Street stalls

Going to fishing ponds

Traveling in style

Traveling on the cheap

Taking a sightseeing bus

Visiting a hot spring

Going to the seaside

*Understanding Japan*

Attending a wedding

Attending a funeral

Exchanging gifts

Good and bad luck

Zazen

Eastern Medicine

Soroban and calculator

Crime

Business

The Japanese factory

Going to parties

A typical Japanese family

*Appendix*

Self-expression

Physique

Body language

Etiquette

********************

Other titles released by Japan Travel Bureau:

Vol 1 - A Look Into Japan

Vol 2 - Living Japanese Style

Vol 3 - Eating in Japan

Vol 4 - Festivals of Japan

Vol 5 - Must-see in Kyoto

Vol 6 - Must-see in Nikko

Vol 7 - A Look Into Tokyo

Vol 8 - "Salaryman" in Japan

Vol 9 - Who's Who of Japan

Vol 10 - Today's Japan

Vol 11 - Regard Sur Le Japon (french edition)

Vol 12 - Vie Au Japon (french edition)

Vol 13 - Japanese Characters

Vol 14 - Japanese Inn & Travel

Vol 15 - Say it in Japanese

Vol 16 - Martial Arts & Sports in Japan

Vol 17 - Japanese Family & Culture

Hooray for this series! This book is small, but it is packed with more information than in any of my bigger, longer, more boring and less funny books on Japanese culture. Full of friendly, cartoon-style illustrations, tidbits of information, and useful instructions, this is a book I reread frequently just for fun. It contains sections on everything from Using the Public Bath to Using the Telephone, the Bank, and the Buses, to understanding good and bad luck in Japanese culture, etiquette for various social functions, and how to read Japanese facial expressions and decipher the complex system of building addresses. Did you know that if you close your kimono the wrong way, you will be dressed the same way as a corpse is for burial? That's just one of the useful and face-saving bits of information in this book. I have never been to Japan, but I would not want to find myself there without this book! I highly recommend it for both the Japan-ophile and the business or vacation traveler.

As the title of the book suggests, there is a logic to Japanese politics, just as there is a logic, a coherence, to other social phenomena and behavior. This will no doubt disturb those students of the Asian "mind" who are prone to boil down Japanese "national character" to some sort of ahistorical essence. As Professor Curtis says, he hopes he "will leave the reader with a sense of the culture of Japanese politics. It is not a book that argues that culture explains Japanese politics." This is revisionism operating in a healthy sense. There are a couple of specific points I would like to make. In dissecting electoral reform, he does not mention recent play given to direct election of the prime minister, an idea first raised by Nakasone in the 1960s. Of course, the conservatives are betting this would benefit the election of a strong right-wing leader in the mold of Shintaro Ishihara, the present governor of Tokyo. Secondly, in speculating on the direction Japanese politics may take, he mentions only briefly what he terms the New Right and the implications for U.S.-Japan relations. The drift to the right in Japanese politics is unmistakable, which in its worst form would lead to remilitarization and indeed pose a problem for Far East security. Already, the national anthem and national flag, replete with their war-time associations, have been officially recognized. This past February both the upper and lower houses of the Diet formed committees to study revising the Constitution. The New Right, or neo-nationalists, if you will, see this as an opening for revising Article 9, the anti-war article. Just one small error to point out in a name: read Taku Yamasaki vice Yamazaki. All in all, this is a tremdously valuable study.

I have lived in Japan for a few years in the 1990s and have always assumed that (at least for now) the politicians there don't really matter. And compared to American politics, Japanese politics seemed dry with one party rule until 1993. But Curtis shows how exciting it all is under the surface. I read this book very slowly, wanting to absorb every detail; however, Curtis writes well and will keep you moving through the events of the 1990s.

So if you are a student of Japan and are trying to piece together some of the highlights you already know, read this book. Curtis has done us a great service.

Used this diving guide when I was in Koh Samui in July this year, very informative and all the info was up to date

Scotty Mackenzie

This is an outstanding and reliable resource on diving in thailand and burma. The author writes with clarity. It is an enjoyable read even if you can't get out there as often as you'd like...
I keep it in my bathroom just in case.
:)

The Long Silk Strand is superb! It is the ideal book for a child dealing with the grief for a lost grandparent. It focuses on the positive aspects of life, impressing the importance of the child not only to the deceased grandmother but, also to parents and others who love the child and would be devastated if the child were to join her grandmother. Williams' work is of profoundly superior quality and is accompanied by beautiful illustrations. Anytime a child I know loses a grandparent, I purchase this book for him.

I LOVED this tale. My daughter enjoyed it, too. Set in ancient Japan, the story unfolds like a centuries old folk tale that has been lovingly passed down through the generations. What a surpise to discover it is new and original to the author. "The Long Silk Strand" represents the life of an old woman as recounted to her granddaughter, a different tale for each silk thread wound into a ball. When the ball is complete, the grandmother dies, and her loving granddaughter goes in search of her in heaven. But the living and her life ahead call her home again. The story is beautiful and simple, its rich texture wonderfully rendered in the illustrations. I can well imagine this tale told by a storyteller in a candle-lit room -- how lovely to find it in a modern book.

This book is one of a series of books that I first saw in an English-language bookstore in Tokyo at the end of a long vacation in Japan. I bought one of each to bring home, and now I see they are available from Amazon.com. These are far and away the best guidebooks to life in Japan. Great illustrations, very fun to read. Do not leave home without them!

This book provides excellent information on the many cultural aspects of Japan. It is easy to understand, wonderfully illustrated, easy to carry with, and extremely valuable to anyone interested in the Japanese culture. It is a must before a Japanese visit.