Tokyo Travel Sketchbook: Kawaii Culture, Wabi Sabi Design, Female Samurais and Other Obsessions by Amaia ArrazolaMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a present from me to my mother, who loves all things Japanese. The best thing about giving books as presents to family members is, it's a gift that keeps on giving! It's like gifting YOURSELF as well, hehe, so I was very happy when my mom let me read it when she was done.
I think we were not the target audience for the book, though. Don't get me wrong: the illustrations are LOVELY (but definitely not for children, tee hee only for mature audiences!). But I was struck with the general lack of the minimum of scholarly research undertaken for the project. There were quite a few pages where the artist would label an item - perhaps a piece of food - as "Unknown," and leave it at that. Whatever happened to researching it afterwards on the Internet?! The editor must be taken to task for this, as well!
Conclusion? It's a book for those who know nothing of Japan, and haven't been. It's an introduction, of the shallowest kind. And if that's what you're looking for, then that's what you'll get. But there are other, and better books, out there.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment