Review 24: Tokyo On Foot

Here’s another book I received from Tuttle Books!
And, as always, they have agreed to give (gave) one free copy to a random visitor to my blog!

The book I’m reviewing today is titled “Tokyo On Foot” by Florent Chavouet.

“Tokyo On Foot” by Florent Chavouet

I will put the details of the free drawing for this book at the end of this post.

This is the first book by Mr. Chavouet in which he chronicled his adventures in Japan with his gorgeous hand-drawn pictures and in writing.
He has another book about his second trip to Japan titled “Manabeshima Island Japan“. (Click here to read my review that book, and enter the drawing for a chance to win a free copy!)

Mr. Chavouet is a French artist who stayed in Tokyo for six months while his girlfriend had an internship at a company here.  During the days, while his girlfriend was at work, Mr. Chavouet bicycled around the city and stopped at random places that he found interesting to sit and carefully draw what he saw.

Everything in Japan was new to him, so it was fun for me to read the book and see the city I live through the eyes of a visitor!

A small 八百屋 (fruit & vegetable shop) in Tokyo, as drawn by Mr. Chavouet.

This book can be enjoyed by anyone who is interested in Japan, especially Tokyo. As well as those who like quality drawings of people in their daily lives.

“Tokyo On Foot” can be purchased through Amazon here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Books has agreed to give (given) one random visitor to my blog a free copy of this book.

***** Updated January 10th, 2016 *****

This special promo ended on 2016 January 10th. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

Review & Giveaway 17: Writing Japanese Hiragana

I have received five more books from Tuttle Books!
And, as always, they have agreed to give (gave) one free copy of each book to a random visitor to my blog!

The book I’m reviewing today is titled “Writing Japanese Hiragana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)” by Jim Gleeson.

Writing Japanese Hiragana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)

I will put the details of the free drawing for this book at the end of this post.

The written Japanese language has three scripts: hiragana and katakana (collectively known as “kana“) and thousands of kanji.

The script that is taught in this book is hiragana. This script is mainly used for verb tense, prepositions, etc. but, technically, it’s possible to write Japanese completely in hiragana. In fact, books for young Japanese children are written this way…because hiragana is the first script that Japanese children learn.

Hiragana (and occasionally katakana) is also used to write “furigana, which is a type of “pronunciation guide” that is often written above difficult and seldomly used kanji characters.

“Writing Japanese Hiragana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)” is a good book for those who wish to learn Japanese. When studying Japanese, you should start by learning to read and write hiragana.
Not only will it help you to be able to read signs, menus, etc in Japan…but knowing and using hiragana (as well as katakana and kanji) helps you to pronounce Japanese properly.

This book has plenty of spaces for you to practice writing the hiragana characters as you learn them…which is the best way to remember them.
It also has you write some example sentences using the characters you’ve learned up to that point.

“Writing Japanese Hiragana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)” can be purchased through Amazon here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Books has agreed to give (gave) one random visitor to my blog a free copy of this book.

To enter the drawing for the free book, submit this form by 2015 August 31st:

***** Updated August 31st, 2015 *****

This special promo ended on 2015 August 31st. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

Review & giveaway 11: Comic Japan

Here is another review of a book and giveaway from Tuttle Books!

(There is still time to enter in the drawing for a free copy of “Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics & Culture“.)

The next book that I’m am reviewing is titled “Comic Japan: Best of Zero Gravity Cartoons from The Japan Times-The Lighter Side of Tokyo Life” by Roger Dahl.

Roger Dahl’s Comic Japan: Best of Zero Gravity Cartoons from The Japan Times-The Lighter Side of Tokyo Life

I will put the details of the free drawing for this book at the end of this post.

Mr. Dahl is an American cartoonist who taught English and draws a comic strip for the English-language newspaper “The Japan Times” titled “Zero Gravity“.

This book is a collection of some of his best strips from the Zero Gravity comic.

If you are, have been or are interested in becoming an expat (especially one in Japan), this book will interest you.
Actually, you will like this book if you’re interested in life in Japan at all…even if you never even visited here.

“Comic Japan: Best of Zero Gravity Cartoons from The Japan Times-The Lighter Side of Tokyo Life” is about the life of an American couple who are in Tokyo to teach English and how they interact with Japanese neighbors, co-workers and customs.

“Comic Japan: Best of Zero Gravity Cartoons from The Japan Times-The Lighter Side of Tokyo Life” can be purchased through Amazon here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Books has agreed to give (given) one random visitor to my blog a free copy of this book.

To enter the drawing for the free book, submit this form by 2015 March 22nd:

***** Updated March 22nd, 2015 *****

This special promo ended on 2015 March 22nd. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

Review & giveaway 8: Geisha prints Origami Sets

Tuttle Publishers has given two more sets of origami papers to review.

(You can read all of the reviews on my blog by going to my ““Reviews & Giveaways” page).

This time it’s two sets of origami papers with Geisha prints.

The publishers have kindly agreed to give (given) a set of each free to two random visitors to my blog (one set each)!

