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More books on Japan
Here's the second, somewhat belated batch of reviews for non-fiction books on Japan on a variety of topics (running, Chiune Sughihara, crime, and food):
The Way of the Runner by Adharanand Finn: a book focusing on the ekiden, a type of marathon relay race that is extremely popular in Japan. The author, an amateur runner, wanted to learn more about Japanese training techniques and why the ekiden seems to be so uniquely popular in Japan but not in the rest of the world. The book covers an interesting mix of technical details about running and how Japanese culture and society have shaped the ekiden, though I was more interested in the latter than the former, not being much of a runner myself.
It's no surprise that a sport relying heavily on teamwork appeals to a country where emphasis is placed on the importance of the group over the individual, and the ekiden culture does have its benefits, like the feeling of unity and being supported by one's teammates, and on a more practical level, there's ample corporate financial support. OTOH, it also has its downsides, such as the intense pressure to succeed often resulting in teenage athletes burning out and/or suffering career-ending injuries, while on the corporate side, runners and coaches risk losing their jobs if the team suffers a losing streak. And also an unwillingness to experiment with different training techniques--ironically, many teams recruit Kenyan runners because of their running skills, but have no interest in learning the Kenyan method of training that produced such fast runners.
Finn brought his family (wife and two young children) to live with him in Japan while he worked on his book, and it was interesting to read about how his kids adapted to life in Japan--at times it was traumatic, particularly going to a Japanese school where they couldn't speak the language, though in time they picked up enough Japanese to feel comfortable playing with the neighborhood children. I would have liked to have read more about his family and how they felt about their stay in Japan--his wife is barely mentioned--but since this is a book about running, it's natural that he focuses more on that than on his personal life.
If There Were No Japan: A Cultural Memoir by Roger Pulvers: a moving and interesting memoir by writer/playwright/translator Roger Pulvers, reflecting on his life in Japan and his deep love for the country that became his home. Ironically, he first traveled to Japan on a whim in a story that sounds more like fiction than fact, although it is true: as an American postgraduate student in the 60s, he was studying in Poland under a program that unbeknownst to him, was a CIA front. When a magazine published an article accusing him of being a CIA spy, a scandal ensued and he was forced to leave Poland. He ended up traveling to Japan for no particular reason, but fell in love with the country and has spent most of his life there, although he eventually married an Australian woman and now divides his time between Australia and Japan.
As a writer, he had many friends and colleagues in the Japanese literary and entertainment circles, and has many fascinating stories about them--one of which is the time he spent working as an assistant to director Nagisa Oshima during the filming of Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence. And the late director Yukio Ninagawa (whose fictional counterpart appears in Bronze Ribbons' and my Harudaki fics) gets a brief mention for the significance of his move from alternative theater to Shakespearean productions, and how that "symbolized the end of the Little Theater Movement and the counterculture of Shinjuku". (Pulver says he makes no judgements about whether that was positive or negative, but I do recall Ninagawa saying in a documentary interview that he was reviled as a traitor by his former alternative theater comrades.)
Coincidentally, Pulvers also mentions that he was friends with Hiroki Sugihara (who sadly died in 2001), the son of Chiune Sugihara (see the Visas for Life review below).
This book seems to be out of print, but you may be able to find it at a library as I did, and it also is available used for reasonable prices on Amazon.
Visas for Life by Yukiko Sugihara: a very moving biography/autobiography by the wife of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees during WWII by issuing them visas against the orders of his own government. (I previously blogged about a documentary and book about Sugihara here.) Compared to the book by Hillel Levine that I reviewed earlier, this is, as one might expect, a much more personal and detailed account of Sugihara's life, and it also shows Yukiko to be a remarkable woman herself.
She was an independent young woman who had no interest in making an arranged marriage (as was typical at that time) when she met Sugihara, a friend of her brother's. He was also an unusual man for his time, having serious and sincere conversations with Yukiko when most men back then did not take women seriously. As she puts it, "He wasn't trying to talk at me, but with me." It seems that her independence appealed to him, and thought she would be able to adapt to living in foreign countries and would make an ideal diplomat's wife.
