The East Asian Story Finder

A fantastic resource for educators and folklore enthusiasts

East Asian Story Finder: A Guide to Tales from China, Japan and Korea, Listing Subjects and Sources

I am passionate enough about Japanese folklore that I got a Master’s Degree in it, and while my library of stories is pretty extensive, every now and then I discover a gem that had previously gone under my radar.

“The East Asian Story Finder” is just such a gem. A follow-up to the award-winning The Jewish Story Finder, children’s librarian Sharon Barcan Elswit had combed the world for English-language translations of stories from Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan, then meticulously cross-referenced and categorized all 468 tales she assembled.

Elswit does not tell the entire story, but always gives a reference as to where that particular story can be found. Instead, she provides a brief synopsis of the story, listing known variations if applicable, and assigns a series of subjects to each story that can then be referenced. Subjects can be general, like “burial” or “butterflies,” or more specific like “talking bird,” “breath of death,” “”Cinderella stories,” “charcoal makers,” or “propitious births.” The Subject Index in the back shows which stories contain which subjects, making for easy reference. All of the stories are also chucked together by overall theme, such as “The Way Things Are,” “The Problem Solvers,” “Strange Events and Ghostly Encounters” and “Tricksters and Fools.”

Many of the stories here are culled from familiar English translations, such as Theodora Ozeki’s 1903 book Japanese Fairy Tales and Grace James’ 1923 The Moon Maiden and Other Japanese Fairy Tales. Elswit points out that the age of these books makes the majority of them public domain, and that many of the full stories can be searched for on the internet without the need to buy them. In her introduction, Elswit notes that any translation somewhat compromises the original intent of the story, and especially older translations which were more liberal in their use of fantasy-words like “knight,” “fairy,” “ogre” and such, but she did try and locate the best translation available.

Clearly, there are more than 468 fairy tales from all of East Asia, and Elswit explains her selection criteria. They had to be stories with a universal appeal, something that was not depended on knowing intimate details of the culture and language. She eliminated stories that only explained a local landscape feature, for example, or were intended to illuminate a certain religious point. She also struggled with her identification of “East Asia,” but finally settled on the political regions of Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan instead of the more than sixty different ethnicities and cultures in that region. She does specify if possible when the story is Tibetan or from the native Japanese Ainu culture.

Many of the stories here were familiar, but there were even more that I had never heard of. Even though there is only a synopsis for each story, I have enjoyed reading through them and have tracked down the originals for more than a few.

Oxford Japanese Mini Dictionary

The best of its kind

The “Oxford Japanese Mini Dictionary” does everything right. Inside this little pocket-sized book, you get a Japanese-English dictionary, an English-Japanese dictionary, and even a short phrase book tucked in-between. The word definitions are kept short and sweet, often no more than a single word which is usually all you need and the words aren’t cluttered up with pronunciation guides or anything extraneous.

Best of all is that the Japanese entries are presented the way they should be; in Japanese. There is no romaji, and all Japanese words are given in either hiragana or katakana, and a kanji form when appropriate. This is probably the best feature of this dictionary, as there are few greater barriers to Japanese language acquisition than the use of romaji. Looking up words not only gives you the definitions, but also repeated practice in utilizing the Japanese writing system.

All of the Japanese words are presented in standard dictionary form, not the -masu/-desu forms more common with beginning Japanese study. Examples are sometimes given in the -masu/-desu form, but not always.

Because this is a British-produced dictionary, many of the entries follow British spelling and style (ie: “colour” instead of “color,” “apartment” being the first offered translation for the word “flat,” and “cash dispenser” rather than “ATM.”). This is very minor though, and the American spelling/usage is always presented as well. It can make looking up terms a bit difficult however if you are not accustomed to British English.

Obviously, at this size the “Oxford Japanese Mini Dictionary” shouldn’t be anyone’s main dictionary. If you are a serious student of the Japanese language there is no substitute for an electronic dictionary. Even with trimming the fat from the definitions, there is a limit as to how many words you can cram into a small space like this.

