Mysterious Tales of Japan is a collection of eleven folk and fairy tales from Japan. I enjoy fairy tale collections, especially those from other cultures. Reading these traditional Japanese stories helps the reader get a feel for Japan and its culture. There were many similarities with more common European stories, but there was also more of a haunting quality to them. Nature, plants and animals have a strong presence in these eleven stories. Many of them feature a person that was really a tree, a snake, a frog, etc. I recommend the collection to anyone with an interest in fairy and folk tales, or an interest in Japan. ( )

I had pulled this book off the library shelf when I was looking for more international and traditional fantasy books. The main theme of the book was to depict and show some of the variations of traditional tales. It included a lot of seasonal themes and relationships both human and nature.

I think this an interesting book The stories include a variety of seasons and mystery. I like how each story had a full color illustration amongst the story. The pictures easily captured the mood of the story. I liked the one of the man in the water with the fish, and the snow woman. The woman coming in from the snow appeared to encompass the wind chill. These created a more enjoyable read for me.

I also really enjoyed the set up of the book. I liked how it was separate and succinct stories. They all had similar concepts, seasons, nature, relationships with other people. They tended to be darker in tone, which is a nice variant to other children's book. I think the collection is an interesting approach to animals, life, nature, and the Japanese culture. ( )