They got married and she did indeed accompany him on his various diplomatic posts, including the one to Kaunas, Lithuania, where he famously issued the thousands of life-saving visas. Levine's book depicts the decision solely as Sugihara's, but Yukiko said he was well aware that disobeying orders might put his family (Yukiko, their young children, and Yukiko's sister Setsuko) in danger, and discussed it with them and received their support beforehand. All of them, even the children, were moved by the crowds of desperate refugees, and agreed that Sugihara should help them despite the risks.
She describes the many hardships that family endured in the waning days of the war and afterwards, including Sugihara losing his job and the heartbreaking deaths of their son Haruki and Setsuko not long after they returned to Japan. But she also remembers the joy they felt when, many years later, they were contacted by some of the survivors who had escaped using Sugihara's visas. Up until then, they had not known if the visas had been of any help, and Sugihara said that if they saved even one life, the sacrifice was worth it. It's estimated that thousands of people were saved due to the visas, although the exact number is impossible to determine, and some of them became lifelong friends of the Sugiharas.
Yukiko says that Sugihara never thought he had done anything praiseworthy by following his conscience, and that he disliked media attention and would have been embarrassed by the many posthumous awards he has received. In spite of this, she felt it was important to tell his story so that the younger generation can learn about the importance of peace and following their conscience.
True Crime Japan by Paul Murphy: a fascinating and sometimes disturbing look at the Japanese criminal justice system. The author spent a year observing criminal court cases in Matsumoto City, ranging from petty crimes like shoplifting to more serious crimes like arson and murder. Defendants in Japan are almost invariably found guilty (due to prosecutors rarely taking cases with uncertain evidence to court, and not one case ended in a "not guilty" verdict during the entire year that Murphy spent observing). Thus, the defense strategy is not to maintain one's innocence, but to plead guilty and express remorse in the hopes of receiving a lighter sentence. With the exception of one quixotic crusader for marijuana legalization, all the defendants from the shoplifters to the yakuza gangsters apologized and expressed remorse, albeit with varying degrees of sincerity.
Particularly surprising to me were the increasing numbers of elderly shoplifters, most of whom actually had enough money to pay for the food that they stole. It seems that fear of using up their retirement pensions and burdening their families are the motivation behind this rash of crimes. However, there were also a couple of incidents where the shoplifters really were destitute but had failed to qualify for welfare for various reasons.
The book also explains the lay judge system, which differs from our jury system in the US in that the lay judges can question the defendant and witnesses, and deliberate the verdict along with the professional judges. (As a J-drama fan, I noticed that Aibou drama Season 6 episode dealing with the lay judge system was pretty accurate in its depiction, aside from some melodramatic plot details.)
The book was especially interesting to me as a fan of crime dramas, to see how fact and fiction contrast. Obviously, fictional tv shows are a lot more exciting, and Japanese TV audiences seem to enjoy shows about noble defense attorneys standing up for the falsely accused even though this doesn't reflect real life at all. But I was also a little surprised to see that some of my favorite shows have tackled some of the issues brought up in the book, like the lay judge system, elderly shoplifting, and failures in the social welfare system.
And ending on a much lighter note, Super Sushi Ramen Express is food and travel writer Michael Booth's humorous account of how he ate his way across Japan, accompanied by his wife and two children--and traveling through the land of ramen and sushi with two young picky eaters is not always an easy task. Along with the more expected fare of sushi and Kobe beef, Michael samples (perhaps controversially) whale meat and sea snake (the latter was a hit with his sons). Aside from the whale meat, it was a fun and enjoyable read, although it did make me very hungry at times! (Well, not for the whale and sea snake...)
The book, under its original title of Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking, inspired a cartoon series (in English) on NHK also titled Sushi and Beyond. It no longer airs on the network, but you can find episodes up on YouTube. It's quite funny and informative at the same time.
