Books by Isao Ebihara

Dr. Isao Ebihara, a native of Japan, has been teaching the Japanese language to college students in the Vancouver area of Canada since 2001. He understands that the syntax of the Japanese language is unique and significantly different than English and other European languages including other Asian tongues. Dr. Ebihara is aware that the differences between the syntaxes and writing systems of the Japanese and other languages give significant challenges to many students, particularly from the Western hemisphere. This book was written out of a realization that students need something more than a textbook. This work includes various levels of the Japanese language & culture to be utilized by students as a guidebook to review their learning. The text is also a handbook for the Japanese culture as well as the language. This volume is a guidebook which combines chapters of plain introduction of Japanese grammar and discussions of cultural components including culinary and pop-culture together. The author's desire is to explain the raison d'etre of the Japanese language and culture, rather than simply responding to a fascination in a trend or fad.

The Yasukuni Shrine or Yasukuni Jinja, with the literal meaning "peaceful nation shrine" is a controversial Shinto monument located in Tokyo, Japan. It is dedicated to the spirits of soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Japanese emperor. In the decades since World War II, the Shrine has been a source of many controversies among them the inclusion of 14 Convicted Class-A War Criminals (crimes against peace). The shrine's account of Japan's wartime actions are considered by many to be revisionist. Its museum's exhibits and pamphlets propose that Japan entered the World War II in order to build peaceful world without racial discriminations. The primary focus of this volume is a comparison of Shinto - particularly Pre-World War II Shinto - to today's pop culture: its holy war like-jihad on the spiritual, social and political realities of our modern world.