Folk Tales of Japan: 28 Japanese folk tales with cultural commentary

Great short reads - bath time companion can be picked up and put down easily..

It's a great read for anyone interested in Japanese culture. The author mixes stories with his own cultural insights in a way that is engaging, entertaining, and educational! I devoured this book in a day, and it even gave some great ideas on where to go when I visit Japan next month.

This book is part folk tales, and part Japanese history...and 100% fun to read. Still going through it but not because it's difficult reading, I'm just pacing myself. I recommend this to anyone interested in Japanese history and culture.

The author does entertaining and informative shorts on YouTube. This book is just entertaining and informative. Love reading this book

It's very brief though the stories are great with good insight to the background of Japanese culture

Was interesting to hear all these folk tales and learn the background on them. The author does a great job on making this engaging.

I love these! short pithy interesting tales of Japan. I like his youtube videos too

Incredibly insightful, well-written, grappling, and provides countless opportunities for further reading

Wonderfully written book of Japenese folktales that has fed my curiosity and fascination that I have for cultural artistic and folklore ,Asiatic but in particular Japanese, this book is informative witty and sad at times ,,clearly written and presented with some beautiful illustrations , a real little gem !

As a sporadic student of the Japanese language and culture for many years, I’ve not come across a more engaging and skilled storyteller. His engaging, approachable, empathic knowledgeable communication style is outstanding. Those of us who are attempting to understand a culture very different to the western one we’ve been raised in will undoubtedly appreciate his no nonsense witty explanations. The tales he explains in his books give a fantastic insight into not only the Japanese culture but also into what it is to be human. Outstanding! Looking forward to devouring whatever you publish next.

A lovely little volume of folktales, each with a lesson on Japanese history and culture. I'm really enjoying it and plan to get the entire collection. One small, silly nitpick: Though he explains that Ryuu (竜) or Lóng (龍) are different from Western "dragons" and explains their different origins, he doesn't give their Japanese or Chinese names to differentiate. I'd love for Westerners to learn that these are very different creatures and enjoy the folklores separately without conflating them, but that's just my Anthropology brain kicking in. Buy the book. It's a fun exploration into Japanese culture.

This book is filled 28 fantastic tales of Japanese folklore. The stories presented are by turns chilling, funny, and sweet. The commentary following each story is informative, witty and timely. The author shares his insights into history and culture in a way that anyone interested in Japan would find beautiful, entertaining, and useful. In addition, the artwork is charming! Separated into clear sections such as "Tales of Horror" and "Tales of Wit," the author has made it easy to either read through from cover to cover (as I did) or to skip around if one has a specific area of interest. Informative, but never pedantic, Mr. Ko's voice is clear, and I would compare the commentary to having a conversation about the reading with a knowledgeable friend. I often found myself smiling, growing a bit teary, or laughing out loud at the descriptions and explanations. He clearly separates the stories from his commentary, so I suppose it would be easy for a reader to skip the commentary if they wished, but if you did that, you'd be missing out significantly. One particular comparison of a historical figure from one of the tales to Keanu Reeves was particularly memorable and entertaining! The stories themselves are, for the most part, a few pages long at most, which makes this book perfect for those who tend to read in short bursts, but I found myself sucked in and saying, 'okay, just one more...' And then reading several! I wish I had the opportunity to award the book more than five stars. I will definitely be revisiting it again. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Japan specifically or folklore/fairytales/urban legends in general. I hope to read more from this author soon!

Es una coleccion d cuentos cortos japoneses y despues da una explicacion y sus comentarios personales. Es entretenido y para conocer algo mas la mentalidad japonesa. Recomendable