I'll have to check out those sources of yours.  I'd
offer my own, but I don't have my listing of books.

The ones I know off the top of my head are...

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan 
- Herbert P. Bix

Crafting Selves : Power, Gender, and Discourses of
Identity in a Japanese Workplace 
- Dorinne K. Kondo  

Japanese Women : New Feminist Perspectives on the
Past, Present, and Future 
- Kumiko Fujimura-Fanselow and Atsuko Kameda 

Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945 
- Gail Lee Bernstein 

Pacific War, Nineteen Thirty-One to Nineteen
Forty-Five : a Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in
World War II 
- Saburo Ienaga

Modern Japan: A Historical Survey 
- Mikiso Hane

The American Occupation of Japan : The Origins of the
Cold War in Asia 
- Michael Schaller 

Remaking Japan : The American Occupation As New Deal 
- Theodore Cohen, Herbert Passin 
(HIGHLY recommended reading about the occupation)

Transcending Stereotypes : Discovering Japanese
Culture and Education 
- Barbara Finkelstein

And likely a bunch more that I don't remember...

        Amanda's green eyes narrowed. "Hey, we're
both foreigners.
We're going to get enough flak as it is.  I doubt my
hairstyle is going
to make much of a difference."  Amanda picked up a
map and studied the
route to school.  It would not do for her to get
lost on the first day.
"Why couldn't they have enrolled me in a place like
Furinken High?" she

***THat's Furinkan

***Oh yeah...I suppose there are some brown
uniforms... I think you might have said you picked it
because it was like that in the Manga or something,
but usually uniforms seem to be blue or plaid blue...



        By the time Amanda sat down at one of the
cubicles, the...feelings had started.  She tried to
ignore them, but they were a persistent pressure on
her mind and body.  She shook her head angrily and
began bathing.
        I don't want to feel this way, she though.  I
don't want what happened last time happen again.  She
remembered last time, remembered how much it hurt, the
pain, the anguish, the confusion.  She did not want to
go through that again-.
        "Amanda?"
        Amanda jumped and turned to Chiyeko, who was
naked and well on her way to finishing bathing. 
"What?"
        "Are you all right?"
        "Yeah, why?"
        "I don't know.  For a second you
looked...sad."
        Amanda felt the blush rising to her face, but
managed a weak grin.  "I'm fine, really."
        Chiyeko nodded hesitantly and continued
bathing.  Amanda waited a moment and then also
continued cleaning her body.  From behind her she
heard Nomi mutter something to Chiyeko, but the noise
around them made it impossible to hear everything. 
She caught the words, "gaijin," "embarrassed," and
"baths."  In the reflection from the mirror in front
of her, she saw Chiyeko nod slightly.
        Amanda's expression was bleak.  So.  Even her
friends were talking about her behind her back. 
Amanda sighed.  She was not very surprised, just
disappointed.  She had hoped that they were different.
 Sometimes she wished she were different.  Gaijin. 
Foreigner.  She hatedthat word.

***OOOOK. Red light!  I'm not entirely sure what you
are pointing to here, but.  Gaijin on average do NOT
have it as hateful as you put it.  It may seem so to
individuals who have never experienced discrimination
before, however, if you've been through it
before...the Japanese are usually REALLY easy to
ignore.  I'm not big on Sento myself... I'm more of an
onsen type, but the very worst I've had is guys in an
elevator talking to each other about what I'm doing
there... entertainment?  Yeah yeah racial
bigotry...grow a thicker skin, it happens.  Outside of
that one occasion at a Japanese inn (ryokan) out in
the mountains... no problems at all other than some
staring them many many times I've been to onsens.

***In my comments on your first edition of this i
pointed to what I am about to say now.  There is
certainly some discrimination against foreigners in
Japan.  I'm one of the first people who like to dispel
myths and stereotypes that even the Japanese believe
about themselves.  Try renting an apartment... that's
fun.  If the real estate agency will see you (DO NOT
go to Century 21), some landlords just are afraid of
foreigners...particularly non-American (American
meaning white in their minds).  You need a co-signer
who is Japanese and over 30...even if you're
Japanese...but where is a foreigner who just moved to
Japan supposed to get one?  And it goes on...the point
is yeah there's some stuff that goes on, but it's not
as bad as you seem to be painting it, nor as bad as
some books I've read paint it either.

***I do like your sparring scene with Akane and
Amanda... although it is still quite possible that
Akane is just a brute (fashback to her punches during
sparring).  A demo of Akane jumping to a rooftop or
Ranma do an Amaguriken demo with amaguri (sweet
chestnuts) may be a tad more Matrix-like, thus
convincing...  just a thought.

All in all...I'm wondering where its going, so I'd
certainly like to see some more.

J

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