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Books on Women's Interests
Books on this
page may be ordered from IMC
(imcbook). We are in Tokyo
and you can reach us by email, fax, letter or by visiting our office in
Iriya (near Ueno and Asakusa). Books also link to
Amazon.com (via ISBN). In some cases you can click on the cover picture
to see more detail. Prices
are in Japanese Yen or US$ unless otherwise indicated.
Additional tax and
shipping charges may apply. Most books can be mailed worldwide. If you
will come to our office, call first to make sure we have the book
immediately available. Also see books in business &
communications , novels, stories,
poetry and in our
other book-list pages.
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The Blue-Eyed
Salaryman: from world traveller to lifer at Mitsubishi
by Niall Murtagh
GBP 8.99, 227pp, paperback, 129x196mm, 170g, 1861977891
In a shiny suit and with a good dose of humor, the author describes a
world that to most westerners is an utter mystery. .... He smiled when
he read the company rulebook but then realized the rules applied to him
too. It didn't take long though to learn the words of the company song
and the regulations for the company dormitories. His work impressed his
bosses and he was promoted to manager class. He had realized a Japanese
Dream: a traditional wife and a cosy apartment in the company housing
block. He thought about moving on, eventually -- but when it came to
saying sayonara, the time was never right.
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Cosplay
by Guy Vinciguerra
Yen 2,500, 60pp, paperback, 231x229mm, 0-9579094-1-1
Photographs of Japanese girls
who dress in outlandish self-created styles and hang out in places like
the Harajuku and Shibuya districts of Tokyo. Rebels in a non-rebelious
society. Slaves to their own trends. An Australian engineer and avid
photographer visits Tokyo
with his camera and a sense for dramatic photos with sharp colors. The
result becomes an exhibition at the Perth Institute of Contemporary
Arts and this fine and disquieting book. One or two photos on most
pages. This is not the
Japan of modern industry or of sun-blackened farmers raising rice. But
this is at least as real.
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From Japan With Love by Mary A (Kiddie) Ruggieri, $24.95, 263pp, paperback, 253x215mm, 978-0-9798757-1-7, A young American woman leaves college to join the WACS (Women's Army Corps) during
WWII, and volunteers for postwar duty in Japan. Sixty years later she
shares that historic period of her life, 1946 to 1948, through her letters, journals and photographs from a country just
beginning its recovery from war. This is an engaging account of an
American WAC, at work and at play, coping with the U.S. Army, marveling
at Japan's people, cultures and customs, lamenting the destruction and
despair of war, falling deeply in love with the soldier she would
later marry. From Japan With Love is a personal and historical
treasure, a story of East meets West, rich with details and striking,
evocative images. With over 400 photographs of postwar Japan 1946-1948 taken by the author. |
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Getting Both
Feet Wet: Experiences inside the JET
Program - David Chandler & David Kootnikoff /
editors
Yen 2,000, 202pp, paperback, A5, 4-900178-20-9
Presents a balanced view of one of the world's largest and most
successful cultural exchange, work, and teaching programs. Successful
former JETs look back and tell about their experiences. Japanese
teachers write about their success and failure in working with JETs.
The Program has made a tremendous impact on the teaching of English in
Japanese public schools, on international cultural contacts at the
local government level, on thousands of communities that had previously
never have had to interact with a resident gaijin, and most of all on
Japanese youth who will be better prepared than their elders when it
comes to international and intercultural contacts. But, rose colored
glasses are not appropriate. [link]
This is an important read for any person applying to become a JET, or
for anyone planning to teach or work with Japanese. Japanese edition
will be found if you use the Amazon.co.jp box to search for "ISBN
4491018588". |
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Losing Kei by
Suzanne Kamata
$14.95 (+), 2008, 195pp, 152x227mm, 270g, 978-0-9728984-9-2
Told with tenderness, humor. and an insider's knowledge of contemporary
Japanese family life. The story of a young American woman who comes to
Japan, marries a Japanese man, has a son (Kei), .... Few books in
English look honestly at the realities of Japanese family/social life,
and far fewer with a real and caring understanding of the further
complications when cultural expectations clash. An enjoyable read that
will also educate. |
more here
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Masako's Story: Surviving the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima: by Kikuko Otake,
$15.00 (+), 2007, 93pp, paperback, 147x210mm, 978-0-9781414-6-2
On August 6, 1945, when the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, the Furuta family was living about one mile away from the
hypocenter. Five-year-old Kikuko, her mother, Masako, and her two
brothers barely escaped with their lives. However, their soldier father
was not so fortunate. Masako never talked about her family’s
experiences on that day and the days following the bombing. Then one
day, Masako started to talk about what happened — breaking a silence of
nearly fifty years . .
