{"id":27405,"date":"2013-01-27T11:25:04","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T15:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=27405"},"modified":"2013-01-28T15:48:44","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T19:48:44","slug":"jq-magazine-book-review-j-boys-kazuos-world-tokyo-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/27\/jq-magazine-book-review-j-boys-kazuos-world-tokyo-1965\/","title":{"rendered":"JQ Magazine: Book Review \u2013 \u2018J-Boys: Kazuo\u2019s World, Tokyo, 1965\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“J-Boys<\/em> is a historical lesson for readers of all ages. Although the story takes place 20 years after World War II, Japan is still very much scarred by the war and Oketani mentions how it affected the mindsets of the country\u2019s people.” (Stone Bridge Press)<\/p><\/div>\n

By\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Rashaad Jorden<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(<\/strong><\/em>Yamagata-ken<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, 2008-2010) for\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>JQ\u00a0magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Rashaad worked at four elementary schools and three junior high schools on JET, and taught a weekly conversion class in Haguro (his village) to adults. He completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010, and was also a member of a taiko group in Haguro.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The 1960s were a decade of enormous change around the world. Although Japan didn\u2019t experience the upheaval some other countries did during that period, for one teenager, the mid-1960s were shaping up to be a different era.<\/p>\n

Shogo Oketani<\/a>\u2019s novel J-Boys: Kazuo\u2019s World, Tokyo, 1965<\/em><\/a> takes readers into the lives of young Kazuo Nakamoto and, to a lesser extent, his friends\u2014younger brother Yasuo, his friend Nobuo, Nobuo\u2019s older brother Haruo, and Kazuo\u2019s classmate Minoru. As steeped in tradition as Japan is (and continues to be), Oketani paints a picture of a society beginning to be seriously touched by foreign influences. Inspired by the 1964 Olympics in their hometown, Kazuo and Haruo usually head to an empty lot after school to emulate 100-meter champion Bob Hayes (It was Kazuo\u2019s dream to be an Olympic sprinter). And like many young people across the world, Haruo went crazy for a quartet from Liverpool, often singing \u201cA Hard Day\u2019s Night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essentially, J-Boys <\/em>(which was based on Oketani\u2019s childhood)serves a journey through the ups-and-downs of adolescence while introducing younger readers to Japanese culture and the changing landscape of the country. Kazuo\u2019s father speaks about the rise in TV\u2019s popularity with an air of sadness, blaming it for the loss of a nearby cinema. Likewise, Kazuo feels the new Tokyo (much of it fueled by Olympic-related construction) he sees during his Saturday afternoon walks is not necessary an improved one. Kazuo develops a crush on a girl he\u2019s known for quite a while, but sees a couple of close friends move just prior to the start of a new school year. So he realizes he\u2019s about to embark on an unpredictable journey.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Because the protagonist of J-Boys<\/em> is a teenager, the book is not surprisingly geared toward younger readers. To familiarize them with Japan, the book includes sidebars with information about Japanese terms and other items readers may be unaware of. While some may wonder why the publisher felt the need to include sidebars with information about rock n\u2019 roll, the Beatles and sumo, many (if not most) readers will appreciate the information in the sidebars. Even readers who have spent time in Japan might be unaware of the cultural references Oketani uses in the book, such as kamishibai<\/em><\/a> and Sarutobi Sasuke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

J-Boys<\/em> is also a historical lesson for readers of all ages. Although the story takes place 20 years after World War II, Japan is still very much scarred by the war and Oketani mentions how it affected the mindsets of the country\u2019s people. When Kazuo\u2019s class refuses to drink the disgusting miruku<\/em> served during lunchtime, their teacher from the previous year, Mr. Tanaka, lashed out at the students, stating they were privileged to drink milk considering that soldiers during the war had to drink mud. And Kazuo is annoyed whenever he hears adults say \u201cduring the war,\u201d a way of reminding Japan\u2019s youth to be grateful for what they have, considering that during the mid-1940s people couldn\u2019t do certain things (such as study or be choosy about their food).<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t feel like Oketani is talking down to you, you\u2019ll enjoy J-Boys<\/em> a lot. While it certainly isn\u2019t the most informational text about Japan in the 1960s, you\u2019ll definitely learn something from it.<\/p>\n

For more\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>JQ<\/strong>\u00a0magazine book reviews,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>click here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rashaad Jorden\u00a0(Yamagata-ken, 2008-2010) for\u00a0JQ\u00a0magazine. Rashaad worked at four elementary schools and three junior high schools on JET, and taught a weekly conversion class in Haguro (his village) to adults. He completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010, and was also a member of a taiko group in Haguro. The 1960s were a decade of enormous change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,40,291,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articlejournalism","category-books","category-jq-magazine","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkZ7m-781","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27405"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28700,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27405\/revisions\/28700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}