Customer Reviews

Japan (True Books: Countries)

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4 star:		(1)
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I am a Japanese staying in the United States. I sought some information about Japan to introduce it to Americans. I found this book in the public library in my town. It was just one in the kids' corner that I could chose because rests of them are outdated or extremely curious for me. I think this has good photos. You can enjoy it not only kids but also adults.

But keep it mind that it is very difficult to explain one nation even if you know her very well. Can you explain the United States in one book? The author is a veteran writer. She wrote well in this book. But I think she doesn't know well in Japan and no native person check the contents of the book. If the writer would write something about one nation, readers tended to accept it. The writer wanted to inform special features in the nation, but it might truly be too special to the nation.

In this book I am sorry to say that I found many unsuitable expressions. I hope this book will be revised in the near future. I show two mistakes. One is a photo of the Ninja. The photo shows a fine armor. The Ninja was a kind of spy who did underground work, never wore armor. Some Ninja moves by Sho Kosugi are interesting for you, but he made the features of Ninja by his way. His Ninja was not correct historically. The second was an Emperor Hirohito's photo at the end of the book. It was a photo of Ryutaro Hashimoto, a prime minister in Japan at that time. I can laugh it only a mistake but it was quite a big mistake for conservative Japanese. I found more than 10 unsuitable expressions only I read half. But I will still recommend this book because it is better than the others now.

The 2006 update of Japan (Enchantment of the world) by Ann Heinrichs has corrected the mistakes of past editions, added new information and updated the "To Find Out More" section. This edition is just right for school projects or as an overview for anyone wanting to know more about Japan.

I just recently became intrested in Japan, and this was the first book I found. This was incredibly informative, covering the geography to current culture. A very good start, or as a reference.