{"id":5563,"date":"2009-12-28T00:05:23","date_gmt":"2009-12-27T15:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=5563"},"modified":"2009-12-28T14:53:01","modified_gmt":"2009-12-28T05:53:01","slug":"book-review-of-japan-took-the-j-a-p-out-of-me-pubs-simon-and-schuster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=5563","title":{"rendered":"Book review of “Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me” (Pubs Simon and Schuster). Yes, that is the title."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"Foreign<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>\"debitopodcastthumb\"<\/a>
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Hi Blog. \u00a0Another holiday tangent. \u00a0Enjoy. \u00a0Debito in Monbetsu<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

REVIEW OF BOOK “JAPAN TOOK THE J.A.P. OUT OF ME”<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Lisa Fineberg Cook.\u00a0 Published by Simon and Schuster Inc 2009<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Arudou Debito<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Simon and Schuster sent me this book this month for review, and I know not why.\u00a0 I am probably the last person to whom you’d send a “Chick Lit” book (defined by some as a genre where the protagonist is a young female trying to make it in the modern world, dealing with issues that women face, whether it be learning how to stand on their own two feet, or just about them being passionate about career, style, personal appearance, shopping<\/a>…).\u00a0 But I did sit down and get through it. \u00a0I agree with the reviews on Amazon.com<\/a> — it’s “an easy read”.\u00a0 That’s not much of a compliment, however:\u00a0 If the most positive thing you can say about a literary work is that you got through it quickly, that’s damning with faint praise indeed.<\/p>\n

So let’s get through this review and make it a quick read too.\u00a0 Start with the obvious:\u00a0 J.A.P.\u00a0 Having a racial epithet cloaked as an ethnic slur (I hail from Cornell University, so am plenty aware of “Jewish American Princesses”) in the very title already puts me off — as very culturally insensitive.\u00a0 What were you thinking, S&S?<\/p>\n

In fact, insensitivity is the recurring theme in this tome:\u00a0 The first-person narrator is so self-absorbed that there is no space for anyone else.\u00a0 There are a few friends here and there (or one stellar Japanese student enlightened by the protagonist’s poetic guidance) that slot in at whim, but no particular impression is made on the reader.\u00a0 In fact, aside of course from our narrator, we know more about her best friend overseas than anyone else who glides in and out of the work.\u00a0 Even her newlywed husband is an undeveloped glyph who drops in occasionally, offering improbably perfect and concise bon mots designed to confirm or destroy her preconceptions.\u00a0 But never mind. \u00a0The book is all about our J.A.P. girl empowering herself, moreover in a land where women apparently have no power of their own, and it’s her task to enlighten them.\u00a0 You go girl, for all of us! \u00a0Feh.<\/p>\n

Reviews are supposed to give a plot synopsis, so let’s get through that quickly too:\u00a0 California Jewish girl follows her American husband to Nagoya (she even makes a “goy” joke about that) where they both teach English for one year.\u00a0 She gets her comeuppance in quirky ways, as there is apparently no Starbucks in Nagoya (in 1999?\u00a0 There is no date given but I place it then, since she mentions the US debut of TV show The Sopranos.), little English spoken, and few of the material or cultural creature comforts that satisfy her spoiled-girl whims.\u00a0 She starts off, by design, as an unsympathetic character (hence the titled comeuppance). \u00a0However, like any newcomer in a predictable Hollywood flick, she not only learns to cope well enough (despite the natives) to stay in Japan and grow, but also to recommend to everyone (in a self-important interview in the back of the book) they try living overseas (I agree, of course, but one year abroad hardly makes one an authority on world travel).<\/p>\n

After solipsistic battles with things like a washing machine and public transport, she finally takes us outside for some sightseeing in Japan (Hiroshima and shopping trips in Nagoya are highlights, of a kind). \u00a0But in the end the reader gets little impression of Japan beyond the stares, the crowds, some undeveloped allegations of anti-Semitism, and sundry interactions between her and some Westerners that could have taken place anywhere in the world.\u00a0 Again, this character is so insensitive to anything beyond her sphere (she doesn’t even try to learn the language) that there’s no room left for Japan.\u00a0 She and hubby leave after one year and return to the US to raise a family.\u00a0 End of slide show.<\/p>\n

In sum, the best I can say about the book is that the one character who counts in this book (guess who) is very well developed (if not overly so), and she has a very clear writing voice.\u00a0 Hooray.\u00a0 So why is she writing about Japan?\u00a0 Because she has to get published by writing about something?\u00a0 Hokay.\u00a0 But this book is hardly something that can be advertised as a “memoir”.\u00a0 Memoirs are generally an autobiography — something that give us some idea of the world people live in.\u00a0 This barely gives us the world that one this one person briefly dwelled.\u00a0 Japan is a difficult and time-consuming place to get to know, even when you have an interest in what’s going on around you. \u00a0Moreover even when you understand the language. \u00a0Neither happens in this book. \u00a0One year abroad — and as a functional illiterate at that — does not justify a “memoir” about a country published by one of the world’s largest publishing houses.<\/p>\n

Good for Ms. Cook for putting one over on them.\u00a0 You go, girl!\u00a0 Now let’s hope S&S give some space to some more serious and knowledgeable writers about Japan.\u00a0 There are plenty of them over here, trust me.\u00a0 Ferret us out, Simon and Schuster.\u00a0 We’ll give you something much more empowering.<\/p>\n

— Arudou Debito<\/strong><\/em>, author, “JAPANESE ONLY, The Otaru Onsens Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan”, and “Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants” (Akashi Shoten Inc., editions 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 respectively); columnist, The Japan Times, and Sapporo Source.<\/em><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simon and Schuster sent me this book for review, and I know not why. I am probably the last person to whom you’d send “Chick Lit” (defined as a genre where the protagonist is a young female trying to make it in the modern world dealing with issues that women face, whether it be them learning how to stand on their own two feet, or just about them being passionate about career, style, personal appearance, shopping…). But I did sit down and get through it. I agree with the reviews on Amazon.com — it’s “an easy read”. That’s not much of a compliment, however: If the most positive thing you can say about a literary work is that you got through it quickly, that’s damning with faint praise indeed.<\/p>\n

So let’s get through this review and make it a quick read too. Start with the obvious: J.A.P. Having a racial epithet cloaked as an ethnic slur (I hail from Cornell University, so am plenty aware of “Jewish American Princesses”) in the very title already puts me off — as very culturally insensitive. What were you thinking, S&S?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,22,13,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-media","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}