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Burma Behind the Mask - announcemen (r)



Subject: Re: Burma Behind the Mask - announcement

Burmese Relief Center?Japan
266-27 Ozuku-cho, Kashihara-shi, Nara-ken 634, Japan
Tel: (07442) 2-8236 
Fax: (07442) 4-6254
e-mail:brelief@xxxxxxx

Dear Friends,

We have sent you payment, 15, 000 yen  for four copies received of Burma
Behind the Mask at your quoted price of 2 copies @ US$57 X 2 = $114 X 116
yen/dollar =  13,224 yen.

But we do have several questions:

First, according to a flier we just received from Canadian Friends of Burma,
they are selling Burma Behind the Mask for twenty dollars a copy.  In
another newsletter we learned that Burma Action Group (UK) is selling your
book for US$14.67 (8.99 pounds). 

We wonder how it is possible for these groups to sell the book so cheaply.
Of course, we too are reselling the book and would like to charge a little
more than we paid for it, so that the price includes a donation toward our
refugee relief. (100% of donations we receive goes to the refugees.  NO
donations are used for overhead or administrative expenses.  We spend each
summer in Thailand, but we pay  all our own expenses, without using one yen
from BRC-J finances, and all volunteers who join us do  likewise.)

Have these groups received a special price we are not aware of.  In our
original request for the books, we thought we inquired about such a price
and received a negative response.  Were we mistaken?

Secondly, while there may be much to admire about the book, and, although we
had intended to do a review of it, we are disappointed in several respects,
particularly, the perceived  attitude towards Buddhism.  

We too have "western eyes" (page 20), but that doesn't mean we appreciate
reading, "Pagan lays claim to two hairs, a collarbone and a tooth of the
Gautama Buddha; in Mandalay there are three bones, in Rangoon, there are
hairs and other body parts.  All you have to do to collect a complete Buddha
is to keep travelling."  If one doesn't understand a religious belief, it's
best not to display one's ignorance so blatantly and unsympathetically.

Actually, the whole tone of Chapter 1 is disappointing.  The authors enthuse
so much about their magical and mystical experiences that the reader is
naturally tantalized to travel there himself.  Why, it would seem, should
the authors alone be entitled to such marvelous adventures?   How does all
this discourage tourism?  It is too tantalizing and frankly, it is
self-deception.  The authors have conjured up things so magical from
everyday life (the naked (sic) goldbeaters of Mandalay ... the boys
balancing on their water-buffaloes, the miraculous skill with when men undo
their lunghees etc. etc.) and misunderstood some very basic things, like
Buddha relics. 

In any event, we welcome a clarification from you regarding the cost of the
books.

Thank you very much.

With metta, 

Ken and Visakha Kawasaki
http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm