This is a book that aims to explore not one ancient culture but three. I will refrain here from calling that shared geographic region "the Far East" because the term is exclusive and euro-centric. The idea of the book seems to be very ambitious. I do know little about the history of China, Japan, and Korea— maybe a little less of the latter; however, uniting the three nations who have a shared history of antagonism and conflict in one book resulted in skimming over each nation's history and culture.

The book is in part Booth's reflections on history and geography, part travelogue, part reportage. Going into this book, I felt like I needed a more comprehensive understanding of the region before I could fully appreciate the arguments and interviews presented here. I wouldn't recommend this title for beginners like myself; it's not an introduction to understanding the region, nor is it an in-depth analysis of the source of conflict between all three countries.

Additionally, you might want to keep in mind that this is a book told from a white-western perspective. The projection of how the Chinese, Korean and Japanese are perceived by western eyes is more palpable than how the Chinese, Korean and Japanese perceive themselves. Also, with a large dose of political commentary, I'm not sure if the book was best placed in the travel genre. I'm not also sure if the author was best placed to write this book. Michael Booth, whom I understand to be a travel and food writer, isn't really an expert on international relations; not to mention that there was a not so indiscernible level of bias, or maybe even infatuation, with Japan.

I tried to put my concerns about this book as clearly and objectively as possible and hope they are received with the same spirit in which they are given.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my eGalley.

THREE TIGERS, ONE MOUNTAIN is a fascinating, well-written history of the intertwined histories and relations of China, Korea, and Japan. Booth takes an interesting approach to telling this story, one that is engaging throughout. Well-researched, accessible, and intelligently told.

A must read for anyone with an interest in Southeast Asian history. Highly recommended.

This was a very solid history/cultural exploration of Japan, Korea and China by an outsider. The author definitely does his due diligence in talking to locals and experts, as well as giving his take on the countries and their relationships to each other. The book definitely gave me an urge to seek out further writing on the subjects!

A fascinating read. I think it would have been easier for me to digest if I had some background knowledge of East Asian history, but I was still able to follow along fairly well.

Immensely readable combination of the history of conflicts between Japan, South Korea, and China and how they impacted the perspective and sentiments of the people there at the present time.

Michael Booth is a fantastic writer - interweaving history with tales of his travels to these countries (including) Taiwan.) His personal narratives are exceedingly entertaining.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Thank you, Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Fantastic and fascinating hybrid of travelogue and history of three convoluted and intertwined countries. Booth handled the subject well, and whilst this could fill multiple volumes and still not be comprehensive he does a good job of introducing the reader.

Michael Booth’s Three Tigers One Mountain is titled after an ancient Chinese proverb that states that “two tigers cannot share one mountain.” The “tigers” here are the East Asian countries of Japan, China, and Korea. The tangled web of their political history is scrutinized by Booth in a sort of travelogue of each country by particular cities. Booth moves from his experiences in current time back into history, weaving a fascinating narrative of the impact these countries have had on one another and the ongoing recrimination each feels toward the other.

Michael Booth's new book Three Tigers, One Mountain is described as an "entertaining and thought-provoking narrative travelogue" but frankly it was more of a witty, casual research paper for the sheer amount of historical data and references.

It was indeed interesting and thought-provoking throughout but it also had very dull academic-style moments. This was the thing I disliked about it most. It made for a dense and slow read.

I enjoyed the majority of what I read, though admittedly I ended up skim-reading a few chapters until I ultimately dropped it 42%. I love history and I was eager to learn more about these three countries but I was under the impression it would be a bit of a lighter read.

Overall, it's an interesting book but not quite my cup of tea. I loved learning new things about cultures I'm interested in, especially Japan and Korea, though. And I still definitely recommend it to however might have an interest in these cultures.

A okay book. I believe it undermines the great historical connection, puffing up the wars and animosity, and missing the pop cultural links that are shared and promoted today between all three to great success. The 3 countries are in a better place than any dynastic / royal / tribal periods a hundred years ago!

I was very interested in the topic, but quite hesitant as to how the author would handle this extensive and politically loaded topic. There is just so much to unpack and I could make some connections to books I've read about some of the topics in the past:

Pachinko by Min Jin-Lee (Korean family saga playing in Japan and Korea - Zainichi)

The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang (Nanking massacre)

White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht (book about comfort women, this one is on my TBR, but I haven't read this one yet)

The author unveils the cultural differences between Asia and the West and I found the part about the shame versus guilt culture fascinating.

I've lived in South East Asia for over 5 years myself, most of the time in Cambodia and there we also have the same issues with teaching accurate historical events to children and students about the genocide and the Khmer Rouge. There is still lots of controversy about past war crimes and history deniers everywhere.

In Germany and Europe we still have people who deny the Holocaust. I guess we have those people in every country and most of the time, the winners write history.

I found it extremely frustrating to read about the never-ending requests about money and apologies from one country to another and the nitpicking about what words were used and if they were heartfelt or not. I do agree that those terrible acts shouldn't go unpunished and shouldn't be forgotten or denied, but personally I feel that countries should move on at some point and learn from the past after they apologized, repented and made sure, that that particular historical event is accurately taught at schools and portrayed in the media.

Despite the sometimes extremely heavy topics, Michael Booth made me laugh and chuckle throughout the book with his witty remarks and observations.

This is a 5 out of 5 star read, for making me want to learn more and for making me reflect on my own country's historical crimes (I was born in Bavaria/Germany) as well as Asia's history.

I can highly recommend this to anybody who's interested in Asia and Asian history. The book also includes references to additional reading and film material.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This has been published on 14 April 2020 and is now available.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

This is my second five star read in 2020!

Since it looks like we all will be stuck inside our homes for a little while longer, I guess I will have to amuse myself with a bit of armchair travelling. And lucky for me, Micheal Booth’s Three Tigers, One Mountain turned out to be the perfect read as East Asia is high up on my travel destination bucket list! In this travelogue, Booth begins his adventure in Japan, before moving through Korea from South to North, and then heading on to China, and its neighboring Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Now East Asia isn’t exactly foreign to me – we were supposed to leave for Taiwan next week for a holiday, so I had done some research. Also, Japan is the first country I ever visited, back when I was a teenager. (Admittedly, my priorities were different from Booth who went into the region hoping to better understand the region’s fraught history, whereas I just wanted to hang out with Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Tokyo Disneyland!)

Even though I visited most historical and cultural sites Booth mentions in his book, I only have a vague recollection of my trip to Japan. And until a couple of years ago, I remained clueless about the geopolitical tensions between Japan and its neighboring “tigers,” (= prosperous economies) which goes back to the time of Japanese occupation in the region. Interestingly enough, the cause of my ‘enlightenment’ was Mr. Sunshine, a South Korean historical drama series on Netflix. Set just before Japan formally annexed Korea in the early 1900s, Mr. Sunshine is about how a group of patriot rebels tried (and failed) to defend Joseon (as Korea was then called) from the brutal Japanese occupiers. Scenes from this TV show were often gut-wrenching to watch – not only Joseon inhabitants were outgunned, but numerous atrocities were committed against them by the Japanese, so much so that I had to ask one of my South Korean friends how much of it was accurate. To my absolute horror, she responded it was all true! Not only that, but she also added even though Korea was liberated over seven decades ago, they still hold a grudge against Japan, and dating/ marrying a Japanese is a sure way to get the stink eye from one’s family and friends. This revelation, at the time, was amusing to both me and my husband – we are from Sri Lanka, an island nation that was colonized for 443 years by the Portuguese, Dutch, British at different points at times. But most Sri Lankans we know bear no ill-will towards our conquerors (although we get a perverse pleasure whenever we see them muck things up!). So it was interesting to put things into context and learn deeply about the reasons that have contributed to this animosity. Booth does a fantastic job of relating the region’s history, going back to the time when Commodore Matthew Perry from the US went to Japan in 1853 to open up the country (he took the long route, by the way, going from Maryland -> Africa -> Sri Lanka -> Japan!). Upon his arrival, Matthew Perry imposed unfair trade deals on Japan, leading the Japanese to study Western Imperialism and go on to conquest Korea and China later on!

