2nd Floor Show me where

759.13/Williamson
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 759.13/Williamson Checked In
Subjects
Published
New York : Princeton Architectural Press 2006.
Language
English
Main Author
Kate T. Williamson, 1979- (-)
Physical Description
unpaged : col. ill
ISBN
9781568985404
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This delicately crafted artist's journal offers colorful impressions of a young woman's extended visit in Kyoto, Japan. Williamson's watercolors are playful, bright and spare, and each section illustrates a theme or topic that has inspired the artist/author over her travels to a country devoted to attention to detail. For example, Williamson explores numerous rituals of dining, such as offering a guest green tea accompanied by a piece of wagashi, or bean paste confection, and illustrates over two pages the elegant lunch she ordered at a temple serving shojin ryori, the vegetarian cuisine of Zen Buddhist monks. The sacred rope that unites the "male" and "female" rocks of the Shinto site Meoto-Iwa warrants both an intimate view (the rope) and a full, breathtaking seascape of the wedded rocks. Williamson renders eye-catching holidays from August's O'bon, featuring a trio of three white-socked and sandaled feet under pink kimonos, to April's stately sakura (cherry blossom) season. Some of the people Williamson depicts are sumo wrestlers wearing headphones and riding the subway, and two geishas side by side in full regalia-one apprentice, the other professional. For travelers to Japan, and those who treasure their visit, this is a splendid record. 350 color illus. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

In this unusual nonfiction picture book, Williamson (Hello Kitty Everywhere!), who lived in Japan for a year, illustrates an assortment of images from Japanese life: electric heating mats, the cords attached to cell phones, the differences between a maiko (an apprentice geisha) and a geisha, the soy sauce for sushi that comes in a plastic fish. She captures many of the everyday aspects of Japanese culture that visitors notice but citizens take for granted. Her brightly colored illustrations cover many full and double pages, with and without paragraphs of text alongside. This unique book on Japanese culture may have a niche market in a gift shop or souvenir store; its lack of a table of contents or index makes it something to leaf through rather than consult for practical information. The text, written in cursive script, is also sometimes difficult to read. Not an essential purchase.--Ravi Shenoy, Naperville P.L., IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.