Japanese books

This week I went to the bookstore and purchased five books. Three were in Japanese; two in English.
That might lead you to believe that I can read Japanese. I can’t. The Japanese books were all non-fiction, well illustrated and easy to “decipher” without having to read too much.

Today I made watermelon gelatin from this recipe.
Because I already have sufficient experience in the kitchen, it’s pretty easy to figure out the recipes in a each monthly issue of Kyou no Ryouri. I don’t need to read the methods too carefully and I know many of the necessary kanji. Sometimes an esoteric ingredient or an usual procedure sends me into the office for a dictionary, but generally, I get along with Japanese cookbooks just fine.

A restaurant with a beautiful night view.
A step up in complexity, this dining guide is still pretty easy to figure out without much actual reading. I skip over the restaurant reviews and look at the pictures. And all books like this one have neat arrangements of the cogent facts – price range with a sample menu, address, phone number, map, hours and a chart of highlight points about the decor and atmosphere.

Showa 34 (1959) map of Jimbocho compared to today.
The last book is the most challenging. Though I can enjoy it with limited reading, when Tod & I sat together looking at it and he read and translated bits of it aloud, I wished I could read better than I do. The book compares pre-Olympic Tokyo to today, pointing out some of the things that are still around and some that are not. Alternating with the map spreads are photos and text describing the era and its fashion. Did you know that in Showa 36 (1961) the fads were seamless stockings and skiing? In Showa 32, everyone was going to charm school and the word “deluxe” entered the national vocabulary (in katakana, of course).