Get Free Ebook Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa
Get Free Ebook Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa
Discover more encounters and also understanding by checking out guide qualified Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa This is a publication that you are searching for, isn't really it? That's right. You have pertained to the ideal website, then. We always offer you Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa and also one of the most favourite publications around the world to download as well as delighted in reading. You might not overlook that visiting this collection is a function or perhaps by accidental.
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa
Get Free Ebook Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa
Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa. What are you doing when having leisure? Chatting or surfing? Why do not you try to check out some publication? Why should be reading? Reading is just one of fun and also delightful task to do in your leisure. By checking out from numerous sources, you could locate brand-new information and also encounter. Guides Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa to read will certainly many beginning with clinical e-books to the fiction e-books. It indicates that you can read guides based upon the need that you wish to take. Naturally, it will be different as well as you could read all book types whenever. As here, we will certainly show you a publication must be reviewed. This e-book Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa is the choice.
When you now really feel bemused to try the specific publications to review, Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa can be a choice. This is a wise option for you. Well, the book could lead you to earn better choices and alternatives. After obtaining the book, you will not be bemused again to find the right publication. Publication is one of the windows that open the world. This book is likewise just what you need in order to accompany you.
From the title, we will certainly additionally reveal you the topic related to explain. When you in fact require this type of resource, why do not you take it currently? This publication will not only offer you the expertise and lesson concerning the subject, from words that are used, it specify brand-new enjoyable point. This Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa will certainly make you feel no fear to invest more time in reading.
ever stress if this Japanland: A Year In Search Of Wa is not your favorite publication. We are below not just providing the only publication. You can browse the title in this internet site as well as locate the hundreds collections of guides. You recognize, the books that we provide are coming from all collections and also author worldwide. You may pick title to title to acquire the books to read. But previously, juts aim to obtain this book due to the fact that it's very attractive. Try it and comment!
From Publishers Weekly
Having previously traversed the Ho Chi Minh trail and the Inca path, Muller retains an engaging freshness as she goes about "prying open the doors to traditional Japan." She observes some well-known traditional communities (geishas, samurai), some less familiar (taiko drummers, pachinko parlors) and some more recent (the criminal yakuza, the gay community). A keen listener, Muller lets an ensemble of voices speak, among them a swordmaker and a crab fisherman. She's also a participatory learner, taking on tasks like harvesting rice. The diverse activities and excursions to far-flung places make this a fine travel memoir, but it's the backbone of Muller's voyage that gives her book resonance and richness. The deterioration of her relationship with her host family is a looming presence; even as it collapses, Muller acquires an intimate sense of customary values from the urbane Genji Tanaka and his conservative wife, Yukiko. Muller's search for the traditional, culminating in her participation in a 900-mile trek to 88 sacred Buddhist temples, also shapes the narrative. Muller went to Japan to find wa: a quality of dedication, inner strength and spiritual peace. Her memoir isn't an account of achieving those goals, but it is an engrossing, rewarding record of her travel toward them. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
From Booklist
At age 34, American documentary filmmaker, writer, and judo maven Muller spent a year in Japan searching for the meaning of life. Her narrative account is both raucous and revelatory, full of piquant observations of Japanese culture, from sumo wrestlers and samurai warriors to a 1,400-year-old ascetic mountain cult known for walking on hot coals. Muller's renderings of her Japanese host family, who lived in the Tokyo suburb of Fugisawa, are wonderfully edgy: tall, salt-and-pepper-haired judo master Genji, whose stern manner is offset by a mellifluous laugh; frosty-hearted Yukiko, the Japanese equivalent of a Stepford wife; and single 28-year-old daughter Junko, who, much to her family's chagrin, shows no signs of settling down. The author, who headed to Japan in pursuit of wa (the Japanese word for harmony), returned with a reverence for geishas, an appetite for sauteed crickets, and an appreciation for the contradictions that suffuse life in Japan. A companion PBS documentary, Japanland, will provide another avenue of sharp commentary from Muller, whose previous books and films have documented her adventures in South America and Vietnam. Allison BlockCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Read more
See all Editorial Reviews
Product details
Hardcover 288 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books; First Edition edition (October 12, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594862230
ISBN-13: 978-1594862236
Product Dimensions:
6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
3.7 out of 5 stars
53 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#359,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
I think Karin Muller did as well as she could in Japan. It is not an easy culture to dive into without prior and extensive research. I have no idea how she prepared for her year long stay, but if she had done a thorough reading of Ruth Benedict's works, although very dated....she would have gleaned some important information about Japanese culture which doesn't seem to evolve much except in the size of the cities and the pace of life in those cities.I felt a lot of empathy with Muller concerning Mrs. Tanaka. I had a mother in law just like her. Vengeful, spiteful, backstabbing, but I also was an independent young woman who was facing great obstacles in that marriage. The father in law was very much like Mr. Tanaka, a lovely, generous man. Yes, Muller made some ridiculous decisions: tearing up the flower garden and planting vegetables and just not tending to them, not asking permission was unthinkable, and rude. A bit of an Ugly American. But the ridiculous lengths Mrs. Tanaka went to crush her guest in the end was just insane. Even by Japanese standards, it was ridiculous, vengeful. I think that Karin Muller gleans about as much as she could from her stay in Japan, and she did give a good analysis of the people she met, like the elderly women who were playing some sort of games. She made many mistakes, but so would most people visiting a culture so hidebound by tradition and rather misogynistic in certain ways. Overall I enjoyed this book and she is a good writer. I hope someday she will sum up these lessons and return to continue to try to explore Japan and the people, but this time, stay at a hotel. Don't tie yourself to a family where you are bound to have many conflicts because of the nature of both cultures.
