<Blind faith is un-Buddhist.

I don't disagree, but I'm an academic. The understanding of Buddhism I have is academic and my arguments are based in issues of history as I understand it.

<I quote scholars and you quote yourself, as if you are an authority. State your name and your credentials then.


This tells me that my arguments alone are insufficient to identify me as an authority to you- really I wouldn't claim to be on this topic. As I said, I study mostly American Buddhism today- no I will not provide my name because I like to preserve some anonymity on the internet. I have a M.A and am doing PhD coursework. The problem that you are having is that you are not taking an academic view of the discussion.

>Your faith is greater than your wisdom

This is an ad-hominem fallacy at its best. I'm not Buddhist at all. I have no faith because I study the topic. I respect the tradition but I certainly don't worship in it. This is a discussion about historical understanding- something that you have garnered from questionable scholars. Here is a brief reading list of real scholars you can take and read to see what actual authorities in the field are saying.

Don Lopez: Elaborations on Emptiness
Don Lopez: The Heart Sutra Explained this is a series of translated commentaries on the Heart Sutra. Though it uses the long version, which is problematic.

J.L Austin: How to Do Things With Words This will tell you a lot about the linguistic empiricists and how words function in religious settings.

If you want to read the theory that I do you might also read
Alfred North Whitehead: Process and Reality
Also:Whithead's Symbolism: It's meaning and Effect
And
Bruce Lincoln's Authority

For Buddhist histories that are not popularist:

Peter N. Gregory: Tsung-Mi and the Sinification of Buddhism

Gimello's Paths to Liberation
or his Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen

For modern philosophical takes on Buddhism Nancy Frankenberry's Religion and Radical Empiricism though to understand her you need a wider knowledge base than you probably have. Here, let me suggest something for you to read first:

James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
James: The Will to Believe
James: Pragmatism
Rorty: Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
Rorty: Consequences of Pragmatism

This one is particularly important for you:
Rorty: Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth

You want to know about the origins of Buddhism? How about Vajrayana?
Snellgrove: Indo-Tibetan Buddhism
Pollock (a great book): The Language of the Gods in the World of Men
For a modern take: Wedemeyer: Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism

Davidson: Indian Esoteric Buddhism
Bhattacharyya: An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism These last few present conflicting views on the nature of Tantrism, particularly the last one that might fit your "fundamentalist" category.

TO understand American Buddhism better:
Merton: Zen and the Birds of Appetite
Eck: A New Religious America
Tweed (this is one of my favorite books ever) The American Encounter with Buddhism 1844-1912
Neusner (ed) World Religions in America
on individuals: Sterling: Zen Pioneer
Hotz: Holding the Lotus to the Rock Sokei-an was a traditionalist and a near mirror of Thich Nhat Hanh, yet his teachings never took off.
Since you Love Thich Nhat Hanh: Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 and the companion to that, Merton's journals
Another of Hanh's Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire This is before he was popular and so is much more interesting than some of his later works.

Also Mcmahan: The Making of Buddhist Modernism

I felt so sorry for him that year, because I was one of the very few people (and the only journalist) that had a chance to interact with him in a professional manner and talk about a lot of fascinating things (like his early comic strips/pre-Joker era works, his relationship with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster & how Neal Adams was there to support them during their legal difficulties over the rights to Superman in the 70's).

And his stories were amazing too: he almost met Heath Ledger on the set of The Dark Knight, but the timing wasn't right and then there were some scheduling problems that prevented Heath from meeting Mr. Robinson, which is a shame.

He was very fond of the TAS & 1989 Jokers because they reflected his personal philosophy (flashy personality, fearless gangster, imaginative ways of dealing with his victims, very unusual view of the world) & said that he very much enjoyed the Brave & The Bold cartoon because it was contextually and aesthetically in the same vein as his, Dick Sprang, Curt Swan, Bill Finger and many other classic artists' stories that were published at DC Comics at the time.

