As Miller is the first to point out, to any sensible person or linguist who has not been told about Japanese, the title of this book makes it seem utterly superfluous: unlike threats in this century to such languages as Catalan and Korean, nobody appears to be contemplating a prohibition of Japanese -- so why the need to defend it? Answer: because of the tissue of misunderstandings about it that have been passed on from one generation of linguists, litterateurs and practitioners of *nihonjinron* (Japanese-identity-obsessed obscurantism) to another. Both westerners and the Japanese have contributed to this.

In this book, Miller sets things straight, explaining certain aspects of the Japanese language in a way that make perfect sense to people who know something of it, and, I think, would also be comprehensible to a non-speaker.

Readers of Miller's earlier book, *Japan's Modern Myth*, may wonder how this differs. While *Nihongo* complements the earlier book, they differ considerably. First, the older one is much more concerned with the *nihonjinron* angle; the newer one with the actual syntax and lexicon of the language, and the allegation (which he roundly refutes) that somehow it is inherently vague. Secondly, while the older one was great fun to read (at least if you weren't one of Miller's targets), it was intemperate; and its repetitiveness and roundabout way of arguing made one wonder whether Miller was satirizing his targets as well as debunking them, or whether their illogic had simply gone to his head. By contrast, *Nihongo*, while it pulls no punches, is utterly convincing and admirably straightforward.

The price of this hardback will probably limit its appeal to libraries. Any library that has half a dozen or more books about Japan should certainly buy this one as well, for its good sense about the language. And the publisher might consider a belated paperback edition for a wider market, for example learners of Japanese seeking inoculation against some of the sillier things said about it by the most highly respected authorities.

(Now please move on to a second book that complements this: Peter N Dale's *The Myth of Japanese Uniqueness*.)

Fallen Soldier is a portion of the Civil War diary of Andrew Roy. It is interesting as a portrayal of what happened to badly wounded men both on the battlefield and in later life. It certainly works as a story of medical incompetence (the result of low medical technology, not necessarily doctors' negligence). It really isn't particularly gory or harrowing to read -- very few Civil War memoirs are and this is consistent with the genre. What I found annoying about this book was the editing. The text has been cut down so as to only mention Roy's wounding and medical treatment, but the original document, as the editor admits in passing, was much longer. Some segments are given as appendices. Why not just give the entire diary as it was written, or at least include all the material not related to the wound as one appendix?

What a pity that Miller was so narrowly focused that he did not even mention the important reforms brought about by this early proponent of mine safety and the formation of labor unions in the United States. Roy, the first mining inspector for the state of Ohio, was the author of A History of the Coal Miners, The Coal Mines, and the Practical Miner's Companion.

This self-taught Scottish immigrant went on to change the face of coal mining in America because his wound gave him the time to write and speak up for his friends underground in the mines.

I am not generally a reader of Civil War books, but found this work to be an amazing insight into the life of a soldier, and into the human condition. Highly recommended.

This book was first printed in 1962, and it really shows, with many examples of old-style orthography and few examples that will be useful to modern students. The book progresses from the fundamentals of the writing system to "Liberalization Plans in Foreign Trade Exchange" and "The Forms of T'ang Poetry" in less than two hundred pages, leaving little room for explanation. As a result, this book might be a useful textbook within the context of an advanced class, but it's not of much use to students studying on their own. It's also worth noting that nearly all of my Japanese books, including everything from novels to popular texts on psychology, are easier than even the 'intermediate' articles in this reader; this book is more liable to scare off students (even relatively advanced ones) than to provide either education or interesting reading materials.

This book was written in the late 1950's and shows its age slightly in both the choice of selections and in its pedagogical style; however, I found the latter portions to be a valuable resource for learning to read Japanese works written in the "interstitial" period after WWII, but before the "modern" style took complete hold in Japanese literature. As such, many archaic kan'ji and out-of-use phrases are present in the cited works; however, it is important for the student of Japanese literature to have exposure to these forms in addition to the modern style.

This is an excellent primer on written Japanese, but it is not for the fainthearted! It is true that it is a bit dated (a lot of stuff from the fifties included) but it covers the field of written Japanese extensively in an extremely small amount of space. If (like me) you took up Japanese after you had already learned to read Chinese, you'll probably find this book a useful way to jump into reading while avoiding going through the basics of the writing system all over again.

The book also covers a lot of details on the writing system (proper names, furigana principals, pre-1945 standard usage) that you can spend a lot of time looking for in other books, often to no avail. If you're really serious about getting into reading Japanese, it's a good book to work with, but be warned - it moves along at a vicious pace.

Sigh, disappointed: poorly composed, lousy photos inside the covers make this book visually un-stunning. Houses and vignettes looked dull, close, shabby, untidy, underexposed, overshadowed, and only very rarely triggered a moment of interest. I felt that I've seen better Japanese country design books and magazine layouts, and I was truly disappointed. Feh.

This is an amazing book, as are all by Amy Katoh. I was lucky enough to live in Tokyo two doors away from her store, and visited it at LEAST weekly.

She specializes in simple but beautiful "country craftsmanship," as opposed to the opulent, such as dress kimino, and such.

Her knowledge of Japanese culture and her sensitivity has even awakened the appeciation of Japanese citizens who had previously taken their material culture for granted.