The Good is she found WA, harmony in other people, like Adam and Roberto and others. She also touched on such subjects as Sumo Wrestling, Archery on Horse Back and Sword Polishing, which are very rarely talked about in many books by Non-Japanese visiting Japan. They focus on business methods and the water trade. And she did seem to get some insight in the Japanese culture, here and there. And she met a few people who were just plain friendly and happy to help her.The Bad is she seems to barely touch on each of the subjects, like a bee visiting flowers, she buzzes all over the place. I think the Judo Master who she met in the last chapter got her pinned down. Believe. Commit. I don't think she really committed to understanding WA, or anything else, because I don't think she believed in it. She moved about Japan like a bullet train on dope.The Ugly is the relationship she had with the Japanese family. I am not sure I would call her unmannered but she did a few things that felt rude. You DON'T take over a part of somebody else's garden without asking. Did she ask for permission to write about them in a book? Did she really think it was a good idea to sit under a target while mounted archeries shot at it?Did she really think, in the end, she truly understood WA? I think it is a wonderful book to read to understand how easy or how hard it is to get along with any culture. I think the bad reviews and good reviews are both right, they are just stressing different parts of the book. Hope that makes sense.
The author's Japanese Judo instructors had said that to truly master the sport, one has to understand the philosophy behind it. And to do that one needs to understand Japan. What better way to do it than to pack up one's bags and go live in Japan for a year? Karin Muller did just that. Her narrative covered her uneasy relationship with the Japanese family that hosted her, as well as various side trips to peel away the veneer that is modern Japan.Foreigners often find it hard to reconcile the conflict that is Japan. The country that gave the world Sony Walkman, the robotic dog Aibo and led the world comfortably in any number of high-tech, consumer electronic products, is also bounded by traditions.In my view, Karin's host family was, in many ways, a microcosm of Japanese society. The elder Genji was a president of a Japanese corporation awaiting retirement. While he's more than happy to treat this American Gaijin as his equal, someone whom he could discuss economics and world business with - something he'd never do with his wife, he also revelled in the traditonal role of a husband, being waited on hand and foot by his supremely conservative wife. Genji's 28 year-old daughter wanted to live life as she wanted it but was forced to attend match-making sessions by her panicking parents. Their son however, followed in his father footsteps with approving nods from both parents. He graduated from a prestigious Tokyo university and became a salaried man at Nissan. He's no doubt hoping that decades of loyal service would eventually land him the same prize his father received.This should have been an interesting read but i found myself skipping over parts of the books. One reason's entirely personal: i wasn't that interested in learning about the religious aspects of Japan. Hence her numerous journeys to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples didn't resonate with me. I found snippets of her narration describing modern Japanese trying to come to terms with their parents' values and those concerning foreigners trying to make a living in Japan, far more interesting. Karin used present tense exclusively and her story felt somewhat disjointed. I thought past tense would have been much better. But it's just me.The book promised a "hilarious portrait of the land of Wa" but i didn't find much laugh-out-loud humor of the Bill Bryson variety. What you get is a straight-forward narration from the point of view of a westerner. I'd have given this book 3.5 stars if i could.
Interesting account of a year abroad in Japan. Explores cultural differences and family structure.
This is a well-written very informative book on an unusual culture from the point of view of an admirer. A fast easy read that will change ideas about Japan and the Japanese. People who have some experience in Judo will get more out of the book than the average person. Not expected to be this good.
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa PDF
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa EPub
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa Doc
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa iBooks
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa rtf
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa Mobipocket
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa Kindle
0 comments:
Post a Comment