Nancy Masterson Sakamoto was born in 1931. As someone married to a Japanese man, and as someone teaching American studies in a Japanese university, she has a unique perspective on both American and Japanese cultures. This perspective is brought to bear in her essay, "Conversational Ballgames." Her ability to equate American and Japanese conversations with simple games that most of us have played at one time or another provides her readers with insights as to why the old saying "east is east, and west is west" may be more valid than ever, despite our shrinking global community.

The Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts

From the site: "The Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts is produced for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Kodansha International Ltd., which is responsible for the contents of the site. Reproduction of photographs appearing on this site is prohibited."

Language, Politics, and Composition: A Conversation with Noam Chomsky

From the site: "It would be fair to say that Chomsky’s scholarship over the last three decades has forever altered our notions of the integral relationship between language and the human mind."

Conversational Ballgames