Just when I thought I had run out of things to do instead of work...
Today Tomoe and I took a ride to Kichijoji, where Nobunkyo, a Japanese publisher of books related to agriculture and traditional Japanese culture, has a library.
I've seen some of their books in stores or on the shelves of organic farms and cafes I've visited.
There are two series in particular that I had considered buying in the past - but given my budget and the fact that I have enough trouble sticking to a book in English, let alone a whole series in Japanese, I always talked myself out of it.
This time, however, since it's free, I brought a couple home.
Great Book Series for Language Learners & Culture Lovers
If you're learning Japanese, I highly recommend the つくってあそぼう (Tsukutte Asobou) series of children's picture books. They tell the stories of popular foods in the context of Japanese culture and history.
Today I borrowed:
- なっとうのえほん (Nattō no Ehon)
- そばのえほん (Soba no Ehon)
I've only been back from the library for an hour, but I'm already practically a professor of Nattology. I can't wait to get to the books about tofu, mochi, and miso.
Another great series: 昭和のくらし (Shōwa no Kurashi) - a photographic documentary of life during the Shōwa period. The volumes are broken down by theme:
- Farm Village Life
- Fishing Village Life
- City Life
- Children, etc.
And finally, there's 日本の食生活 (Nihon no Shoku Seikatsu), or Japanese Culinary Lifestyle. This series has one book for each prefecture, diving deep into traditional local foods - how they were prepared, and why. It's incredibly detailed.
This is actually why I went there in the first place: as part of my big dream project, I needed to do some research on traditional foods from the Chichibu area of Saitama.
With so many great books in that library to read, I won't have time for work until at least 2009.
