I thoroughly enjoyed Rising Sons and Daughters. I don't know of any other book that looks at Japanese society from the point of view of its young people poised as they are between their parents' age-old Japanese culture of restraint and obedience to the will of the community, and their peers' adulation of Western culture. True to form, the "New Young" of Japan seem to be creating an "international" blend, as the Ando family demonstrates in this beautifully written book of vignettes of the private lives of members of this family. Steven Wardell is clearly a talented young author, adopted for some of his schooling into this family of four teens, and thus able to view family life in Japan from the inside out. A great read! 
 
The author's style is captivating and simple. He was in Japan over twenty years ago, so I'm assuming that some if not much of his anecdotes may be regarded as dated over there. Regardless, a fun read which doesn't follow the stereotypical 'Japanese kids don't have fun' or 'Japanese people don't have individuality'. 
 
This book is one of many written during the "Bubble Era" by "gaijin" (primarily Americans) who really knew next to nothing about Japan, yet somehow found a publisher, usually Japanese. Another of this quickie genre published about the same time was a book for teaching profanity to Japanese studying English."Learning to Bow" may by an accurate account of the author's experience living in Japan and teaching in the JET program. However, that's all it is. It's full of cliches, sweeping generalizations, and offers no insight into living in Japan or understanding the culture. What could the writer possibly know after only two years? 
 