The Japanese Have a Word for it: The Complete Guide to Japanese Thought and Culture by Boyé Lafayette de Mente

The Japanese Have a Word for it: The Complete Guide to Japanese Thought and Culture Reviews

• 
  yo

  Although I enjoyed some parts of this book, I found other sections very annoying and sometimes repetitive. The pronunciation "help" was confusing to me, but maybe if you don't speak Japanese it might be useful. The book is written from an elderly man's experiences in business situations in Japanese cities. I think my grandfather might find this book relevant and useful. As a young female, however, I found that many of his experiences and the people he mentions don't seem anything like the experiences I've had and the people I've met in my 6 years in Japan. As a younger, non-business person, and especially as a female, I didn't feel this book was very relevant or helpful.
• 
  Eustacia Tan

  This is one of the books that I borrowed from the TUFS library. It's subtitled "The Complete Guide to Japanese Thought and Culture" and I thought, hey, if I can build up my vocab and learn something about Japanese culture, then I should borrow this book.
  The book is structured into 230 short chapters (each chapter is one or two pages long). Each chapter will introduce a Japanese word, it's pronunciation, a 'chapter title' and then explain one aspect of Japanese culture. But, the book does focus quite a lot on understanding Japanese business culture rather than Japanese culture (as a whole).
  
  Well, the good thing about the book was that it was easy to read and quite interesting. There are a lot of history references (although there's no footnote or bibliography) and the author's personal experience is used as an example many times (you can decide if that's a good or bad thing). While there were a few things I disagreed with (some relating to Christian theology, and some contradicting my own experience), I thought it was a pretty informative book on the whole.
  
  Be warned though, the 'chapter titles' are not translations of the Japanese words. They are his interpretation of this aspect of Japanese culture. To be fair, he does define the word within the mini-essay, but on first glance, you might think that the quoted words in bold below the Japanese words are translations.
  
  I'm well aware that right now, my experience is atypical, because all the students at TUFS are learning a foreign language and therefore are more open to other cultures. I've heard from some seniors about comments like "why isn't your Japanese better" and "there's no need to know English in Japan" which is really different from what I'm used to. So while I've never encountered most of the stuff he talks about, it could be a lack of experience on my part rather than him being inaccurate. But to me, everyone is going to experience a different Japan, because of the difference in time and place.
  Organisation wise... there isn't much of it. There are a few recurring themes in the book, but they're scattered here and there and there aren't clear sections about say "business culture", "attitudes towards foreigners" and the like. I would have really appreciated something like that though. There is a "guide to key cultural terms" at the very front of the book, but using it (say you wanna explore Japanese communication) means that you'd have to keep flipping the pages instead of reading one section.
  
  In short, an interesting book, although I don't think anything can replace the experience of being in Japan. It also seems to portray a fairly negative view of the Japanese at times (especially when it comes to their penchant for group work and consensus-based decision making).
  
  First posted at
  With Love from Japan, Eustacia
• 
  Caleb Stober

  I read this primarily to see if I could reverse-engineer something of Japanese spirituality through their idioms. To that end, I did find some very useful clues. However, it was not the overall thrust of the book to do that and I don't give it 3 stars for that. It is primarily written to give insights to foreign businesses hoping to create good relationships with Japanese companies.
  
  This book could have been far shorter, had the author not felt the need to reintroduce tired context over and over again which was established in the early chapters. By the end of the book it just feels like he's beating a dead horse as hard as he can about Japan having been feudal and group oriented and socially stratified etc. before intro-ing each new word.
  
  He also humorously/ignorantly/intentionally misrepresents Christianity as Gnosticism in order to highlight certain traits of Japanese spirituality (most obvious in his chapter on Haji/shame), which leads to another error he seems to be aware of at times and yet falls victim to at others--the tendency toward Japanese exceptionalism.
• 
  Stan Murai

  This book contains over 200 short chapters on Japanese
  words and expressions used to describe various aspects
  of contemporary Japanese culture. The chapters are
  arranged in alphabetical order like a dictionary with
  entries one or two pages long. The words or expressions
  are presented in the original Japanese script with a
  transcription and even a pronunciation guide that might
  be helpful to someone not familiar with the romanization
  system. Various aspects of Japanese culture are introduced,
  but there tends to be a focus on understanding Japanese
  business culture.
  