What is presented here, however, are the most common words in Japanese and English, and this “Mini Dictionary” is a great resource for people interested in Japanese but not yet ready to make the several hundred dollar commitment required from an electronic dictionary.

According to the introduction, the included words were selected based on the idea of both usefulness to students and someone taking a trip to Japan and needing a dictionary back-up. In both of these cases and at this scale of portability I think you would be hard pressed to find a better dictionary than the “Oxford Japanese Mini Dictionary.”

Japanese Kanji a Day Practice Pad Volume 1

Every little bit helps

I once heard studying kanji as being like a thin wall with all the kanji you know lined up along the edge. When you study a new kanji, it takes its place at the back of the line and bumps one over the edge, lost forever.

It may not be that bleak, but it is true that without constant repetition and reinforcement you will find all of those hard-won kanji fading from your memory, and symbols that once were filled with meaning now look like just so many chicken scratches.

I can’t lie to you and say that this “Japanese Kanji a Day Practice Pad” is all that you will ever need to keep those kanji tucked safely away in your brain, but it is a pretty nifty way to get some stress-free daily kanji practice in. Basically, you just keep the pad next to you on your desk, and when you got a few spare minutes you do the kanji exercise for the day, then tear off the sheet.

The kanji start at the super-basic level (ichi), then slowly get more complex. The focus is on basic vocabulary words that you learn in a Beginning Japanese course so you do get into a few kanji that are somewhat complicated to write but have a basic meaning (like “ochiru” or “fall”). Obviously, since this is a “kanji-a-day” calendar there are 365 kanji in total.

Each page lists the kanji with all possible readings, then about two words using that kanji in a combination. Going around the edges are boxes for writing practice. There are three boxes to trace the kanji, then you are on your own for the remaining twenty-five boxes. Roughly once a month there is then a blank page for you to practice all the kanji you have learned so far.

Clearly, no one is going to master any kanji through this method. This is purely for reinforcement and repetition. For that though, it is a really handy tool that I like having on my desk.

More Japanese for Kids Flash Cards Kit

5.0 out of 5 stars More of a good thing

Having used and enjoyed the Tuttle Japanese for Kids Flash Cards Kit (Tuttle Flash Cards), it was a no-brainer to pick up the next set in the series.

Like the previous set, there are sixty-four cards here in different categories. The categories are Going Outside (8 cards), Nature (8 cards), Things in My House (10 cards), Things I Want to Do (10 cards), Opposites (12 cards), Weather (6 cards) and Actions (10 cards). The vocabulary is all very basic words and perfect for a beginner’s level. On the front of each card is a cartoon picture of the subject, as well as the Japanese word written above the picture. The Japanese words are written in kanji, hiragana or katakana as they would naturally appear in written Japanese. On the reverse side there are two to three sentences using the vocabulary in context, written in standard Japanese (including kanji), romaji and English.

Whereas the previous set was mostly nouns, the “More Japanese Flash Cards for Kids” features a wider variety of words including adverbs, adjectives and verbs. The categories also have variety, such as the Going Outside category which has vehicle names as well as the words for “park,” “shop” and “school.”

In the same way as the previous collection, the general card arrangement is very easy to use, and the cards are a nice size (about the size of two standard playing cards laid together) and laminated so they can be used again and again. The sentences on the back use not only the vocabulary of the card itself, but also other words in the set to reinforce retention.

Along with the flash cards, there is a poster containing all of the words in the set, with the same pictures, and an audio CD that can be used for pronunciation practice. On the CD, as well as the pronunciation for the words and sentences included with the flash cards, there are bonus vocabulary including basic greeting words and a few Japanese children’s songs. Unfortunately, these are the exact same bonus words as on the previous CD, so it is a duplication if you already own the previous set. The songs are new, however, and are very popular and traditional Japanese children’s songs.

