Seigo Nakao

Interesting and fairly short treatise on the expected behaviour for Samurai in 16th century Japan. I managed to read it in an afternoon (well, the English translation - my Japanese is very rusty so I didn't take much more than a casual glance at the original Japanese).

The author by this time I believe was fairly elderly, which shows through in classic grumbling about young people these days. Same story, different setting. There was no life-changing philosophy here - I learned that Samurai show more shouldn't beat their wives, shouldn't make their masters look bad, and should spend their free time productively rather than wining and womanising. I suppose if anything this humanises the oft-mythologised Samurai warrior. show less

God's (or the kami-s') gift to non-readers of Kanji, this dictionary provides Japanese words and terms in both Japanese characters and Romaji (romanized Japanese). Since I can't look up words in a standard Japanese-English dictionary to save my life, I can't begin to say how grateful I am for this type of dictionary. With over 50,000 entries, it's a bargain for its size, too!

I like this book so much I stole it from my high school (don't worry, I ended up paying!).

Reliable, Detailed and Up-To-Date
- More than 50,000 entries
- Two sections Japanese-English and English-Japanese
- Japanese terms shown in Romanized Japanese and Standard Japanese Characters
- Hundreds of new words, including eizu (AIDS) and nyuryoku (Computer Input)
- Includes Japanese cultural items, such as yobiko (cram school), and gives sources of foreign borrowings, such as nyusu (news)
- Thousands of idioms, phrases and common expressions illustrate typical usage
- Extensive use of show more explanatory glosses to specify precise meaning and ensure appropriate translation
- American English spelling and vocabulary show less