Name of the Flower and Haiku Apprentice at Reader Reviews

Reader Reviews has posted their reviews of both The Name of the Flower by Kuniko Mukoda and The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan by Abigail Friedman.

Read the review for The Name of the Flower
Read the review for The Haiku Apprentice

Native American in the Land of the Shogun reviewed in Kyoto Journal

Kyoto Journal's Issue 63 features Trevor Carolan's review of Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan by Frederik L. Schodt:

"Schodt's account of MacDonald's life and his eventual journey to Japan is depicted with the accuracy of a trained academic and the excitedment of a skillful novelist."

Haiku Apprentice reviewed at The Heron's Nest

The Heron's Nest, a journal dedicated to haiku, reviews The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan by Abigail Friedman:

"This book is delightfully accessible, regardless of the reader's experience (or lack of it) with poetry or Japanese language and culture. I recommend The Haiku Apprentice, not only to haiku aficionados, but also to anyone who enjoys a good read."

Read the entire review

New Reviews at Pacific Dreams

Pacific Dreams reviews several Stone Bridge titles:

America and the Four Japans: Friend, Foe, Model, Mirror

Designing with Kanji: Japanese Character Motifs for Surface, Skin & Spirit

Doing Business with Japanese Men: A Woman's Handbook

Going to Japan on Business: Protocol, Strategies, and Language for the Corporate Traveler

The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan

Japanese Beyond Words: How to Walk and Talk Like a Native Speaker

The Japan Journals: 1947-2004

Japan Style Sheet: The SWET Guide for Writers, Editors, and Translators

Kanji Pict-o-Graphix: Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics

The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film

Practical Guide to Living in Japan: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Settle In

The Rice-Paper Ceiling: Breaking through Japanese Corporate Culture

The Way of Taiko

Author, art director give away Pocky with jrock, ink.

During Otakon in Baltimore, author Josephine Yun and art director Yelena Zhavoronkova will be signing copies of their book, jrock, ink.: a concise report on 40 of the biggest rock acts in japan.

You can meet them at the nearby Barnes & Noble at the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor on Saturday, August 5 from 3-5 pm. Those who purchase a signed copy get a free box of Pocky!

Also, Barnes & Noble will feature jrock listening stations in their music section all weekend. Listening to jrock while reading a jrock book and munching on Pocky sounds pretty sweet!

Haiku Apprentice reviewed at Imaging Resource

Imaging Resource's Digital Photography Newsletter stumbled upon Abigail Friedman's The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan:

"Why that appealed to us, we can't say. But we took it home and actually read right through it. We learned about the large amateur interest in haiku, the many sources of information (Web sites, magazines, TV shows) for practitioners, how the short poems rely on images and a few words that evoke specific times of the year, how the poems are shared and what a nice diversion from the pressures of work and joys of family life it was to create them. Ultimately, she wrote, they helped develop her own eye for the world.

"Now just reread that paragraph substituting digital photography for haiku and you'll see the same light bulb flash over your head that we did."

Haiku Apprentice reviewed at MBR

The Midwest Book Review has published its review of The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan by Abigail Friedman.

Read the review

Becoming Buddha in Multicultural Review

The summer 2006 issue of Multicultural Review features a review of Becoming Buddha: The Story of Siddhartha by Whitney Stewart.

space From the outset, the reader is in a different world. The novel physical orientation of the text and illustrations on the page immediately evoke the world of unbound texts, the pechas found in the ancient libraries of the East. Indeed, the rich, colorful detail and plot turns are sure to capture the interest of the juvenile reader. Although simplified, the tale is a historically accurate retelling of how the boy Siddhartha abandoned his royal upbringing and wealth to become the Buddha, seeking to end for all the suffering inherent to life. The basic Buddhist tenet of the Four Noble Truths, at the heart of recognizing and dealing with all suffering, is a concept that adults might grapple with. Yet Stewart successfully presents suffering in a way both appropriate for preadolescents and comprehensible to their experience. Importantly, the presentation empowers young readers with something they, like the Buddha, might do to develop compassion for others and alleviate suffering. It is no mere courtesy that His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, has participated in this book, bracketing the story with a substantial introduction, then simple instruction on how to meditate, written -- even with humor -- for the young reader. As His Holiness says in the introduction, rather than attempting to increase the number of Buddhists, this book shows a way everyone might pursue to contribute to global peace and the increase of happiness.
space Kudos to illustrator [Sally] Rippin, whose imagination contributes substantially to the fabric of the exotic Eastern world woven in the story.
spaceistheplace--Rinchen Yutso in Prospect Harbor, ME

See trailer for In the Pool movie

Some time ago In the Pool was adapted into a major motion picture in Japan. You can watch the trailer here (in Japanese):

Large Trailer (streaming, Windows Media)
Small Trailer (streaming, Windows Media)

The original collection of tales around Dr. Irabu and his patients can be found in English by IBC Books, available through Stone Bridge Press and found anywhere good books are sold. Read your copy by the poolside this summer, or away from the poolside should someone be clever and throw the book into the pool...

