Here’s a book about one of the great bank swindles of the 20th century, that touched countries as disparate as the U.S., Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, and Indonesia. And it touched them all in a big way. The bank was called Nugan Hand, named after its co-founders, lawyer Frank […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Taiwan' Category
WoWasis book review: ‘Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan’s Criminal Underworld’
If you’re looking for a comprehensive book that provides great insight on Yakuaza business, history, culture, scams, players, this book is it, even though it was first published in 1986. Where it falls short is in the area of Yakuza and prostitution, where frankly, it has a lot of it wrong. We’ll explain why, but […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Martin Booth’s ‘The Dragon Syndicates’
If, like those of us here at WoWasis, you’re a veteran traveler in SE Asia, you’ve done business with the Triads, the underworld syndicates that have their hands in businesses ranging from noodle shops, to food carts, to politics. That goes for some Western cities too, including London, New York, and cities in the San […]
Read the rest of this entry »Miserable shopping experience for WoWasis in Taipei airport
The bookstore at the departure lounge in Taipei airport was staffed by three people, a girl at the cash register, a guy stacking magazines, and another guy just walking around. Your WoWasis correspondents noticed a high-design writing pen behind a locked glass door, selling for USD $150, and we wanted to see it, so asked […]
Read the rest of this entry »Welcome to the WoWasis China Bookshelf
Chinese philosophy and business practices have long influenced Southeast Asia. Here at WoWasis, we found the following books to be especially compelling for Westerners, as the information in the books on this list, while particular to China, helps to explain much about life in Southeast Asia. We’ve grouped them into Nonfiction and Fiction categories. Nonfiction […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Boye De Mente’s ‘Women of the Orient’
Many men have loved exotic women from the Orient, but few have written as passionately on the subject as adventurer Boye De Mente, in his small but encyclopedic Women of the Orient (1995, ISBN 0-8048-1880-0). Here, he chronicles the habits, looks, and proclivities of women from six Asian countries, China (Hong Kong & Taiwan), Japan, Korea, […]
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