Just bought: Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art (Shizuo Tsuji)

So I bought a new-to-me cookbook--thanks to Amazon's habit of including indie sellers of used books, I got the 1980 edition at a price lower than the shipping charge. But this puppy would be worth it at full list price--Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji is a massive tome, aimed at introducing authentic Japanese cuisine to an English-speaking audience the way Julia Child introduced authentic French cuisine to the same audience. Those who know a little about Japanese philosophy will realize that the "simple" in the title is in no way an implication that "simple" will equate to "easy;" the entire first half of the book is given over to teaching techniques, with repreentative recipes given as examples. The second half moves on to a more traditional cookbook format with scores of recipes, covering all the elements of a traditional Japanese meal. As the author himself points out, and the renowned food writer MFK Fisher reiterates in her guest preface, fewer and fewer modern Japanese have the time to do these no-shortcuts preparations, or even to educate themselves about the history and culture of their cuisine. But at least culinary missionaries such as Tsuji-san had taken it upon themselves to capture snapshots of this essential chunk of culture for preservation and perpetuation.