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Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan | 
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| Author: Lisa Katayama
Creator: Joel Holland
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.85
You Save: $6.10 (41%)
New (34) Used (2) from $8.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 3111
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0811862151
Dewey Decimal Number: 640.410952
EAN: 9780811862158
ASIN: 0811862151
Publication Date: April 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
Japan has a way of thinking that is just . . . different. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Tokyo-born journalist Lisa Katayama's collection of urawaza (a Japanese word for secret lifestyle tricks and techniques). Want to turbocharge your sled? Spray the bottom with nonstick cooking spray. Can't find someone to water your plants while you're away? Place the plant on a water-soaked diaper, so it slowly absorbs water over time. The subject of popular TV shows and numerous books in Japan, these unusually clever solutions to everyday problems have never before been published in English until now! Urawaza collects more than 100 once-secret tricks, offering step-by-step directions and explanations in an eye-catching package as unconventional as its contents.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fun Tips for Better Living July 3, 2008
This book is like a fun version of Hints from Heloise...little tricks that you're surprised work, that make your every day life a little smoother. I like skimming the book, and I've gotten some good ideas from it already. Another nice thing is the explanation of why each tip works...I picked up some lite science while reading. That said, the book is a little layout heavy, with only one tip per page. If it was more packed, I think I would've given it 5 stars. Even so, it's a fun book to have around when you just wanna thumb through.
An excellent introduction to Japanese cleverness May 20, 2008
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
"Urawaza" is a word with a long history in Japan. In martial arts, it means "from the back", an unexpected or tricky move that only experts might know. In the computer gaming world it means programmers' back-doors that let players gain points, levels and advantage by doing something unexpected.
In society in general it represents frugal and clever household techniques. There's been a show on Japanese television for nine years where ordinary people share their tricks with other people. UTube is a great source of videos often taken from this show. The sound is often in Japanese, but the tricks work without sound. I've learned to perfectly fold a tee shirt in a few seconds, for example. An even more amazing video shows how to make babies stop crying by breathing on them after drinking a bit of red or white wine.
This book is an excellent introduction to the genre. The ideas work -- I tried the shallot trick for a stuffy nose and I was cleared up in a few seconds -- and the illustrations are excellent and amusing. Each of these Urawazas comes with a technical explanation of why they may work. The philosophical approach is a commentary on the loss of ingenuity in an era of specialized products, many of which don't work very well.
If you enjoy reading the cooking shortcuts in cooking magazines or the shop hints in "Popular Mechanics", you'll find this a real adventure in human ingenuity.
Robert C. Ross 2008
Entertaining and totally useful! May 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Love learning the super creative ways to be more efficient in every day living. I think this would also would make a cool & unique gift too.
This book changed my life April 22, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
These tips allowed me to carry heavier things, improve my karaoke skills, eliminate excess beer foam, overclock my car battery and cure my hiccups. The tips and the instructions on how they work are so fascinating that they lodge in the mind easily--I may not need to know how to remove gum from someone's hair for five or ten years...but if I ever need to do it, I'll remember the Urawaza method.
Clever, useful and fun tricks April 1, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Urawaza contains dozens of cool tricks, everyday inspirations and ways to impress your friends and family by cleverly doing things better.
I have tried several of the tips. My faves are using a piece of bread to pick up glass (pg. 70)--works like a charm! This weekend I made potato salad and used the super-cool egg-peeling technique (p. 96) and impressed my BBQ guests!
Urawaza is a fun guide that appeals to that part within us all that likes to simultaneously be clever & practical. The book also couples simple scientific explanations that help us understand more about our environment through. It will be a hit with Japanese culture fans, DIY enthusiasts, those who appreciate Everyman wisdom and especially young folks who enjoy exploring our world in new ways.
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