This book is divided into eight topically-organised chapters, each consisting of the author’s introductory comments and discussions of poems illustrating each topic. Each poem, presented in the original, is followed by its Japanese translation. The author handles each topic with the assumption that her readers do not have much knowledge of Australia. The use of even such words as ‘mateship’ and ‘egalitarian-collectivism’, regarded here as part of common knowledge of Australian studies, are avoided. No mention is made of the theories about the Australian national character, like Russel Ward’s. Her knowledge of these, however, is reflected in her comments and discussion of each poem, which are persuasive and easy for the Japanese to understand. The correctness of her translation testifies to her grasp of the Australian language and its idioms.

Since the author’s intention is to help the reader towards appreciating Australian poems in the original, the translations are but a means to the end; no attempt is made to reflect the rhyme and the metre of the originals. Instead the author devotes considerable space to describing how these devices, together with the sounds of the words, contribute towards creating the mood of the poems, and she encourages repeated oral readings to get the feeling.

The author’s choice of poems is conservative. Most of the poems can be found in standard anthologies. It is well-balanced, with the earlier and current established poets (and a few of the younger ones) represented, making this book a suitable work for any beginning student of Australian literature.

All in all, this book will prove to be a valuable asset for Japanese university students who would specialise in Australian literature. Inclusion, however, of a few poets from South Australia and Western Australia would have made it even more representative and, therefore, even more valuable.