OUTOF PRINT Donald
Richie writes of Faces in the Crowds,
"Expatriate literature takes many forms," and
many of those will be found in this lively anthology. Tokyo
expatriates may yet produce another Hemingway, Fitzgerald or Nabokov
though this is a city noted for terrible examples of fractured English.
For nearly two decades Printed Matter Press has provided an outlet for
the
best resident poets, creative writers, translators and also for
Japanese
who write in English.
An eclectic group of teachers,
journalists, printers, artists, and
others, these craftsmen and craftswomen of the English word meet on the
first Sunday of each month (poetry readings 4:00-6:00pm) at the What the Dickens
British pub in Ebisu (near Shibuya), Tokyo. The beer adds to the
convivial atmosphere. This anthology grew out of those boozy and
sometimes raucous meetings.
The book is divided into five sections. The first contains pieces by
members
of the What the Dickens group; then sections by the Tokyo
Writers
Group and the Temple University Japan Poets. When the book
project
became known, other local writers heard about it, and their
contiributions
make up the Word of Mouth section. The last section is by the Editor's
Guests, writers invited by the editor. For those who like totals,
there are about 80 pieces of poetry and short prose. The writers, all
are or have been residents of Japan and include citizens of
Australia, Canada,
China, Ghana, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, U.K., and USA. |
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| Getting Both Feet Wet
gives 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. These fourteen essays, seven
by former JETs, seven by Japanese experienced in working with
JETs, are filled with clues to potential problems and to their
solutions. In 2002-03 The JET Program employed over 6,000 young
foreigners from about forty countries. Roughly speaking, there
will be one JET in each and every city, town and hamlet
throughout Japan. At work, play, and in daily life, each newly
arrived JET will be in an atmosphere that he or she has never
experienced before. This book is intended to lessen the initial
culture shock, to warn of potential problems, to suggest actions
that may lead to a more successful experience, and to give a
small clue as to life after JET. |
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| Teaching is one
thing. Writing about it is another. I Wouldn't Want
Anybody to Know aims to dramatize
the difference.
It is particularly important with respect to teaching English in Japan.
How can there possibly be anything new to say about this subject?
Simple: its specific circumstances -- exactly where the language is
taught, by whom, for what reasons, and with what people -- can be
restored. This collection of personal essays aims to provide a human
face to the teaching of English in Japan by foreigners. Not all of them
are critical of what they do. And yet any reader will soon understand
why several of the authors included must adopt pseudonyms in order to
write about their experience in the first place. There is a vast
silence about teaching English in Japan which can only be broken at the
risk of losing one's job. Native teaching begins with this fact. But
writing about it need not end there, as this collection of candid,
personal, reflective essays demonstrates, as if for the first
time. * the ISBN
checking number, the last number in the ISBN, is mistakenly printed as
2 in the book; 7 is correct. |
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Vicious Vocabulary will stretch both
teacher and student, and be fun. Teaching
vocabulary can be hell for both teacher and student. Boring. Fancy
words with little relevance to real life. Pair words together and they
take on
life. Use the difficult word in an insult and it will be remembered ...
everyone wants to be good at the art of insulting and countering
insults. Professor Snurd (Phil Eisenhower) has chosen words that
students are likely to need to know for their SAT and GRE examinations.
The result is a lively book that can be used at high school level and
above, a
book that will grab the interest of student and teacher while enriching
the
vocabulary and preparing them for tests.
Phil
Eisenhower teaches in California. This book was
first published in 1992 and is grows more popular each year. We are in
Japan and we expect that this book to be a challenge for most
students here, but it is a superb book for those who have passed the
basics and now need to progress to actual living English. The book is
alphabetically arranged making word look-up easy. There are quizzes for
each chapter. The class can't cope with so many words? The teacher can
select words, pairs and insults that are likely to stimulate Japanese
students. |
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Lori Goods at Najima High is the
perfect text for use by a non-Japanese teacher teaching practical
English at a Japanese high school. There are twenty-eight chapters in
the Lori Goods story. Each chapter begins with a listen only page.
Students put down their pencils, focus on the picture and listen to the
corresponding CD track. The pictures and CD tracks tell the story. The
listen only pages are followed by a variety of exercises. The exercises
deepen the student's understanding of the story and improve oral
communications. The exercises range from pair work, group work and
listening practice to class discussions and opinion giving. Clear
instructions precede and follow each exercise and direct classroom
activity.
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All Worldly Pursuits With luminous
and articulate writing Wright tells the story of Wiley Moon ... He has
a lust for life and a passion that involves the reader in his story.
(W.P. Kinsella, Books in Canada).
Readers with a taste for nautical fiction will find much to enjoy ...
The salt all but sprays from the page. (Peter O'Connor, The Daily Yomiuri Tokyo). Wiley
embodies the spirit of a by-gone psychedelic era." (Fisherman Life Magazine Vancouver)
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Inside the Kamakura Buddha poems by
Wallace Gagne. His poems are rich in vernacular observations, including
the following from the title poem: You're the biggest friggin' Buddha
I've ever seen. / Bar none. / Ten thousand tons of bronze and concrete
/ enlightenment." (Dan Grunebaum, Metropolis
Tokyo) From the back cover: A heavy drinker and red meat
eater, Wallace Gagne was born in Vancouver in 1943 but was forced into
internal exile in Calgary during the brass monkey winter of 1951. (He
graduated from the University of Calgary in 1965)
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OUT OF PRINT ISE: Japan's Ise Shrines - Ancient Yet New
is
a book for anyone who enjoys the peace and quiet of the shinto
shrine. Especially this is a book for those who love beauty and
beautiful wood in particular. The Ise Shrines are many things to many
people: historical,
religious, cultural, a tourist destination for both Japanese and
foreign visitors, but few fully understand the history, the
architecture and the constant renewal that is so typical of Japanese
architecture and that is so fitting for a nation that builds of wood
much more than of stone. Danish writer Svend M. Hvass is one of the few
foreigners ever to do serious research on the shikinen sengu rite. With
words and photos, both new and old, he tracks the rebuilding process
that Ise has continued for centuries. Beautiful, hardcover, large
format, 146 pages plus a separate 32 page Chronology of Ise.
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Rotary Sushi by Hillel Wright is the
latest book by this self-declared hack writer. Short stories published
previously by the author in Canada, stories from his years in Japan,
plus several translations into Japanese by Mihori Kizuki. Miracles,
strippers, belly dancers, ghosts, sordid romance, true crime, and more.
A rollicking read. Paperback, 216 pages. Published October 2003.
If you are looking at the paper version of
these
pages, you will find
links to larger cover pictures online
at
http://imcbook.net/html%20shop/pressCAT02.html
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