The Land of the Rising Sun is shining brightly across the American cultural landscape. Recent films such as Lost in Translation and Memoirs of a Geisha seem to have made everyone an expert on Japan, even if they've never been there. But the only way for a Westerner to get to know the real Japan is to become a part of it. Kate T. Williamson did just that, spending a year experiencing, studying, and reflecting on her adopted home. She brings her keen observations to us in A Year in Japan, a dramatically different look at a delightfully different way of life. Avoiding the usual clichés -- Japan's polite society, its unusual fashion trends, its crowded subways -- Williamson focuses on some lesser-known aspects of the country and culture. In stunning watercolors and piquant texts, she explains the terms used to order various amounts of tofu, the electric rugs found in many Japanese homes, and how to distinguish a maiko from a geisha. She observes sumo wrestlers in traditional garb as they use ATMs, the wonders of "Santaful World" at a Kyoto department store, and the temple carpenters who spend each Sunday dancing to rockabilly. A Year in Japan is a colorful journey to the beauty, poetry, and quirkiness of modern Japan -- a book not just to look at but to experience.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
A visual delight that captures the little details of life in Japan:
This beautiful book contains a wealth of detail, both in the artwork itself and in the author's commentary. The scenes will be instantly familiar to anyone who has visited Japan, and if you haven't, this book just might make you want to go. The artwork is complemented by the author's observations on Japanese visual culture - everything from package-wrapping to geisha style. The book allows you to see Japan not from a tourist's point of view but through an artist's eye. In my opinion, some reviewers... more info
Why bother?:
Why bother with this book? If the author were creating this for herself (i.e., like the way we write in our own journals) that's perfectly fine. But for an audience other than the self, this books is useless, and meaningless. For an audience other than the self, the author needs to give more in-depth illustrations and textual explanations. Pictures do not speak for themselves when one is a stranger to the place the pictures come from. Do not buy this book. Go to your local bookstore and read/glance at... more info
Poor!:
Don't spend your money on this book. I was through within 30 minutes. It's a bunch of drawn pictures with a few sentences to each picture. I don't quite know what to say to this book, but it's really not a book. It's more like a well-meant children's diary with drawn illustrations (sometimes 1 small branch over 2 pages and nothing more). There is SOOOOOO much wasted space and paper! There is no subsence to this book whatsoever and very few and poor explanations. I think the author would have been better off... more info
A book you'll pore over:
This is an even more beautiful book than I thought it would be. As with all illustrated books, how much you like it will depend on how much you like the illustrator's style. Luckily, I love Kate T. Williamson's style, rendered simply with black outlines and bright colours. I lived in Tokyo for three years and felt that she captured much of what is memorable and visually interesting about Japan - that I would've liked to capture myself if I could draw...
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