These sets, called “Origami Paper: Geisha Prints“, each have eight beautiful ukiyoe designs of geisha.
One set has origami that are 6¾ inches (square) and the other has 8 ¼ inches paper.

Both of these sets of origami are perfect for anyone interested in Japanese ukiyoe art or art in general, folding origami, or Japanese culture.

The artwork on each piece is gorgeous!

Both sets come with illustrated step-by-step instructions for folding a variety of origami animals, toys, kimono, etc.

You can buy “Origami Paper: Geisha Prints”(6¾ inches) here and (8 ¼ inches) here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Publishers is going to give (has given) one free set of each of these origami papers to two random visitors to my blog (one set for each winner)!

***** Updated October 27th, 2014 *****

This special promo ended on 2014 October 25th. The random winners were selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free origami sets.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winners were contacted.
*****

 

Review 6: Hokusai Prints Origami Paper

Tuttle Publishers has given two sets of origami papers with ukiyoe prints to review.

(You can read all of the reviews on my blog by going to my ““Reviews & Giveaways” page).

One set has prints by Hiroshige and a set by Hokusai.

The publishers have kindly agreed to give (given) a set of each free to one random visitor to my blog!

To enter the drawing for the “Origami Paper: Hiroshige Prints“, click here.

The set that I’m writing about on this post is “Origami Paper: Hokusai Prints“.

This set is similar to the other set except the papers are larger (these are 8 ¼ inches), and the prints are by the ukiyoe master Hokusai who has painted the famous “Great Wave near Kanagawa” ukiyoe print.

You can buy “Origami Paper: Hokusai Prints” here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Publishers is going to give (gave) one free set of this origami paper to a random visitor to my blog!

To enter in the drawing, simply submit this form by 2014 October 11th:

***** Updated October 11th, 2014 *****

This special promo ended on 2014 October 11th. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free origami set.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

Book review & giveaway 2: Intermediate Japanese

As I mentioned last month, Tuttle Books sent me a couple books to review on my blog here.

And they also are kindly giving one free copy of each book to a random visitor to my blog.

Click here to read my review of the book about Japanese architecture (and to enter , by 2014 August 31st, for a chance to win a free copy of that book).

The book that I am reviewing here is titled “Intermediate Japanese by Michael L. Kluemper and Lisa Berkson.
(At the end of this post will be the details of the book giveaway.)

Are you studying Japanese? If so, this book and accompanying CD are an excellent tool!

All of the other Japanese study materials that I have were written by Japanese people, so I was at bit skeptical at first about this book because neither of the authors are native Japanese speakers.
But they both have studied Japanese for years and worked as translators and Japanese language teachers at high schools in America (that was a surprise to me too! Do high schools in America have Japanese language classes now?)…and their method of teaching the language is a bit differently than a Japanese teacher’s. I think that, as they learned Japanese as a second language too, they have an approach to teaching it that may be easier for non-Japanese to learn.

This book has a manga style story written in Japanese. New kanji is introduced using “furigana” the first time, but is written without it from then on.
It also has kanji study pages, vocabulary drills, and exercises to test the learner’s understanding.
It also has a CD of the new vocabulary words and the story dialogs. I copied the CD onto my phone and listen on the train during my work commute.

I have the “Intermediate Japanese” book. The book have little English and the CD has none. So it’s good for intermediate level learners…there are also beginner and advanced level books in this series.

As I said above, I like this book and think it’s a very good study tool.

If you’d like to purchase it, it’s available at this Amazon.com link.

Tuttle Books is giving (gave) one copy of this book to a random visitor of my blog.

Fill in this form by 2014 August 31st for a chance to win it:

***** Updated September 1st, 2014 *****

This special promo ended on 2014 August 31st. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

 

Book review & giveaway 1: The Art Of Japanese Architecture

Tuttle Books has kindly given a couple of books to me to read and review on my blog here.

And they also said that they will give (gave) one free copy of each book to a random visitor to my blog!

I will put the information about how you can enter for a chance to win a free book directly from the publisher at the end of this post.

The first book that I will review here is titled: “The Art Of Japanese Architecture” by David and Michiko Young.

If you are interested in Japanese culture, architecture (both traditional and modern), and/or beautiful photographs of Japan, then this book will be of interest to you!

The authors of this book share their comprehensive and detailed knowledge of the structure, design and function of every type of Japanese house, temple, shrine, castle, etc.

It was very interesting to learn how Japanese culture, foreign influences (Chinese, Indian, Korean and western), and local weather have impacted the building designs in Japan.

“The Art Of Japanese Architecture” covers all types of buildings in all areas of Japan from 10,000 BC up to today.

And then there are the photographs! There are loads of photographs in this book and many of them are of one or even two full pages in size. And they are gorgeous photos!

“The Art Of Japanese Architecture” can be purchased on Amazon.com by clicking here…
but, as I mentioned above, the publisher has kindly agreed to give (gave) one free copy to one random visitor of my blog!

Fill in this form by August 31st, 2014 to enter the chance to win a free copy of “The Art Of Japanese Architecture“:

***** Updated September 1st, 2014 *****

This special promo ended on 2014 August 31st. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****