  On the whole, the book is easy to read and interesting
  although some of the chapters are not as insightful or
  well-written as others. Historical references are sometimes
  given although the book itself has no footnotes or
  bibliography. The main source seems to the the personal
  experiences of the author Boye Lafayetter De Mente,
  a journalist, who often gives examples based on his
  own life in Japan.
  
  One possible annoyance is not using translations of the
  Japanese expressions as 'chapter titles', which are an
  interpretation of this aspect of Japanese culture as viewed
  by the author although the expressions are defined within
  the mini-essay of each chapter. But on first glance, one
  might confuse he quoted words in bold below the Japanese
  words as translations. Nonetheless, it seems to be a useful
  book that can be read causally without a tiresome, tedious
  academic approach.
• 
  Julia

  this is most definitely a book about 'people', as opposed to the language itself (i.e. don't buy this book to learn how to order sushi on your biz trip to Kyoto)...
  
  that being said, i love the book. i wish it were longer.
  
  its layout is basically a term/idiom given (in the kanji, romanji,and English phonetic spelling) and then a page or two of 'discussion', to describe some of the author's real-life experiences with the word(s)....
  
  usually, more bits of language usage are glossed over in the discussions, and if i had one actual gripe about the book its the lack of an index... (gasp! no index??)
  
  still love it.
  
  *much* cultural baggage being given to the reader there, and i would definitely consider it a resource to doing any sort of business with Japanese individuals or companies... it helps to give pointers to the understanding of how to interact with said parties, in a respectful and considerate manner, as well as to better understand how it is that they might be communicating with you.... simply understanding the words being passed back and forth is never enough (any linguist can tell you that), much of a proper use of a language is in its effect to the listener...
  
  good book.
• 
  Noreen

  De Mente's book provides a male juxtaposition with Kyoko Mori's female "Polite Lies". A good reference for American businessmen in Japan and probably China. De Mente's chapter, Okagesama de, references the role of Buddhist fate in human affairs and the fragility and impermanence of life. A better translation of Buddhist fate would include gratitude for the interdependent efforts of other people and animals, causes and conditions that made what you are thankful for possible. My mother translated Okagesama de as "Because of the efforts, hard work of others it was possible for x to happen." Okagesama de is recognition of the work of others in your accomplishment.
  
  De Mente includes "Itadakimasu" and "Gochisosama deshita" in the "Okagesama de" chapter. There must be an element of gratitude and appreciation in "Itadakimasu" for what was sacrificed for the food you are about to eat. " I wouldn't be eating if not for the sacrificing (plant and animal) of what I'm eating or the work of the fisherman, gardener,cook, etc kind of gratitude".
  
  
  
• 
  Susetyo Priyojati

  Other readers have said enough of it: repetitive, geared for foreign businessmen thinking of expanding to Japan - one or two decades ago. Brief, excellent, easy-to-digest explanation on the psyche of the Japanese and the history of the nation - yet repeated with little variations throughout the book to provide some background for each entry.
  I stopped reading midway, feeling that I wouldn't gain that much knowledge from the following pages, aside of some curious new words that I'd soon forget anyway. Except perhaps "maku satsu" - killing with silence.
• 
  Sara

  I thought this was going to be one of those fun books where you learn how a language has special, nuanced words that English does not have. This book is somewhat about this but it is SO business-oriented that it made it unfun for me to learn. Each entry was only 1/3 interesting cultural facts and 2/3 how to succeed in business dealings in Japan.
• 
  Mauri

  I seriously cannot read this book straight through. I've owned this for about four or five years and I've picked it up a few times, wanting to finish it. In the end though, I decided it's just one of those skim-through books.
• 
  Teresa

  The summary on the back makes it sound so much more interesting than it is... a lot of repetitiveness (seriously, each section says the same thing pretty much). It's a good book to read if you want to start a business deal in Japan but that's about it.
• 
  Brian

  - Kinda smirky
  - chapter headings are sometimes translations, but are sometimes jokey phrases
  - includes really obnoxiously inaccurate pronunciation guides
  
  
• 
  Michael

  A cool look into the cultural ideology of the Japanese from a linguistic view-point.
• 
  Jayk

  Excellent reference on Japanese concepts