Of course, colonialism had a tremendous negative effect on the two countries as Japan committed various unspeakable war crimes during their occupation. (Among others, the issue of comfort women remains at the forefront to date.) And even though Japan has apologized for its past mistakes, neither country seems to have fully forgiven Japan yet. (Korea makes a big stink about these apologies too, and this seems to be one point both South Korea and North Korea can agree on! On the other hand, China doesn’t make as much of a fuss as Korea, although the Chinese view the Japanese quite unfavorably).

The one anomaly in the region’s ties is the relationship between Japan and Taiwan (as proven by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s calls for Taiwan to be included in the WHO in recent times.) Despite the fact that Taiwan was also under the rule of Japan, the two countries maintain a cordial relationship, and this is not only because of the ongoing feud between China and Taiwan. It turns out even though Japan was a tyrant in Korea and China, they treated the Taiwanese decently – Japan wanted to make Taiwan a model colony and invested heavily in Taiwan hoping the Taiwanese would become Japanese citizens one day!

There is a lot of history and geopolitics packed in Three Tigers, One Mountain, but I never had a dull moment reading it. Booth has interviewed a lot of people writing this book – from academics and museum curators to ordinary people and revisionists (as it turns out, fake news/ revisionist history is a prevalent issue in East Asia, as much as it is in the US) – so we get to hear different perspectives, giving this book a good balance. So if you have an interest in the region, Three Tigers, One Mountain is a book I highly recommend to you. I don’t think I’ve read an insightful book like this in a long time!

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
The author takes us on a tour through Korea, Japan and China to determine what it is that prevents them from making peace. He gives the historical/political background of each country, writes of immigration, allegiances, persecution, racism, etc. This is a travelogue by different means, experiences, and opinions. He delves into history to reveal the underlying hatred behind the conflict. His opinions, personal and deeply felt affect the reading of the book. Yet, I feel it is an interesting read for the current political and medical climate.

I have read many academic books about Asian countries and events, mostly which cover one protagonist group in seeming isolation. This book was refreshing in that it provided both a good overview of the recent relevant histories of all involved, and in that it presented points of view both from academics and from "man on the ground" regular citizens. Being able to see the interplay between these groups, and even within different generations of those groups, provided an interesting perspective I hadn't gotten from reading about say the Korean War or World War 2 alone. Another strength of this book is that, while writing an in depth history of each of these countries and their players would have been nigh impossible, they were covered with relevant sufficiency - and best, did what I believe any good non-fiction book should do, which is lead me further down the rabbit hole to learn more with references to relevant other books that offer further reading.

This is a topic that already interested me, if you can't tell by my having read it. All the more so after spending a holiday in China two years ago and another in Japan at the end of last year. Despite being interested for a long time and being (somewhat) well-read in translated Chinese, Japanese and Korean literature I felt woefully lacking in actual knowledge. Reading Three Tigers, One Mountain was my attempt at remedying that and it absolutely delivered.

This wasn't an info-dump of East Asian history—something I was nervous about going in—but also a travelogue and comedic commentary. This made it such a pleasure to read and very digestible. I genuinely laughed out loud multiple times while reading and constantly sent my husband passages that I found funny or enlightening. I am all the more grateful for the comedic relief given the violent and often horrific history in East Asia, something the author definitely did not shy away from.

The structure itself is most similar to a travelogue with the author traveling through the three countries (plus short stops in Hong Kong and Taiwan) Japan, (South) Korea and China. Each chapter is based in a city and explores its associated history and its current state. I found the interviews particularly interesting and loved learning more about not just the history but how contemporary citizens feel about it. I was pleased to see the author really did his due diligence in exploring the various conflicts from all angles and from many perspectives, be it class, age, race or nationality. This painted a very comprehensive portrait of these countries and citizens and their complex, and often contradictory relationships with their history and neighbors.

