I recently found an affordable copy of Book of Men’s Shoes Making by Noriyuki Misawa, published by Studio TAC Creative. I believe the ISBN is 978-4-88393-764-6.
I’ve only begun reading the book, but I feel I’m ready to share some thoughts:
Quality Printing
The book itself is really high quality. There are many, many step-by-step photos, and while they’re small, the clarity and color make them legible.
Translation
I do not read Japanese, but I’ve found it’s not too hard to flip through, spot particular passages that I’d like to translate, and hold my iPhone up to them using the “Photo” mode of the Apple Translate app to get rough translations. I’ve been doing this in particular with any passages including numeric measurements—I can recognize the digits—as well as the steps highlighted with borders labeled “POINT”.
Methodical
The coverage is truly step-by-step. Many pages are simple grids of 12 photos in a row showing 12 numbered steps, each with a written description. Think Tim Skyrme’s Bespoke Shoemaking.
To my beginner’s eye, the work shown is incredibly clean. Utterly consistent stitch spacing, tack placement, even pleat width. The running example for the bulk of the book is a semi-brogue, cap-toe Oxford, which makes many details easy to see. Later in the book comes a brown Derby. I haven’t got to that part yet.
Detailed
Measurements are usually given as a formula, such as a percentage of foot length, followed by an example calculation. For example, back height is given as 22.8% of foot length or 57 mm for 25 cm. This is the best I hope to see when starting a new book.
The use of diagrams is also exceptional. For example, cross section diagrams are given for feather, channel, and heel seat insole carvings. There is also a diagram showing the plantar surface of the insole showing feather and holdfast widths and shapes. Earlier on, there are several diagrams showing allowance and mirroring methods in the patterning chapter. When I’ve wanted a diagram, there’s inevitably been on further down the page or on the next.