Customer Reviews

Count Your Way Through Japan

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I bought this book to help teach my students (grades 1 and 2) and my kids about Japan, a country my husband and I lived in for 3 years.

While its premise is great: teaching the numbers 1-10, using elements of Japanese culture, there are several jarring inaccuracies, which greatly cut into my ability to enjoy the book.

#1 -- While teaching the number one, the author refers to "Fujiyama" or Mount Fuji. It is actually *never* called Fujiyama, but rather "Fujisan".

#2 -- In teaching the number two, a set of two chopsticks are pictured. Japanese-style chopsticks (as opposed to Chinese-style) are very distinctive. The chopsticks in the book are *clearly* the Chinese kind.

#3 -- On the page teaching the number four, kimonos are discussed. This is pretty minor, but annoying to me: the phonetic pronunciation given for the word "kimonos" is (kih-MO-nuhs). This to me sounds like the way my late WWII-vet father would have said the word, and bears NO relation whatsoever to the actual Japanese pronunciation. I have similar quibbles with the pronunciations given for the words "sumo" and "sake" on later pages.

#4 -- There are two Japanese words for the word "seven" which are used almost interchangably. Only one word is taught.

The book is still useful for teaching about Japan, and my kids enjoy it, but I probably would have held out for something a bit more accurate if I had looked at it before buying.

While I purchased this book with intent for a very young audience to enlighten them on Japanese culture in what I thought would be a simple and cute reference, once I got it in hand I felt the content did not reflect a good understanding by the author of Japanese cultural references. The illustrations did not seem appealing for this purpose either.