for the culture, collectivism included. This book definitely is not a travel guide for Japan, nor is it an entirely unbiased look into Japanese culture, but it is definitely a good read and offers a glimpse into the "good" and the "bad" (if you will) of the culture. It is neither a glowing, gushy recount, nor is it a shocking expose - it is just an account of one foreigner's experiences during a year abroad, including the good and the bad, the awesome and the ordinary.

Jim2018-12-19 18:27

Not a travelogue, except perhaps in the inner sense. The story contains a series of struggles based on sets of oppositions: Existential despair and the need for harmony; individualism and conformity; youth/age; guest/host; West/East; teacher/student, to name a few. The author, ascenes places and locales that no tourist will ever see.The story is well told and I liked the narrator, although I found her behavior to be frustrating at times. There is plenty of humor and some appropriate self-deprecation. Does she find wa? Maybe a hint of it, by the end.

Arminzerella2018-11-25 18:42

Karin Muller went to Japan to reassess her life and film a documentary about the people and culture and something called “wa” – existing in a state of effortless harmony with one’s environment. She spent a year among the Japanese and several months with a host family that tried her sanity as they sought to teach her what it is to be Japanese, a good woman, a good wife, part of something larger than herself. They found her