He was very, very happy that this character of his that they originally planned to kill of in the very first issue of his initial appearance, because they didn't believe that he would become iconic or popular, got to live and to prosper, not to mention the fact that Mr. Robinson was very much pleased with the way he evolved over the years (from his initial concept that mixed certain images and ideas from the gangster genre/Poe's Red Death from The Masque of the Red Death/Gwynplaine from the 1928 film) and that he truly transcended his original comic book appearance and how he never stops reinventing himself.

He was totally okay with what Bill Finger did with the very first Red Hood story and found Alan Moore's later iteration quite interesting (although he was concerned that it sort of made the Joker way too violent), even though he was always concerned about preserving the character's aura of mystery.

In any case, I would like to recommend you all to check these amazing books out, it's great if you want to find out more information about Mr. Robinson's personal journey & development:

1. https://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Joker-Adventures-Comic-Art/dp/1506702252

2. https://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Robinson-N-C-Christopher-Couch/dp/0810977648

This is a list that I saved (from reddit a while back. I wish I could give credit to the original poster, but the person who posted it also quoted the list. So whoever compiled this list. KUDOS! I wish I could give you credit:

>So the broader history book is A New History of Korea and starts very very far back. It will provide a general overview of Korean history. As for modern history if you don't know much about Korea's modern history a good place to start is Korea's 20th Century Odyssey. It starts in around the 1890s and if I remember correctly ends with the democracy movements of the 1980s. It very clearly divides the different periods of Korea's 20th century experience e.g. the colonial period, the war and the Park Chung-Hee regime. It is a very good starting point. If you want to have a deeper understanding of the colonial period there are two books I would recommend, the first being Colonial Modernity in Korea which covers a lot of the developments in Korea during the colonial period. Another book I want to recommend is Under the Black Umbrella which is a collection of first hand experiences and stories of people who lived during the colonial period. As for the Park Chung-Hee period there are two suggestions I have but they mostly focus more on economic policy and development. The first book is Korea's Development Under Park Chung-Hee and the second book is Reassessing the Park Chung-Hee Era. Both are pretty high in economic content but the second book does also have a lot of content focusing on political developments. If you read a few of these you will have a good understanding of Korean modern history.

>Mullard moved the same rigs and machines from Blackburn to Japan during the war

WW2? umm thats not really possible, Britain and Japan were fighting each other at the time, remember?

Actually it was post-WW2. In the early 50s Philips and matsushita did a deal to build a factory in Osaka. Konosuke Matsushita was reforming Matsushita after WW2 (it became Panasonic) and sent an executive to the West to negotiate a deal for a vacuum tube plant collaboration, more to make CRTs for TVs than vacuum tubes. The executive (I forget his name) tried to do a deal with many companies in Europe and the US, but noone wanted to partner with matsushita at the time - only Philips showed any real interest.

One of the highlights of the deal was a MEI/Philips factory that would build TV tubes, fluorescent lights, and incidentally, also vacuum tubes. Philips gave up some Mullard tube designs to matsushita (I think in exchange for a royalty fee) but matsushita engineers messed with them a lot (and some would say improved on the mullard designs!).

And this wasnt a Mullard factory, it was a Philips/MEI collaboration but run entirely by MEI. this deal was very important to Matsushita at the time because they felt they were being trounced by Sony and setting up the factory was an attempt to gain a huge amount of prestige within Japan. It worked.

Konosuke Matsushita was a very interesting guy. If you are interested in stuff like this, there is a great book about him.

> the 6DN7s that I have, don't look like any of the other US made 6DN7s

interesting. Post pics, I'll try to ID them!

edit: can't spell

/u/space_fanatic /u/kindaabstruse and /u/fleetmind I'm home and I've got the book for ya: "Supreme Commander: MacArthur's Triumph in Japan" by Seymour Morris, Jr.

https://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Commander-MacArthurs-Triumph-Japan-ebook/dp/B00DB3D6C2

Hope ya'll enjoy. Its very readable. Does a good job of blending factual history and dynamic pacing to keep the book moving along and you dont ever feel bogged down or overwhelmed. Hope you enjoy.

