Japanland

Sandy's Book #1: Japanland by Karin Muller

Well actually I finished a book on Jan. 2 called You Are Here by Wesley Gibson, but since I started it before 2006, I'm not counting it as my first book of the year. (By the way, it was very good.)

Karin Muller makes travel documentaries for PBS, National Geographic, etc. What a lucky bitch. Anyway, while she was in Japan filming her 4-hour documentary called--surprise!-- Japanland (apparently without any kind of crew), she accumulated a lot of fodder for this here book, most of which came from her host family, the Tanankas. She paints a wonderfully unflattering portrait of her host mother, Yukiko; I loved hating this woman. Muller's writing style is frank and funny, and she clearly demonstrates her own chutzpa.

Now to get nit-picky: this book would've benefited from a more fastidious editor. There were several factual errors and misrepresentations, though perhaps only someone who'd spent time in Japan would've noticed. Anyway they were pretty minor, but I wanted to feel self-righteous so I mentioned them. Ha.

Personally I find stories about kabuki, samurai festivals, and archery rather dull. I skimmed the chapters in the book that dwelled too much on old-tymey Japan. But there's plenty of modern-day fun and frolick to make this a quick and enjoyable read for anyone who's got an interest in how one western female viewed Japan and its people. It even made me a little natsukashii for Nihon. Nostalgic. Tear.