New paperbacks.

New paperbacks Colin Donald Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri TAMING OBLIVION--AGING BODIES AND THE FEAR OF SENSIBILITY IN JAPAN By John W. Traphagan State University of New York Press, 20.95 dollars Never going to be a best-seller this, but still a very readable piece of serious anthropology or Asian cultural studies useful for anyone with a serious interest in Japanese society. A professor at California State University, Traphagan traveled to Iwate Prefecture to conduct his field studies into the cultural construction of senility or "boke" in Japan, and the moral implications of dependent behavior for older Japanese. Spelled out with academic thoroughness, it's a …