Tokyo Damage Report

Japan 101

There's a lot of really interesting books about Japan but it seems they are almost always written in this very off-putting academic jargon nonsense. As this graph demonstrates:

 

 

That's why I started doing this series of book reviews! I try to tell you all the important bits of the books while getting rid of the academic jargon.

 

It's mostly college-level textbooks about subjects which are semi-taboo in Japan.

 

If you like the book review, of course, please buy the book. Amazon links are included on every page.

#16 : ZAINICHI KOREAN IDENTITY by David Chapman

#15 : THE OTHER JAPAN, by Suzuki and Oiwa

#14 : THE ENIGMA OF JAPANESE POWER

# 13 : A VISION OF EMPIRE by Brij Tankha

#12 : ABSOLUTE EROTIC, ABSOLUTE GROTESQUE by  Mark Driscoll

#11 : THE STATE BEARING GIFTS by Brian McVeigh

#10 : SOMETHING by Ian Buruma

#9 : AMAKUDARI by Colignon and Usui

#8 : STRAITJACKET SOCIETY by Masao Miyamoto

#7 : JAPAN'S HOLY WAR by Walter Skya

(7a = shinto war vocabulary)

#6 : TEARS OF LONGING by Christine Yano

(6a = youtube enka)

#5 : THE JAPANESE MIND, edited by Davies and Ikeno

#4 : INSIDE THE KAISHA by Noboru and Anderson

#3 :EROTIC GROTESQUE NONSENSE by  Miriam Silverberg

#2 : TERAYAMA SHUUJI  by Stephen Ridgely

#1 : SHUTTING OUT THE SUN by Michael Zielenziger

4 comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Wasting Time April 30th, 2012 9:11 am

    Hello,

    It's completely possible that I overlooked something, but how can I send you an email? 
    Thanks.

  2. V May 1st, 2012 8:51 am

    Hello!
    I've found your kanjidamage website a while ago by accident, and as far as I can tell, it is very good. Why don't you publish a book? The only alternative book (similar to your website) is heisig's "remembering the kanji", but it is expensive, and heisig neither provides story for all the kanji nor teaches pronunciation. You give story and pronunciation, plus a lot of useful info for every kanji. So why not make a book? I'm sure some folks would love to have something on their bookshelf. Or a ebook if you don't like paper. Internet isn't available everywhere so even ebook could be useful…
    Regards, V.

  3. admin May 2nd, 2012 10:43 am

    hi “V” – thanks for your mail! I’m glad KD is helpful for you. The problem with making it a book is that it would be 2,000 A4 pages. We are slowly gradually looking into other ways to merchandise KD: maybe some real or virtual flash-cards? or an e-book/pdf format. Please check the KD site in a few weeks because probably there will be some kind of reader survey on just this topic.

  4. Arnaud October 16th, 2012 4:26 pm

    Hello,

    speaking about KanjiDamage, what license is it under ? I couldn't find this information anywhere.
    Can we use it (commercially or not) if we clearly credit and link to the KanjiDamage website ?
     
    Thanks for your hard work.

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