This book was really all I could hope for, being both information dense and thoroughly entertaining. The author truly did an excellent job. If this topic is at all interesting to you it's absolutely worth the read!

This is a well researched and written book about the history of relations between china,Japan and korea.

I'm not a history buff by any means so all of this history was new to me. I wasn't aware of the conflicts in Asia. God bless the US public school system! That being said, this gave me a great overview of the conflicts between China, Korea and Japan. It read a bit more like a travelogue than a dense history book. It gave me just enough information to whet my appetite to learn more about Japan's Unit 731 (and this fuels my belief that Covid-19 could be manmade), the Rape of Nanking, Comfort Women and so many more atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese. Not that the other Asian countries are innocent. China and Korea have had many (internal) conflicts as well and this book just touches the tip of the iceberg.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has an interest in Asian history.

This is normally not my type of book to read but I thought it was interesting. I thought the story line was interesting but I will not be reading this book again. I might be purchasing this book for educational purposes for my library.

I'm sorry, but I just could not get into this book. I tried many times, but just kept losing interest. I see from other people's reviews that they really enjoyed the book, so it would not be fair for me to post a review on a book that I did not finish. Therefore, I will not be posting one on any of my sites. I am totally aware that this is not the author's fault, just of my own inability to get interested in it. Best of luck to the author.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to people who are interested in Japan, Korea, and China. This book does an excellent job going over the interconnected histories of these three countries and is written in a way that is easy to understand. The author, Michael Booth, organizes his ideas as he travels through Japan, Korea, China, and then Taiwan- the travel journal aspect of this book really adds his personal touch and makes it interesting to read.

It sounds like I have a lot of negative things to say about the book ahead, but I am being nit-picky and I want to emphasize how much I enjoyed this book before talking about what I disliked.

I mentioned that I enjoyed the travel journal aspect of this book. At the same time, I didn't like that there were so many sentences that started with "some people I asked..." While asking people is a great way to learn about a place, I felt that this showed less expertise and that the answers he received could have be given or used to suit his narrative. It should definitely be treated more as an observance, rather than a strong understanding of the people or situation.

Booth seems to have the strongest understanding of Japanese language and culture. He starts his journey in Japan and does an amazing job talking about different aspects of history in Japan as he travels through the country. As someone who has been to Japan multiple times and lived there, I felt like I was reliving many different parts of his trip as well and I really enjoyed his insight and background knowledge.

I'm sure that it is because I am half-Korean and have lived in Korea for 6 years as an adult, but I felt that the author had a more rudimentary knowledge of Koreans. He talks about his hatred of metal chopsticks- chopsticks are made out of metal because kings of past thought that the metal would change color if they were being poisoned. Koreans use metal now because they believe it is cleaner than using wooden chopsticks (Can you tell I prefer metal chopsticks? ;) Also, I remember learning that metal chopsticks are only used in Japan to pick out the bones of dead relatives- just another cultural difference between the two countries and random information to add to this review!).

Booth also talks about a place called "Penis Park" in Korea that he thinks was a bit of a contradictory place for traditionally sexually conservative Koreans, but doesn't mention how it is a monument to fertility in a country that currently has very low birthrates (or how there is more than one park that utilizes these statues). He does talk about birthrates in a later chapter.

It must be difficult to write a comprehensive book about these three countries, but I felt the author did a wonderful job. I think it would take someone studying all three countries for many more years to write the 'perfect' book, but I do think that this is a great read for people to have a better understanding of East Asia. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How much do you know about the cultural relationships between East Asian countries and its’ people? In this fascinating read on that very issue, we learn how they share core values from Confucianism; how China has modeled a great deal of its’ economic strategies on post-war Japan; and everyone’s love of Korean Pop culture. So, why is there still so much animosity between them when there is so much to gain from each other? Certainly, the horrendous horrors of war have created scars that will not heal. Generally, an entertaining, enlightening, and just plain fun, book that will capture your imagination and screeching with laughter now and then.