Haiku Apprentice reviewed in East Bay Express

In its June 28 issue, The East Bay Express reviews The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan by Abigail Friedman.

Anneli Rufus writes:

Never underestimate the potential of seventeen syllables. They zip past so fast. I can't come to the phone right now but please leave a message after the -- boom. An American diplomat in Tokyo, fluent in Japanese, Friedman was employed by the Foreign Service to keep tabs on public reactions to news from nearby North Korea. Juggling political hot potatoes along with a busy home life, mother-of-three Friedman was startled when a stranger invited her to join his haiku group: "In my mind, Japanese haiku poets were either long dead or... hidden away in the hills, practicing Zen." Attending suburban meetings, she discovered and joined -- like "Alice in Wonderland... as if I had fallen down a hole" -- a subculture pursuing an art form that celebrates solitary epiphanies in a nation notorious for groupthink. Friedman is an appealing guide through an alternate Japan where modern people make poems about teacups and temples but also about skyscrapers and kidney surgery.

The Pillows are visiting Kinokuniya in San Francisco

The Pillows will be making a special in-store Q/A appearance at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in San Francisco's Japantown on Wednesday, June 28 at 5:00pm. Fans are encouraged to attend and meet the band.

The Pillows are a Japanese rock band best known internationally for their music in the anime series FLCL (Furi Kuri). The band is currently on a North American tour for their new CD, “My Foot.”

Kinokuniya Bookstore is hosting the Pillows' live appearence in support for the band's San Francisco concert which is occuring later that evening at Slim's.

Kinokuniya stocks jrock, ink.: a concise report on 40 of the biggest rock acts in japan, which features the Pillows. How convenient!

The Japan Journals reviewed at Pacific Dreams

Pacific Dreams reviews The Japan Journals: 1947-2004, writing, "Japan Journals is not only fascinating for its look at Japan through western eyes, but also in how Ritchie develops the ability to look at himself through the eyes of Japan."

Read the rest of the review

Author Donald Richie to curate series at SDLX

Donald Richie, author of several SBP titles such as The Japan Journals: 1947-2004 and The Inland Sea, will be curating and moderating a "multi-part series devoted to unexplored tangents of the Japanese film" at SLDX in Tokyo. This event is sponsored by the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies (ICJS) at Temple University, Japan Campus. The next film is Focus (Fokasu) on July 12 at 8 pm.

Update: Josephine Yun's jrock interview with BBC/PRI

The MP3 and transcript of The World's interview with Josephine Yun is now online!

Find the transcript and MP3 here
Download the MP3 here

Author Abigail Friedman interviewed at Bookselling This Week

Bookselling This Week interviews Abigail Friedman, author of The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan. Bookselling This Week is part of the American Booksellers Association, which recently made The Haiku Apprentice a June Book Sense Pick.

Read the interview

Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves reviewed at The Asian Reporter

The Asian Reporter's June 20, 2006 edition reviews Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook by Patrick Galloway.

Read the review

Heian author Frederick Franck dies at 97

The Los Angeles Times reports that Frederick Franck, artist and writer of many books, died on June 5 at age 97 in Warwick, NY.

Mr. Franck compiled selections from R.H. Blyth called Zen and Zen Classics for Heian, which is now an imprint of Stone Bridge Press. He also added several wonderful illustrations.

Author Josephine Yun to discuss Japanese rock on BBC Radio

It's pretty certain that tomorrow's edition (June 21) of BBC's The World will air its interview with Josephine Yun, author of jrock, ink.: a concise report on 40 of the biggest rock acts in japan.

The World can be found on your local public radio station if you're in the US, and the interview could always show up on the BBC World Service later. Thankfully the show can also be heard at The World's website.

The Haiku Apprentice reviewed at BiblioBuffet

BiblioBuffet reviews The Haiku Apprentice: Memories of Writing Poetry in Japan by Abigail Friedman: "This book is not designed to make the reader a poet, but it does, perhaps, help us to pay more attention to our poetical eye."

Read the rest of the review

Win jrock, ink. at The Pillows show in San Francisco!

10 Lucky concert-goers will win copies of jrock, ink.: a concise report on 40 of the biggest rock acts in japan at the upcoming San Francisco performance by The Pillows on June 28.