Kikuko Otake was five years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. In this book she offers a survivor's perspective. Professor Otake was born on February 22, 1940 in Osaka,
Japan. She earned her B.A. from Tsuda College of Tokyo, Japan in 1962
in English Literature. In August of 1968, she came to the US and in
September 1987 earned her M.A. in Education from California State
University in Los Angeles. She is an award-winning poet who regularly publishes tanka and haiku.
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Princess
Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, By Ben
Hills
$25.95, 2006, 336pp, hardcover, 1585425680
From Booklist: True tragedy
or simply a bad marriage decision? That is
up to the
readers--if they decide to make the effort to slog through this
less-than-compelling portrait of Princess Masako. Initially packaged as
the "Japanese Princess Di," Masako was an intelligent Western-educated
woman who probably should have known better than to consign her life to
the stringent imperial dynasty of Japan. Intelligence aside, the lure
of the royal life proved to be too much, and Masako gave up her budding
diplomatic career to marry Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito. She soon
discovered, like Diana before her, that life in a fishbowl can be
incredibly deflating. Unsuccessful in her efforts to modernize the
monarchy, unable to produce a male heir, and hounded by a relentlessly
curious public, she currently suffers from serious bouts of depression
and lives the life of a virtual recluse. Unable to secure any
interviews with the principals themselves, Hills' effort lacks depth
but will nevertheless appeal to inveterate royal watchers. Margaret
Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All
rights reserved
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TELL Me About Tokyo
by Tokyo English Life Line
$10.00, 271pp, paperback, 95x190mm, 4-9900791-5-9
- "A handy directory of everything you need to know." Supported by many
embassies, companies, NPOs, churches, and others who are aware of the
problems faced by people new to Japan, TELL has been helping for over
three decades. This directory gives information that will help with
Emergencies, when Medical services are needed, when Counseling or Legal
advice may help, in the mechanics of Daily Living, Transportation,
Education, Government contacts (embassies, local government, etc),
Housing, Work & Employment, Religion, and Support Groups. There are
hundreds of addresses, tellephone numbers, comments. In short, this is
the book that can be of real help for any non-Japanese in Tokyo. Though
the focus is on Tokyo, much of the information will help anywhere in
Japan. |
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Tokyo: Here and How - an expat's guide to finding your path in the city and beyond
by
Women's Group, Tokyo American Club, Yen4,900 (++), 350pp, 2007, spiral
bound with hard wrap-around cover, 148x210mm, 925g, 978-4-9900-7916-1
Put
together by the Women's Group of the Tokyo American Club. This book
is probably the most directly useful book there is for any
English-speaking woman coming to Japan. Practical info for women (and
men too). Example: Some Japanese kanji characters that are needed daily
are shown and translated without unneeded explanation. Lists and
advertisements point out quality shops and services that welcome gaijin
(foreign) customers. Few of us have to worry about getting a
visa for our maid who will travel with us on an overseas trip. But, as
with the more widely useful info, this book briefly and accurately
provides good guidance for that situation too. The book will soon be available
from us at IMC and from the usual bookstore and online sources.
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The
Couch Potato's Guide to Japan: Inside the World of
Japanese TV by
Wm. Penn, illustration by Julie Morikawa
$20.00, 2003, 202pp, paperback, 148x210mm, 4-902422-01-8
Couch Potato is about watching TV. It contains nothing about
technological innovations and no insider secrets, but it is packed with
information. Here is an informative and fun book that will help anyone
to enjoy Japanese TV, and that adds up to enjoying life in Japan. The
major sections of the book are: The TV Archipelago; Japanese TV
Sociology 101; Small Screen Drama; TV Language and Linguistics 102;
Gotta Laugh, Gotta Cry; TV News File; A Vast Variety of Variety;
Favorite Japanese TV Pastimes; TV Tourism; Televiews Moments; The TV
Directory.
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Self-Publishing in Japan:
What you need to know to get started by
Kathleen Morikawa
$18.00, 2006, 84pp, Paperback, 147x210mm, 4-902422-12-3 See larger cover photo here.
Journalist/author learned self-publishing-in-Japan the hard way. After
two decades of writing for others she launched her own novel onto the
fickle Japan market. Self financed, self promoted, but thoroughly
researched, Morikawa's first book (see Couch Potato above) succeeded
where many have failed and more have hesitated too long. Self
publishing is not for everybody but if you have faith in your book and
determination, Self-Publishing in Japan will save you money, weeks of
searching for the best answers to common questions, and perhaps protect
you from being a proud author of 1,000 books under the bed. (This
book is available at TOWER RECORDS (Shibuya), at our office near Ueno
(Iriya), and at selected outlets. It is NOT available on Amazon.)
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NOTES:
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note 1 - If you are in Japan, be
sure to look for this book using the Amazon.co.jp link in the right
column of this page.
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