FUN BOOKS

I found two books that will help me understand and enjoy my trip to Japan. CLUELESS IN TOKYO  - an explorer's sketchbook of weird and wonderful things in Japan by Betty Reynolds is a funny, colorful book about as she says, " a place where everything is completely different from back home."
She draws Kushimono which is dinner on a stick, like at our Minnesota state fair, sold in inexpensive eating and drinking places. One can recognize them by the red lanterns hanging outside their doors.
She describes in pictures the rituals of taking a bath or sleeping in a Ryokan. She describes a tea ceremony with colorful pictures of the different pieces used. There are drawings of exotic vegetables, some like edamame, know to us. She describes the different style and usage of Kimonos.
It is a funny lighthearted way of learning some very useful information.

A YEAR IN JAPAN by KATE WILLIAMSON is also a sketchbook but is more of an art piece. Williamson tells the story in words and watercolor sketches of her year in Japan. It is a song of the beauty she finds.

She writes,"As soon as I walked out of the train station on my first day in Kyoto, I knew I would love Japan. I passed the ground floor of a department store on my way to the street. To my right I noticed a wall of color and pattern - windowpane plaid, polka dots, orange and turquoise, red and magenta lime and navy. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a display of washcloths, the most beautiful washcloths I have ever seen. These squares of terry are not used for washing but are kept in purses for drying one's hands in public restrooms. The washcloths were my first exposure to the attention to detail that characterizes much of Japan both visually and socially"

A friend asked me what I liked  about Japan and what I was going to do there. I tried to put into words but really couldn't, until I read this last sentence. To me it is being exposed to the attention to detail visually and socially that makes the country so different.

Wiliamson draws book bags and socks, which are used for different pairs of sandals and shoes. She describes the different rubber stamp designs that one collects going to temples, shrines and train stations. She describes how fruit one buys is wrapped like a birthday gift, and the elements of a vegetarian temple lunch consisting of the following flavors, bitter, sour, sweet, salty, hot and light. I can't wait to taste them.

Even if you never set foot in Japan this is a beautiful book to own and browse and fly there in your imagination!