I am assuming you can't read Japanese.

Reading Materials:

Chronicles of Oda Nobunaga. Primary source record by one of his vassals.
Description of Japan Primary source by Jesuit Luis Frois comparing Japan and Europe.

Japonius Tyrannus by Jeroen Lamers on Oda Nobunaga

Hideyoshi (Harvard East Asian Monographs) on Hideyoshi and Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu (Tuttle Classics) on Tokugawa Ieyasu. These are outdated but I'd recommend anyone else other than Stephen Turnbull.

Speaking of Turnbull, everyone else please look in The Samurai Sourcebook and Samurai Commanders. The only reason I'm putting Turnbull on the list is there seem to be no other English sources. Just remember Turnbull takes propaganda, fiction, and rumor at face value (interestingly he says Sadler did, but Sadler's book is oooooold) and from time to time have outright mistakes. If he talks tactics, ninjas, backroom politics, or conversations without citing a primary or Japanese secondary source, use the information with caution. Also IIRC most of his general numbers (ie numbers he produce without saying which primary source they're from) is can be traced back to Meiji Imperial Army book which is not accurate.

I might get back to you with the others if I get around to it, but as the request is large and I'm super busy lately I'll just leave you with a roundabout translation/paraphrase of Frois' description of Nobunaga:
>He is of average height, slender, little mustache, and has a high voice. He likes war and is constantly focused on training for war. He is very proud and very strict in delivering justice. If someone dishonours him he will without a doubt get revenge, but sometimes he displays a human and merciful side. He sleeps little and gets up early. He is not greedy, is decisive and very experienced at warfare. He [can be] incredibly impetuous and frantic but is not always so. He barely listens to the advice of his vassals, and all greatly respect him. He doesn't drink, eats little, is incredibly frank to others, and is arrogant about his own opinion. He looks down on all the other princes of Japan, and speaks to them as if they're subordinates. Everyone obeys him like an absolute monarch. Even when the fortunes of war are against him, he's calm and great at enduring hardship. He has great reason and judgement, and treats any kind of rites to God, the Buddha, pagan divination or superstition with disdain. In name at first he acts as if he belongs to Hokke Sect (Nichren Buddhism), but after attaining greatness he looks down on all idols. In a few points he follows Zen Buddhism and does not believe in the immortality of the soul or rewards and punishments in the afterlife. His house is incredibly clean, and he is incredibly meticulous in everything. He hates protracting in conversations and long preludes, and talks friendly even with lowly servants. He likes famous tea bowls, horses, swords, falconry, and really likes sumo wrestling. No one is allowed to wear weapons before him. He has a slight depressed look. Even when he meets difficulty he is fearless. Everyone obeys his every word.

Posted the following on a very similar thread a few days ago:

I enjoyed Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere when I first read it in 1981, and it has great illustrations, but I can't recommend it. It was written by two (at the time) very inexperienced Aikido students and there are a lot of errata.

Basic list:

• A Life in Aikido: The Biography of Founder Morihei Ueshiba - a pretty good basic biography.
  
• Transparent Power - Tatsuo Kimura's book on his experiences with Yukiyoshi Sagawa.
  
• Aikido: My Spiritual Journey - the autobiography of Gozo Shioda.
  
• Mitsugi Saotome's books
  
• Books by Stan Pranin / Aikido Journal
  
• Ellis Amdur's books
  
• Bill Gleason's books
  
  That should keep you busy for awhile... :)
  

Here are a few books I recommended to someone else that you might find useful

>So the broader history book is A New History of Korea and starts very very far back. It will provide a general overview of Korean history. As for modern history if you don't know much about Korea's modern history a good place to start is Korea's 20th Century Odyssey. It starts in around the 1890s and if I remember correctly ends with the democracy movements of the 1980s. It very clearly divides the different periods of Korea's 20th century experience e.g. the colonial period, the war and the Park Chung-Hee regime. It is a very good starting point. If you want to have a deeper understanding of the colonial period there are two books I would recommend, the first being Colonial Modernity in Korea which covers a lot of the developments in Korea during the colonial period. Another book I want to recommend is Under the Black Umbrella which is a collection of first hand experiences and stories of people who lived during the colonial period. As for the Park Chung-Hee period there are two suggestions I have but they mostly focus more on economic policy and development. The first book is Korea's Development Under Park Chung-Hee and the second book is Reassessing the Park Chung-Hee Era. Both are pretty high in economic content but the second book does also have a lot of content focusing on political developments. If you read a few of these you will have a good understanding of Korean modern history.

