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A Year in Japan Plus Japan Watercolors
July 15th, 2012 by Aldouspi

A Year in Japan Plus Japan Watercolors

A Year in Japan

Japan Watercolors

The Land of the Rising Sun is shining brightly across the American cultural landscape. Recent films such as Lost in Translation and Memoirs of a Geisha seem to have made everyone an expert on Japan, even if they’ve never been there. But the only way for a Westerner to get to know the real Japan is to become a part of it. Kate T. Williamson did just that, spending a year experiencing, studying, and reïfl‚ecting on her adopted home. She brings her keen observations to us in A Year in Japan….

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3 Responses  
  • Ed Uyeshima writes:
    July 15th, 20122:32 pmat
    34 of 34 people found the following review helpful
    4.0 out of 5 stars
    Pleasing Illustrations Brighten a Sock Designer’s Idiosyncratic Observations of Japan, June 29, 2006
    By 
    Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) –
    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
      
    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)
      
    (VINE VOICE)
      
    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)
      
    (REAL NAME)
      

    This review is from: A Year in Japan (Paperback)

    It’s actually an interesting exercise to compare this colorful journal with Karin Muller’s recent “Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa”. Whereas Muller approaches her sojourn as an almost anthropological expedition, author-artist Kate Williamson takes a decidedly more visual approach based on her own yearlong stay in Kyoto where she was studying, of all things, sock design. What sets apart Williamson’s book are the bright watercolor illustrations that depict somewhat random aspects of Japanese life and culture. They show a sharp eye for authenticity and concurrently a sense of playfulness that reinforces the allure of Japan to the foreigner’s eye.

    She is fascinated by the famous wedded rocks at Meoto-Iwa, the patterns on washcloths, the colors available for backpacks, the foam cozies around apples, the difference in accessories between maiko girls and geishas, the everyday dress of sumo wrestlers, and the delicacies in a bento box. Luckily so am I. In between the pictures are brief essays that serve to provide back stories for the illustrations. Her impressions reflect an idiosyncratic eye, and her topics range from Hiroshima’s one thousand paper cranes to karaoke private rooms to the details of the vegetarian cuisine of shojin-ryori to the rock n’ roll-obsessed temple carpenters of the Kyoto Rockabilly Club. It is obvious her designer instincts are well stimulated by the variety of textiles, umbrellas and accessories she discovers there. Williamson is able to bring this all together thanks to her singular perspective and an eye for minutiae that can truly define a culture. Nippon-ophiles can rejoice at her graphically pleasing book.

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  • D. M. DiGregorio writes:
    July 15th, 20122:48 pmat
    19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    This book stays next to my desk in all seasons., July 11, 2006
    By 
    D. M. DiGregorio (New York) –
    (REAL NAME)
      

    This review is from: A Year in Japan (Paperback)

    It is a great pleasure to be able to casually open A YEAR IN JAPAN, which stays next to my desk, and find a page by chance. On any given day, I might see a lovely two-page spread of maple leaves; an absorbing story (one of my favorites) in the author’s fine print/cursive mix about her task of carefully tracing out the characters of a sutra in order to gain admittance to the Moss Temple; a tempting diagram of “sweets made especially for moon viewing”; an account of GUYS AND DOLLS performed by an all-female, Japanese cast; an illustration of a very comforting view from the inside of a Japanese taxi.

    Every page is a pleasant portal into a world other than my own. The book is built loosely around the seasons and their shifting, and is thus also exciting as a work to be read through from front cover to back. Occasional references to the seasons provide an anchor for the reader, for example, you find out how traditional Japanese sweets have a specific shape and flavor in autumn, and about the kinds of umbrellas available during the rainy season.

    The illustrations and texts are crafted with such thoughtfulness, brightness and love (much like the above-mentioned sutra text) that I am immediately transported into the author’s world when I open the book, and feel delighted to share in her enchantment and exploratory spirit.

    I always show friends this book when they visit.

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  • Rachel writes:
    July 15th, 20123:20 pmat
    15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Aiming at a country’s soul, not its sites, June 25, 2006
    By 
    Rachel (Charlottesville, VA) –

    This review is from: A Year in Japan (Paperback)

    This witty, finely observed book is reflective about Japan and travel in ways that traditional guidebooks are not. With beautiful drawings and carefully chosen text, it provides insight into a culture that outsiders often find difficult to penetrate. More broadly, it is a moving and understated story of visiting a new place for the first time.

    I’ll give this book as a gift to friends with an interest in Japan or plans to visit, and would use it as a supplement to traditional tourist guides in my own travels there. I only wish that that there were more books like this one, striving to represent the spirit of a place instead of just telling you about its tourist sites.

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