Japan's Cultural Code Words: 233 Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese by Boyé Lafayette de Mente

Japan's Cultural Code Words: 233 Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese Reviews

• 
  Angeli

  (Note: I could actually rate this up to 2.5, but I'm admittedly leaning toward the lower side of the rating.)
  
  This book is a rather comprehensive compendium of mini essays that provide insights on certain aspects of Japanese culture. Taken individually, the essays are skillfully written; I commend the varied discussion of themes and how various historical and cultural tidbits are integrated in rather unexpected ways. Also, I can acknowledge that the fairly generous sprinkling of practical tips would be useful from a business perspective. However, taken as a whole, I find the book quite tedious in the sense that it isn't organized for continuous reading. Through the redundancy in themes seeming objective tone, it subtly presents the writer's biases; with all the ways some themes were discussed, one might end up unconsciously taxed with a cynical impression of the culture. Generally the book is informative and may even be considered an artifact of the time it had been written. However, it is not quite balanced in its approach, potentially rendering the culturally curious unsatisfied; one might even think the writer was trying to disillusion readers from enthusiasm over Japanese culture. That said, an updated and reorganized edition of the book would be welcome.
• 
  Yuri Karabatov

  Finally finished after more than a year on the “currently reading” shelf.
  
  The book’s appearance is deceiving—it’s fairly thin and just over 300 pages. It even reads well, but it’s so dense with information that it was hard reading more that a few pages at a time.
  
  Liberally referring to Japan’s history, De Mente explains why the Japanese are the way they are today. The book mostly talks about business, work and sales, but there’s also quite a bit about art and behavior, again backed by excursions into history.
  
  I’m sure a lot is oversimplified for the uninitiated reader, and not as dramatic as De Mente paints it. Still, the book is worth reading even as the source of the “233 key terms” alluded to in the subtitle, as they are practically impossible to find (much less collect) for the casual reader and student of Japanese.
• 
  Gesine

  Interesting overall but really repetitive and clearly not meant to read in sequence. Also very heavy focus on business dealings with Japanese companies which is not what I expected.
• 
  Mark the bearded fruit juice drinker

  Many of the terms were woefully outdated even in 2004, but the book may be worth perusal by non-native speakers interested in bubble-era context.
• 
  Ricardo

  It would be a good book if someone had edited it and removed the repetitions that fill up at least half of the content. It is amazing how many times the author writes things like "during the Tokugawa shogunate the Japanese had to be extremely careful with their words and actions" and so on. There are two or three ideas and most of the topics are just a repetition of those same ideas. However the book has a good list of concepts that illustrate Japanese culture and those are nice things to learn.
• 
  Joyce

  This book is a must read for anyone doing business in Japan, and also anyone who is interested in Japanese culture. The book gives a long list of Japanese words and phrases, with a long chapter describing the cultural and business implications of each one. There is a huge amount of information about why the Japanese behave the way they do, and potentials pitfalls for Westerners who are trying to interact with them.
  
  
• 
  Sarah

  Useful and interesting if you're studying the culture and/or the language. I'd also recommend it as smart bathroom reading.
• 
  Marija S.

  A slow read, mostly about the world of business in Japan, at times repetitive.