Although Tuttle calls this set “Flash Cards for Kids,” I have found them useful for adult learners as well. In fact, I have also been using them in reverse, for Japanese people studying English. Once the basic vocabulary has been mastered, they can be used in games such as spreading them out “Go Fish” style and having the learner draw two cards, then make a sentence out of the two vocabulary words. This game is greatly improved by the addition of verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and you can even split the piles so that you need to draw one adjective/adverb, one noun and one verb to make a sentence.

Japanese for Kids Flash Cards Kit

5.0 out of 5 stars A great tool for vocabulary retention

A good set of flash cards is a valuable tool in language study. They are never going to teach you the lesson in and of themselves, but will help reinforce lessons learned and get your brain used to operating in the target language at normal speeds instead of having to search for the word in questions.

This set of “Japanese Flash Cards for Kids” is a great set, and one that I have gotten a lot of use from. There are sixty-four cards in all, separated into categories like animals (8 cards), body parts (8 cards), food (8 cards), family (8 cards), numbers (10 cards), daily activities (8 cards), clothing (6 cards) and colors (8 cards). The vocabulary is all very basic words and perfect for a beginner’s level. On the front of each card is a cartoon picture of the subject, as well as the Japanese word written above the picture. The Japanese words are written in kanji, hiragana or katakana as they would naturally appear in written Japanese. On the reverse side there are two to three sentences using the vocabulary in context, written in standard Japanese (including kanji), romaji and English.

The general card arrangement is very easy to use, and the cards are a nice size (about the size of two standard playing cards laid together) and laminated so they can be used again and again. The sentences on the back use not only the vocabulary of the card itself, but also other words in the set to reinforce retention.

Along with the flash cards, there is a poster containing all of the words in the set, with the same pictures, and an audio CD that can be used for pronunciation practice. On the CD, as well as the pronunciation for the words and sentences included with the flash cards, there are bonus vocabulary including basic greeting words and a few Japanese children’s songs.

Although Tuttle calls this set “Flash Cards for Kids,” I have found them useful for adult learners as well. In fact, I have also been using them in reverse, for Japanese people studying English. Once the basic vocabulary has been mastered, they can be used in games such as spreading them out “Go Fish” style and having the learner draw two cards, then make a sentence out of the two vocabulary words.

Say It in Japanese

4.0 out of 5 stars What do you need to be able to say to get around in Japan?

Japanese is a complicated language, and if you are only going over for a short trip, then odds are you aren’t going to master too much of the language before you get there. A few key greetings and phrases, maybe, and even then only if you have the time to memorize them.

“Say it in Japanese” is a convenient phrase book designed exclusively for travelers. It is very compact, being about the size of an average wallet, and can easily be slipped into a pocket and carried around. This is a huge consideration considering weight allowances for modern air travel, where heavy, bulky books can’t really be justified.

The book has over 2,200 entries that are either single words or phrases designed to ease everyday communication. All of entries are categorized, such as “café and bar,” “bus, subway and streetcar,” renting autos and other vehicles,” “sightseeing” and the all important “nightclub and dancing.” The English phrase/word is given first, followed by a Japanese pronunciation written in the English alphabet, and then the phrase written in natural Japanese. This allows you to show the book to a Japanese person if you aren’t confident in the pronunciation, or if communication isn’t clear.

As a traveler’s phrasebook, I wouldn’t really recommend “Say it in Japanese” for serious students of the language. You might learn some new vocabulary here and there, but it isn’t really designed for that. Casual travelers, however, will probably find that it gets them out of some tight spots, and makes a trip to Japan a whole lot smoother.

My First Hiragana Activity Book

A nice beginner’s book for children studying Japanese

My First Hiragana Activity Book

If you have a child interested in studying Japanese, you will find “My First Hiragana Activity Book” a valuable tool. It is easy to follow, with lots of vocabulary and cute pictures supporting each hiragana. Unlike most hiragana work books, which you use once and throw away, this book can be used to practice vocabulary words long after the hiragana has been mastered.

