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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/111109.Wrong_About_Japan?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Wrong About Japan" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1171648658m/111109.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/111109.Wrong_About_Japan?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Wrong About Japan</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22595.Peter_Carey">Peter Carey</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4796582?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>I found this slim volume on sale for just a couple of bucks at my local bookstore and picked it up because it looked, at first glance, like a breezy account of the author's visit with his son to Japan, a country I very much hope to visit myself one day. Ultimately, I found the experience of reading the book somewhat frustrating. Peter Carey seems to go through the book in a near-constant state of frustration and embarrassment as his attempts to understand Japanese culture are politely but firmly thwarted time and time again by the Japanese people he interviews. I think part of the problem is that, at least as recounted in the book, it seems that Carey was perhaps looking for answers that may have been overly simplistic; representations in the culture that are direct and specific responses to the experiences of Japanese people in World War II, for instance. And perhaps Carey is right in feeling that some of the people he interviewed simply didn't want to openly discuss their feelings about their culture with a foreigner, though some very graciously do, and these interviews make for some of the book's most interesting and effective sections. Most of all, though, I think that every culture is ultimately something that can only be understood, to whatever degree it can be understood at all, by experiencing it for oneself. 
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<br/>Despite the frustrations, there was enough worthwhile stuff here for me--a moving and harrowing account of one child's experiences during the war, an appreciation of Hayao Miyazaki's wondrous film My Neighbor Totoro--to make this very quick read worthwhile. And if and when I go to Japan, I'll be sure not to ask people about the meaning and symbolism behind Mobile Suit Gundam. I admit I sometimes entertain questions of the sort Carey puts before his subjects here, but mostly, I just think giant robots are cool.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/225991?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Carolyn's review
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I found this slim volume on sale for just a couple of bucks at my local bookstore and picked it up because it looked, at first glance, like a breezy account of the author's visit with his son to Japan, a country I very much hope to visit myself one day. Ultimately, I found the experience of reading the book somewhat frustrating. Peter Carey seems to go through the book in a near-constant state of frustration and embarrassment as his attempts to understand Japanese culture are politely but firmly thwarted time and time again by the Japanese people he interviews. I think part of the problem is that, at least as recounted in the book, it seems that Carey was perhaps looking for answers that may have been overly simplistic; representations in the culture that are direct and specific responses to the experiences of Japanese people in World War II, for instance. And perhaps Carey is right in feeling that some of the people he interviewed simply didn't want to openly discuss their feelings ab...more

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message 1: by Alissa

08/20/2007 09:55AM

I've wanted to learn Japanese for years now and would love to go there some day. How discouraging does this book prove to be?