speaking advanced questions bilingual

books:

100 Japanese You Should Know (Kodansha Bilingual Books)
Gen Itasaka

Kodansha International Ltd ,Japan, 1999

100 Tough Questions for Japan (Kodansha Bilingual Books)

1 review
I. Gen

Kodansha International Ltd ,Japan, 1999

Excellent, lighthearted
I bought this little book on impulse in the National Museum in Tokyo. It's a great, very informative read. It does what it says on the tin. Questions (some serious, many light-hearted) range from Why are there so many holidays in Japan and Why does it cost so much to have a posthumous Buddhist name to Why do you have to wear special slippers to use the bathroom? The fact that it's bilingual is ...

13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese

13 reviews
Giles Murray

Kodansha International, 1999

Not just useful for Students of Japanese
Dont get me wrong, students of japanese are definately going to be the ones able to gain the most out of this book because it is specifically focused on learning the japanese language, and the many examples, quizes, and certain study tips are unique to Japan. But many of Murray's tips are useful for studying any language. Specifically im referring to the two chapters explaining stratagies for ...

77 samurai;: Japan's first embassy to America,

1 review
Lewis William Bush

Kodansha International, 1968

Japan's First Embassy to America
In 1860, 77 Japanese, all anti-foreign and opposed to opening their country to thw world were sent to Washington to spend 10 months with the people they habitually referred to as "the hairy ones" or "the barbarians", the people of the United States. They received a warm welcome. To the Americans, the two-sworded, top-knotted Japanese might easily have been creatures from another planet. This ...

The 36 Secret Strategies of the Martial Arts: The Classic Chinese Guide for Success in War, Business and Life
Hiroshi Moriya

Kodansha International, 2008

The 36 Secret Strategies of the Martial Arts is a collection of ancient Chinese maxims that encapsulate some of the Far East's most cunning tactics for battle and deception. Each of these strategies represents a distilled nugget of Chinese wisdom. In the early 1980s, Hiroshi Moriya, an acknowledged authority on Chinese culture and philosophy, published a book in Japanese in which he analyzed and explained these strategies; then he used ...

1001 Banjos

1 review
Akira Tsumura

Kodansha International (JPN), 1994

An amazing compendium of exquisite banjo photos!
This 18 pound tome needs a bookstand to appreciate it, and a bib to prevent you from drooling on the pages. It has 3000 exquisite art photographs of banjos covering their entire history from the most primitive through the most modern. Although there is wonderful coverage of S.S.Stewart presentation 5-strings and other classic open back 5-strings, the bulk of the book is 4-string banjos, ...

Advanced Stick Fighting

13 reviews
Masaaki Hatsumi

Kodansha International, 2005

Into the void
A most important point in trying to understand this book by Hatsumi-sensei is to pay attention to what goes on in-between the lines (or photographs). If one takes as too direct, the words and pictures presented, then the whole sense of what is being taught will be missed. Of course, this approach does little for those who expect their information to be handed directly to their opinions. I ...

Acts of worship: Seven stories

4 reviews
Yukio Mishima

Kodansha International, 1989

Bespeak the author's rigid mentality
Acts Of Worship: Seven Stories is an anthology of short stories by the internationally famous Japanese author Yukio Mishima, who is perhaps most notorious for his dramatic ritual suicide in 1970. Flawlessly translated into English by John Bester, the short stories include: Fountains in the Rain; Raisin Bread; Sword; Sea and Sunset; Cigarette; Martyrdom; and the title piece, Act of Worship, and ...