Learning hiragana is the first step to learning Japanese. You simply can’t make any progress in the language without it. Because of syllable-based structure of the language, being able to recognize and pronounce the various hiragana is a necessary foundation. There are only forty-six hiragana characters, so learning them is a fairly easy task. Much less daunting than the thousands of kanji one must master as your skills progress!

“My First Hiragana Activity Book” teaches the hiragana in the normal order. Each entry takes up a page, and has two blocks to trace over the character, then six blocks for practice. Each character is supported by about nine pictures that start with that character. For example, the first character “ah” is accompanied by the words like “ahiru” (duck), “ame” (rain), “ashi” (foot) and “atama” (head). The English readings are not given for the words, only a picture, which is a useful technique to allow association of that word directly with the image, rather than translating it into English.

A drawback to “My First Hiragana Activity Book” is that there are not really enough spaces for repetition of the characters. Writing a character six times isn’t going to be enough to master it. However, most people studying Japanese keep a separate notebook for repetition practice, and so the extra spaces aren’t really needed. Also, the book is squarely aimed at a child audience, and the style is similar to what one would find in a “My First Alphabet” book or something similar. Adults can still use this book and would find it useful in gaining basic vocabulary as long as they don’t mind the childish nature of the pictures.

One other thing I discovered, although I don’t think this was intended by the author, is that the pictures accompanying each character are a perfect size to be cut out of the book and used as flash cards for vocabulary practice. Cut them out and laminate them, and you have a couple of hundred flash cards for a very affordable price!

Tales of the Supernatural in Early Modern Japan: Kaidan, Akinari, Ugetsu Monogatari

One of the best resources on kaidan ever published

I first encountered these articles in the academic journal of Asian Folklore Studies, when I was writing my Master’s thesis on yurei, the Japanese ghost. The two main articles, “The Emergence of Kaidan-shu” and “The Appeal of Kaidan” formed the backbone of my research, and I am thrilled to see them collected here in book form.

Noriko T. Reider probably knows more about kaidan, Japanese strange stories, than any other person around. When I was doing research for my MA, I read through literally hundreds of books, both in English and Japanese, and it was Reider’s articles that I kept coming back too. She has a way of writing that is concise and readable, academic without drowning in its own language like books like Civilization and Monsters: Spirits of Modernity in Meiji Japan which is so dense as to be almost unreadable.

“Tales of the Supernatural in Early Modern Japan, Kaidan, Akinari, Ugetsu Monogatari” has four chapters, each with a different focus. “The Emergence of Kaidan-shu” is a history lesson on from its beginnings in early folktales to the kaidan-boom of the Edo period. Next, “Belief in the Supernatural in the Edo Period” discusses the attitudes towards the supernatural in Edo period Japan and how they created the atmosphere in which the kaidan genre could arise. “The Appeal of Kaidan” discusses people’s fascination with gory and grotesque stories, and what is it that drives people to tales of the unknown. The last chapter, “Akinari and Kaidan Ugetsu Monogatari” discusses in depth Ueda Akinari, author of Tales of Moonlight and Rain, possibly the best kaidan book ever written.

While the pure history of the first few chapters is interesting, Reider’s focus on the concept of obsession and the role it plays in Akinari’s celebrated book brings her collection to a higher level. She clearly has a passion for Akinari’s work, and it shows as she dissects the nine tales in Akinari’s book, looking into the driving nature of each character to focus on and pursue what obsesses them.

There is a dearth of good material writing on the fascinating world of Japanese kaidan, and it is a real shame. But of what is available, Reider’s work is definitely the cream of the crop, and if I was a professor grading a paper that discussed Japanese supernatural in any way, and Reider’s name and “Tales of the Supernatural in Early Modern Japan, Kaidan, Akinari, Ugetsu Monogatari” was not in the bibliography, you would need a pretty good excuse to get a passing grade.

