I’ve been culling my book collection today … no easy task for me. But I simply MUST! I’ve received so many great books lately, I’ve got to find places to put them. So that means cleaning off my shelves to make room. (I’m donating them to our local public library, which has a permanent used book sale.)

As I was going through our books, I wished I had more time to organize them into categories. One day when I have time — ha! I would really LOVE to organize my Japanese books. I bought quite a few at Kinokuniya, the largest bookstore in Osaka. They had the most fantastic Japanese language section — and I actually made a lot of friends there with fellow gaijin (foreigners). That’s where I learned to teach English!

Today I came across my all-time favorite Japanese language book, and I was near breathless as I typed it into Amazon to see if it’s still in print. It is! Read Japanese Today by Len Walsh was published in 1969, and it is the most wonderful introduction to Nihongo I’ve ever read. If anyone has any other favorites, please let me know!

Here’s what the back of the book says:
“Far from being a complex and mysterious script, Japanese writing is actually a simple, fascinating pictographic system, easily understood and readily mastered. It need no longer baffle visitors to Japan — with the new approach in this concise and entertaining book you will be able to read 300 of the most common and useful characters in just a few hours …”

If you have any interest in Japanese language or culture, you MUST read this book. It will simplify all the kanji down to pictures, showing you how the picture became the written character. I’m going to reread this book again tonight. It’s a quick, enjoyable read.

Before I studied Japanese, I didn’t understand the people over there. Everything was weird and different — and though I wasn’t a bit homesick, I felt like an oaf with a “high nose” and American accent. But God led me to an English-speaking church in south Osaka which met on Sunday nights, where the pastor and many church members were from New Zealand. They were all fluent in Nihongo, and told me I must study it or the country would never make sense to me.

So I did. Very intensely. I took language lessons at least two hours a day, five days a week, mostly for free taught by volunteers or in exchange for English lessons. Then I pushed myself and got into a Japanese university, which was incredible. I’m sure I’ve written about this before here, but I don’t feel like scrounging around in my archives right now.

This book opened my eyes and heart to Nihonjin (Japanese people). Reading it again brings back so many memories. Sometimes I wonder what in the world God wants me to do with these little tidbits that rumble around in my mind — certainly not handy for most polite dinner conversation. For now, I’m having a fascinating time researching my novel for NaNoWriMo. Maybe I’ll find a sympathetic editor someday who is looking for a children’s writer crazy about Japan. (If you are this editor, please contact me!)

I’m off to read … Oyasumi nasai.

P.S. The character on the front of this book is higashi, which means East.