The Way of the Runner by Adharanand Finn: a book focusing on the ekiden, a type of marathon relay race that is extremely popular in Japan. The author, an amateur runner, wanted to learn more about Japanese training techniques and why the ekiden seems to be so uniquely popular in Japan but not in the rest of the world. The book covers an interesting mix of technical details about running and how Japanese culture and society have shaped the ekiden, though I was more interested in the latter than the former, not being much of a runner myself.
It's no surprise that a sport relying heavily on teamwork appeals to a country where emphasis is placed on the importance of the group over the individual, and the ekiden culture does have its benefits, like the feeling of unity and being supported by one's teammates, and on a more practical level, there's ample corporate financial support. OTOH, it also has its downsides, such as the intense pressure to succeed often resulting in teenage athletes burning out and/or suffering career-ending injuries, while on the corporate side, runners and coaches risk losing their jobs if the team suffers a losing streak. And also an unwillingness to experiment with different training techniques--ironically, many teams recruit Kenyan runners because of their running skills, but have no interest in learning the Kenyan method of training that produced such fast runners.
Finn brought his family (wife and two young children) to live with him in Japan while he worked on his book, and it was interesting to read about how his kids adapted to life in Japan--at times it was traumatic, particularly going to a Japanese school where they couldn't speak the language, though in time they picked up enough Japanese to feel comfortable playing with the neighborhood children. I would have liked to have read more about his family and how they felt about their stay in Japan--his wife is barely mentioned--but since this is a book about running, it's natural that he focuses more on that than on his personal life.
If There Were No Japan: A Cultural Memoir by Roger Pulvers: a moving and interesting memoir by writer/playwright/translator Roger Pulvers, reflecting on his life in Japan and his deep love for the country that became his home. Ironically, he first traveled to Japan on a whim in a story that sounds more like fiction than fact, although it is true: as an American postgraduate student in the 60s, he was studying in Poland under a program that unbeknownst to him, was a CIA front. When a magazine published an article accusing him of being a CIA spy, a scandal ensued and he was forced to leave Poland. He ended up traveling to Japan for no particular reason, but fell in love with the country and has spent most of his life there, although he eventually married an Australian woman and now divides his time between Australia and Japan.
As a writer, he had many friends and colleagues in the Japanese literary and entertainment circles, and has many fascinating stories about them--one of which is the time he spent working as an assistant to director Nagisa Oshima during the filming of Merry Christmas, Mr. Laurence. And the late director Yukio Ninagawa (whose fictional counterpart appears in Bronze Ribbons' and my Harudaki fics) gets a brief mention for the significance of his move from alternative theater to Shakespearean productions, and how that "symbolized the end of the Little Theater Movement and the counterculture of Shinjuku". (Pulver says he makes no judgements about whether that was positive or negative, but I do recall Ninagawa saying in a documentary interview that he was reviled as a traitor by his former alternative theater comrades.)
Coincidentally, Pulvers also mentions that he was friends with Hiroki Sugihara (who sadly died in 2001), the son of Chiune Sugihara (see the Visas for Life review below).
This book seems to be out of print, but you may be able to find it at a library as I did, and it also is available used for reasonable prices on Amazon.
Visas for Life by Yukiko Sugihara: a very moving biography/autobiography by the wife of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish refugees during WWII by issuing them visas against the orders of his own government. (I previously blogged about a documentary and book about Sugihara here.) Compared to the book by Hillel Levine that I reviewed earlier, this is, as one might expect, a much more personal and detailed account of Sugihara's life, and it also shows Yukiko to be a remarkable woman herself.
She was an independent young woman who had no interest in making an arranged marriage (as was typical at that time) when she met Sugihara, a friend of her brother's. He was also an unusual man for his time, having serious and sincere conversations with Yukiko when most men back then did not take women seriously. As she puts it, "He wasn't trying to talk at me, but with me." It seems that her independence appealed to him, and thought she would be able to adapt to living in foreign countries and would make an ideal diplomat's wife.