How to Tell the Difference between Japanese Particles: Comparisons and Exercises

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have guide to a murky area

“I sat at the chair.” “I went on school today.” That is probably what most of us sound like when we start really speaking Japanese, merrily swapping around all those cute little “ni”s, “wa”s, “de”s and “ga”s. It gets even worse at an upper level when the mysterious “hodo”s and “kana”s start rearing their ugly heads. Particles are one of the most confusing aspects of Japanese, and one of the biggest road blocks to conversational fluency.

Every student of Japanese could use “How to Tell the Difference Between Japanese Particles.” It is a practical, concise little book that contains a wealth of information. Unlike Naoko Chino’s previous particle book, “All About Particles,” this volume contains practice exercises and demonstrations of the most common mistakes of Japanese particles. It is more of a workbook, that should be followed from start to finish.

Chino takes several similar but confusing particles, such as “particles indicating time” or “particles used for comparison,” then highlights the different usages of each particle, along with demonstration sentences in both English, kana and romaji. Like all good Japanese books, the emphasis is on the kana, with the romaji and English doing support work. After each chapter, there are several quizzes to test your new knowledge. The book closes with an overall test on the entire book.

The comparative nature of this book, along with the repeated quizzes, make “How to Tell the Difference Between Japanese Particles” one of the most useful Japanese study guides that I own. It serves a niche purpose, but a very useful and necessary one.

In Godzilla’s Footsteps: Japanese Pop Culture Icons on the Global Stage

 

4.0 out of 5 stars A complicated monster

At first glance, an academic study of Godzilla seems at least foolish and at most pretentious. Not everything merits this level of scrutiny, and sometimes a giant monster is just a giant monster. How much can be said about a guy stomping around in a rubber suit anyways? But I was intrigued by the concept. The film holds an important place in both cinematic history as well as Japanese culture, and was probably the first cultural export of Japan.

Make no mistake, this is an academic book, in the same lines as the Japanese monster study Civilization and Monsters: Spirits of Modernity in Meiji Japan, and is probably going to bore to tears any casual G-fan looking for a fun book. Originally presented at the 2004 international conference of the same name, “In Godzilla’s Footsteps: Pop Culture Icons on the Global Stage” collects together thirteen essays from a variety of experts, such as Dr. Mark Anderson, professor of Asian languages and literature at the University of Minnesota and Theodore Bestor, professor of anthropology and Japanese studies at Harvard University.

Each essay focuses on a different aspect of the Godzilla phenomenon, as a piece of film history, as an aspect of modernity, as an aspect of religion. The majority of the focus is on the original 1954 film Gojira, although some of the essays also deal with Mothra and the perceived “menace of the South Seas”, and one essay highlights the Ohashi Yasuhiko play “Gojira” which used the king of monsters in a satire dealing with modern Japan’s lust for status and material wealth.

Some of the most interesting bits for me showed Godzilla as a transitional film, standing between the jungle adventure-themed movies such as King Kong and the next era of Atomic fantasy such as Them!. A creature of both folklore and science, of both the past and the future, Godzilla is a both a bridge and a gateway. One essay linked the rise of the monster with the rising popularity of professional wrestling in Japan, and showed how the two entertainment genres shaped each other. The density of the articles meant that my attention had to be focused, but there was always something new to learn.

A few articles were less successful, and some veered away from Godzilla altogether. The final three articles focused more on Japanese “pop culture” figures such as “Hello Kitty!” and fandom in Hawaii and Russia. While the articles were valid, I personally felt they did not belong in this book, and wish they had been replaced by something more appropriately themed.

I really enjoyed “In Godzilla’s Footsteps”, but I realize it will not be a book for everyone. I personally don’t mind slogging through academic language from time to time, and found a lot here to be fascinated by. Any serious student of Japanese film should probably have this one in their library.