I don't have personal accounts to recommend, but there are at least three books I can think of that you really shouldn't miss.

(1) The War Years 1939-1945: A Nonconfirmist History of Our Times, by I.F. Stone. Stone was the model for the oconoclastic investigative journalists in America and has never been surpassed in my opinion. If you're politically conservative you might not like his opinions, but his journalism was pretty much anassailable factually. Just about anyone can learn something from reading his work.
http://www.amazon.ca/War-Years-1939-1945-Nonconfirmist-History/dp/0316817716/ref=sr_1_28?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293114940&sr=1-28


(2) Hiroshima Notes, by Kenzaburo Oe. Most North American readers know John Hersey's "Hiroshima," which is a very good book, but I find Oe's book gets more into the skin of the people who were on the ground at the time of the blast. It also follows issues arising from the bombings into the present day. Oe is primarily a novelist, and is a Nobel Prize winner at that (1964 I think), and his writing is amazing.
http://www.amazon.ca/Hiroshima-Notes-Kenzaburo-Oe/dp/0802134645/ref=sr_1_30?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293115100&sr=1-30

(3) Tokyo Rose: Orphan of the Pacific, by Masayo Duus. There is no Tokyo Rose and there never was. The legend of Tokyo Rose grew out of the existence of a number of English-speaking female announcers on Japanese-run radio stations in the Pacific theatre during the Second World War. The identities of some of these announcers are known, while others are not. Most were nisei, meaning they were born or raised in North American, but of Japanese heritage. Despite this, one woman, American-born Iva Toguri, was convicted of treason for allegedly having been Tokyo Rose. She was later pardoned and it seems likely now that she did little if anything to help the Japanese war effort. This is a biography of Toguri and an examination of the Tokyo Rose phenomenon. Many of the most lurid aspects of the Tokyo Rose legend seem to have had their genesis less in fact and more in patriotic fervor (and likely the exotic, slightly taboo (at that time) image of the Asian woman in the minds of white Americans).
http://www.amazon.ca/Tokyo-Rose-Pacific-Masayo-Duus/dp/0870113542/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293115171&sr=1-2

Not exactly what you asked for, but I hope you find something interesting.

To be honest with you I don't think I could even ask him. He really never talked about it much and when I was little I asked him questions and that was finally about the time he was ready to open up about it.

He has got a book that the family kind of coerced him into finally finishing and actually publishing. He told me when it was finally done that it wasn't for him, it was for those who never got to tell it, the real heros.

The picture I referred to with my uncle far left with the helmet and Ira Hayes seated at his feet.

with a "?"

good read, but this has him Identified.

The amazing thing, these photos sat in my fathers office for years with a personal note hanging on the wall.

I wish I saw him more often, we now live many states away.

Oh yeah he was in the Carlson Raiders too!

Jealous :O I HIGHLY recommend you read The Sun In My Eyes: Two-Wheeling East by [Josie Dew] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Sun-My-Eyes-Two-Wheeling/dp/0751530182/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1348046482&sr=8-7&keywords=josie+dew).

She did what you are about to do and her book is great, funny, informative and full of the kindness of strangers she met along the way. (one couple left her the key to their shop and told her to sleep by the till)
Theres also a very useful appendix where she lists what she took with her/brands of bike parts/essential hygiene stuff.