They got married and she did indeed accompany him on his various diplomatic posts, including the one to Kaunas, Lithuania, where he famously issued the thousands of life-saving visas. Levine's book depicts the decision solely as Sugihara's, but Yukiko said he was well aware that disobeying orders might put his family (Yukiko, their young children, and Yukiko's sister Setsuko) in danger, and discussed it with them and received their support beforehand. All of them, even the children, were moved by the crowds of desperate refugees, and agreed that Sugihara should help them despite the risks.
She describes the many hardships that family endured in the waning days of the war and afterwards, including Sugihara losing his job and the heartbreaking deaths of their son Haruki and Setsuko not long after they returned to Japan. But she also remembers the joy they felt when, many years later, they were contacted by some of the survivors who had escaped using Sugihara's visas. Up until then, they had not known if the visas had been of any help, and Sugihara said that if they saved even one life, the sacrifice was worth it. It's estimated that thousands of people were saved due to the visas, although the exact number is impossible to determine, and some of them became lifelong friends of the Sugiharas.
Yukiko says that Sugihara never thought he had done anything praiseworthy by following his conscience, and that he disliked media attention and would have been embarrassed by the many posthumous awards he has received. In spite of this, she felt it was important to tell his story so that the younger generation can learn about the importance of peace and following their conscience.
True Crime Japan by Paul Murphy: a fascinating and sometimes disturbing look at the Japanese criminal justice system. The author spent a year observing criminal court cases in Matsumoto City, ranging from petty crimes like shoplifting to more serious crimes like arson and murder. Defendants in Japan are almost invariably found guilty (due to prosecutors rarely taking cases with uncertain evidence to court, and not one case ended in a "not guilty" verdict during the entire year that Murphy spent observing). Thus, the defense strategy is not to maintain one's innocence, but to plead guilty and express remorse in the hopes of receiving a lighter sentence. With the exception of one quixotic crusader for marijuana legalization, all the defendants from the shoplifters to the yakuza gangsters apologized and expressed remorse, albeit with varying degrees of sincerity.
Particularly surprising to me were the increasing numbers of elderly shoplifters, most of whom actually had enough money to pay for the food that they stole. It seems that fear of using up their retirement pensions and burdening their families are the motivation behind this rash of crimes. However, there were also a couple of incidents where the shoplifters really were destitute but had failed to qualify for welfare for various reasons.
The book also explains the lay judge system, which differs from our jury system in the US in that the lay judges can question the defendant and witnesses, and deliberate the verdict along with the professional judges. (As a J-drama fan, I noticed that Aibou drama Season 6 episode dealing with the lay judge system was pretty accurate in its depiction, aside from some melodramatic plot details.)
The book was especially interesting to me as a fan of crime dramas, to see how fact and fiction contrast. Obviously, fictional tv shows are a lot more exciting, and Japanese TV audiences seem to enjoy shows about noble defense attorneys standing up for the falsely accused even though this doesn't reflect real life at all. But I was also a little surprised to see that some of my favorite shows have tackled some of the issues brought up in the book, like the lay judge system, elderly shoplifting, and failures in the social welfare system.
And ending on a much lighter note, Super Sushi Ramen Express is food and travel writer Michael Booth's humorous account of how he ate his way across Japan, accompanied by his wife and two children--and traveling through the land of ramen and sushi with two young picky eaters is not always an easy task. Along with the more expected fare of sushi and Kobe beef, Michael samples (perhaps controversially) whale meat and sea snake (the latter was a hit with his sons). Aside from the whale meat, it was a fun and enjoyable read, although it did make me very hungry at times! (Well, not for the whale and sea snake...)
The book, under its original title of Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking, inspired a cartoon series (in English) on NHK also titled Sushi and Beyond. It no longer airs on the network, but you can find episodes up on YouTube. It's quite funny and informative at the same time.