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Tune In Tokyo:The Gaijin Diaries
 
 

Tune In Tokyo:The Gaijin Diaries [Kindle Edition]

Tim Anderson
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Review

"When Anderson decides his life in North Carolina is in a rut, he chooses to make a dramatic change and moves to Japan to teach English, as he chronicles in this hilarious, enlightening, and insightful memoir. Anderson is tall, white, and extremely gay—all things that distinguish him from the average person in Japan. His various adventures—accidentally stumbling into the adult area of Tokyo and learning that Japanese porn cuts out all the good parts; discovering the hard way the low standards some English academies have for their teachers; experiencing the joys of karaoke and experimental music—help Anderson begin to understand the differences between American and Japanese culture. A gifted writer, Anderson is sensitive to cultural differences, delightful in his irreverence, and astutely aware of himself and his particular perspective. His observations are often laugh-out-loud funny and will leave readers with the desire to travel and to keep turning the pages, wondering, by the end, where Anderson will travel to next." -Publishers Weekly

Review

“Aside from such classroom encounters and problems of his own with the Japanese language that vaguely recall David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Anderson regales his readers with tales of Japanese popular culture and his own social life…” –Booklist

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Tim Anderson
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I can whole-heartedly recommend this book for anyone who has a fascination with all things Japanese as they will get an excellent insight into the parts of Tokyo that aren't often seen in the media.

More importantly though, this is a very funny book that is exceptionally well written. The author writes in a very entertaining fashion due to his wonderfully bitchy style.

Homophobes beware though - although there's nothing explicit in this book, the author is very gay and it's an integral part of the book. Any homophobe is probably not going to like the humour and constant references and so they are probably best to avoid it.

For everyone else who is broadminded, however, they are in for a real treat. I really hope that the author writes more as I will definitely be buying anything else he publishes.

Another minor comment - this is the best formatted Kindle book that I have ever read - very easy on the eye.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Laugh out loud funny 14 Sep 2011
By Niki Collins-queen, Author TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Tim Anderson's well-written memoir "Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries" is a funny, fascinating window not only into Tim's life as a tall, white, gay, American Southerner but also into life in Tokyo and the Japanese culture. Tim, who was pushing thirty, left his boyfriend and moved to Japan after a string of dead-end jobs. Tim's hilarious self-effacing stories as an English teacher and his experiences while playing in an all-Japanese noise band as a "gaijin" or outsider are masterfully told.
My favorite humorous descriptions include Tim's experience at the Shinjuku Train Station. He found himself eased down the nearest staircase by the sheer force of the crowds tugging him like an undertow. They decided he would go out the south exit. That was fine with him.
Learning Japanese as a foreigner he was terrified that one day he would instead of telling someone they looked nice he'd end up saying, "I want to lick your daughters underarms."
I loved Tim's description of a Washlet or toilet found in nicer Japanese restaurants. "It has a slew of useful functions, like a butt sprinkler, a heated seat, and a dizzying selection of sound effects to muffle the user's unseemly emissions."
When teaching English as a foreigner in Japan Tim says the classroom atmosphere is one of absolute deference to the teacher. By contrast "teacher" to many American students is just a fancy word for "target."
While sitting on a sofa in the Chill Out Room at a nightclub in Tokyo Tim wonders why his friends approach the glass, see him, wave, look above him, then back at him and giggle. Then it suddenly dawns on him "Oh-my god-no-it's-a-vagina!" Behind his head is a huge black and white photo of the biggest vagina he has ever seen. And it looks angry. Tim looks around and realizes to his surprise the room is simply jam-packed with photos of vaginas of all sizes - every gay man's nightmare.
Ryuji, a first grader Tim was tutoring, successfully got Tim to say the word "sex" by asking him to say the letter X five times. Ryuji then laughed at him for saying a "bad" word.
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Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Initially I was not sure I would like this, but once Tim gets going describing life as a TEFL teacher in Tokyo it is very entertaining.
He does talk a bit about being gay as it shapes some of his experiences, but there is nothing explicit or X rated.

I enjoyed his recollections of all things Japanese and the quirky things which we all expect to be apparent in Japan. It is well written and flows well and incredibly amusing.

5th star is missing as I think the author sometimes glosses over things which I am sure would have added more to the book.
Recommended if you like travel and humour.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Funny and enlightening
Prior to buying it I was sceptical whether I would like it but the other reviews were good and I do like finding out about other cultures. Read more
Published 12 days ago by S. White
Very entertaining
An entertaining account of life in Japan. Seemingly little has changed since I was there over 30 years ago! Read more
Published 16 days ago by HS
when two cultures clash
Some good descriptions of life in Tokyo and humourous enough for a teenage mind - but gets tedious. Best read in bits, rather than all at once.
Published 20 days ago by Yvonne S
Fun and flippant
Funny and very light, this book is a series of random observations about life in Tokyo.

There is no in depth analysis of the Japanese psyche, just a few vignettes on the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Steerpike
Tokyo here we come
The title caught my eye as I am quite fascianated by the Orient, the ways and customs. This book was a light hearted read, very funny in parts and certainly showed the culteral... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ms. D. M. Brackley
Enjoyable and entertaining read
Having visited Japan, whilst our son was living there, I enjoyed the insights of this book. Written with a genuine warmth for, and interest in, the people there. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Daffydilly
At least one giggle per page guaranteed!
I've just finished reading this book and I absolutely loved it! Highly entertaining and made me reminisce about my visit to Tokyo, in 2010. I couldn't recommend it more. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jaedson Barton-costa
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