The Japan Society Review

By Taro Aso Shincho Shinsho, June 2007, 190 pages. Price: ¥ 680. ISBN-13: 978 – 4106102172 Review by Fumiko Halloran

By Takii Kazuhiro, translated by David Noble I-House Press, Tokyo, 2007, 196 pages (including index), hardcover £140.00, ISBN-13: 978-1435710009 Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Hiroshi Tasogawa Bungei Shunju, 2006, 486 pages, hardback ￥ 2476, ISBN-13: 978-4163677903 Review by Fumiko Halloran

The Diary of Charles Holme’s 1889 Visit to Japan and North America with Mrs Lasenby Liberty’s Japan: A Pictorial Record Edited by Toni Huberman, Sonia Ashmore, Yasuko Suga Global Oriental, 2008, 240 pages (including 8 plates and 50 photographs by Lasenby Liberty), hardback £65.00, ISBN-13: 978-1905246397 Review by Dr Jill Raggett

By Haruki Murakami This book is a fascinating account of Murakami’s road to becoming a writer, tied up with his reasons for taking up running. In 1979, Murakami, young and out of University after having studied Greek drama, was at a baseball game. Review by Mikihiro Maeda

By Paul Kabrna Craven and Pendle Geological Society, 2007, 120 pages, paperback £6.50, (Special offer price to Japan Society members, just £5.00 including p & p. E-mail paul_kabrna@msn.com), ISBN 978-0-9555289-0-3 Review by Paul Wignall

Edited by Kazutoshi Hando Bunshun Shinsho, Bungei Shunju, October 2007, 181 pages, paperback ￥70, ISBN-13: 978-4166605941 Review by Fumiko Halloran

By Melanie Trede and Lorenz Bichler Taschen, 2008, 294 pages, Japanese binding & bookcase £80.00, ISBN: 978-3-8228-4827-2 Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Edited by Alex Kerr Penguin Books, 2001, 432 pages, ISBN: 0141010002 Review by Hiroko Kawai (GLOCOM)

By Donald Keene Columbia University Press,New York, 2008, 208 pages, including photographs and list of names of Japanese mentioned in the text. Hardback £16.50. ISBN 13: 978-0231144407 Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi