Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A Must Read About Japan

For Valentines Day my wonderful sister sent me Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa. I immediately dug into this witty, entertaining travelogue about a woman who spends a year in Japan, trying to find wa - or harmony, and all of her adventures along the way. I haven't finished the book quite yet, but already I know that it is a book I will recommend to anyone curious about this country and it's interesting people. This book sheds light on the Japaneses iron clad morals and values system that guides their day to day behavior and actions. Sometimes living here can make me what to pull my hair out, but reading this book really helps me to understand the deep rooted cultural differences and has made me stop and think about how I act, speak to and interact with my host country. And it has made me really want to buckle down with my Japanese language studying. This book is full of laughs, adventures and culture and I am so so so very glad my sister sent this to me! I recommend it to anyone wanting to know about, interested or even thinking about visiting this modern, but very traditional country.

3 comments:

New Girl on Post said...

I love books about travel and the cultures of different countries, so I think this will be a great book for me. Thanks so much for the recommendation!

Mary said...
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Mary said...

I'm so happy you like it! Girl had quite the problem with her host family -- glad your Japanese experience seems to have skipped that part luckily.