There's a lot of books written in Japanese from various wrestlers which unfortunately may never get translated. Here's a few. The Amazon Japan links should be capable of sending internationally via Amazon Global. There are a few Antonio Inoki books while searching on Amazon Japan

• Sanshiro Takagi - About his business management in growing DDT Pro Wrestling from the beginning all the way to it's sale to CyberAgent
  
• Meiko Satomura - It's about her 22 years in the business and going through the dark ages in Japanese wrestling (especially the Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami event)
  
  
  ---
  
  
• There is a Shinsuke Nakamura book from his NJPW days that was officially translated to English, King of Strong Style: 1980-2014
  
• Be Happy - The History of Ice Ribbon Girls Pro-Wrestling: 2006-2016 . Just a basic show by show history (matches, wrestlers, attendance figures, etc.) from a superfan and key events in company history. Especially if wanting to know a bit of Emi Sakura and Riho's history in the promotion prior to moving onto Gatoh Move and AEW

You cannot go wrong with Ambrose's book, it's the book the entire series is based on:

Stephen Ambrose "Band of Brothers"

Also, Richard Winters wrote his memoirs and those are also great, first hand account from the leader of Easy Company.

Amazon Link

OP, there are two Jiro books. The one listed on your link is just pretty pictures with a little bit of information on each kind of sushi neta. On the other hand this one is more of a cookbook. For 266 pages, it's a deep book. It extensively discusses a number of different sushi neta, the anatomy of bluefin tuna, how he breaks it down, and how the quality of the meat changes in every month of the year. The book also tells you how to shape nigiri and it has a number of different recipes; unfortunately, the recipes don't actually have the quantities required for each ingredient.

Even though it doesn't list the amounts you need for each ingredient, I would strongly recommend the Jiro book I linked, and I would recommend against the Jiro book that you linked.

That is a good point, however, they did protect Jews who were in Japan at the time from german persecution, they did allow Jews feeling Europe to transit through Japan (despite agreements with Germany to the contrary) and they did have a plan to establish a Jewish State somewhere in Asia after their (Japanese) victory.

Sources:

https://www.amazon.ca/Edokko-Growing-Foreigner-Wartime-Japan/dp/1936236141

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Japan

Nice. Enjoy your trip in Japan.

Last time I was there, I picked up Confessions of a Yakuza by Junichi Saga at the Narita airport bookstore (in the English section). It's a short read but really captivated me. I devoured it in a few sittings.

It's in also ebook form now: Amazon link.​

The goofy thing is that when I was a teenager (for some wacky reason) I started reading a book "I was a Kamikaze" (yes, it does exist). My parents got REALLY WORRIED about me when they saw that. It was pretty funny.
https://www.amazon.com/Eyewitness-Accounts-I-Was-Kamikaze/dp/1445634821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512054855&sr=8-1&keywords=I+was+a+Kamikaze
It's probably a great book to have on your bookshelf when people come over to visit!

I read The Secrets of Mariko a few years back, where a female American journalist shadowed a Japanese housewife. The American journalist kept trying to push her agenda of "wouldn't you be happier with a career and in the workforce?" and the housewife kept telling her - "having a job doesn't necessarily mean being happy, and I'm happy with my role now." Your post reminded me of this book, and how entering the Japanese workforce isn't exactly a desirable option.

http://www.amazon.com/Cutthroats-Adventures-Sherman-Driver-Pacific-ebook/dp/B000XUBG5A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405379962&sr=8-1&keywords=pacific+tank+memoir

i've read that one, its pretty good

I'll check it out. A recommendation for you in return: Goodbye Darkness. A great memoir from a marine who served in the pacific theatre.

This doesn't specifically address your question but it does shine some light on what was going on in that part of the world at the time. It's a great read if you're interested at all about the war in the pacific.

Manchester is widely considered to be one of the US's premiere historians.

William Manchester: Goodbye Darkness

http://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Darkness-Memoir-Pacific-War/dp/0316501115/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1422564197&sr=8-11&keywords=war+in+the+pacific

From an American perspective, Goodbye Darkness by William Manchester

From a German perspective, Iron Coffins by Herbert Werner

William Manchester's memoir Goodbye, Darkness