Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Enter[ing] the mansion of Japanese culture through its garish, brightly lit back door.", 6 Sep 2006
When Charley, the twelve-year-old son of Booker Prize-winning author Peter Carey, announces that someday he wants to live in Japan, Carey decides the time is right for a father-son trip to Tokyo. Charley is a passionate fan of Japanese manga and anime film, and he has recently become an internet friend of Takashi, a fifteen-year-old Japanese "visualist" who is as committed to these arts as Charley--and who plans to to meet him in Tokyo. As Charley goes to Japan to experience the youthful cartoon culture (making his father promise that there will be no museums or temples on their itinerary), Peter Carey goes to Japan full of expectations and preconceived ideas for a book--most of which, he tells us in the title, prove to be wrong.
Using contacts made by his literary agent in Tokyo, Carey sets up appointments for himself and Charley to meet some of the great Japanese directors, authors, anime creators, and traditional artists (including a sword-maker, a sculptor, an architect). Charley, on the other hand, sets up meetings with Takashi for Sega World in Akihabara--"Electric Town"--the gaudy, neon shopping area filled with electronic magic--robots, video games, miniaturized washing machines, solar-powered pogo sticks, and wild new inventions to meet needs you didn't know you had.
As Carey works to see connections between manga illustrations and old ukiyoe prints, he also looks at the heroes of manga and anime to see if they connect with the samurai tradition and the bushido code of honor. He examines contemporary Japanese culture for echoes of the A-bomb, the firebombing of Tokyo, and the American occupation, hoping to discover "the way a proud and isolated society has waged war, suffered war, and emerged from war." And he discovers that in almost every case he is wrong in his assumptions.
A charming story of a father's attempt to connect with his son, the book provides a very basic introduction to manga, anime, and contemporary Japanese film, along with brief notations about the history of Japanese cultural traditions. Not a book for the already committed fan of manga and anime or a student already familiar with Japanese culture, the book, nevertheless, provides some fascinating glimpses into the lives of the Japanese creators of film and other arts. An excellent, easy introduction to some aspects of Japan which tourists may find helpful, the book's biggest limitation is that while Carey admits that his assumptions are wrong, he does not leave the reader with any other useful framework for better understanding this fascinating culture. Mary Whipple
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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Carey gang insult Japan, 3 Jun 2005
There are precious few indispensable books by Westerners about Japan. The best of these are by people who have lived there for a worthwhile period. This list is headed by the wonderful, and deeply missed Alan Booth; but Will Ferguson's Hokkaido Highway Blues is a more recent essential book, full of humour and insights. Carey's book sadly does not join the ranks. In fact, it tells us far more about a kind of lassitude and corruption in the publishing world than it does about Japan. Carey, famous novelist whose every word must be worth its weight in gold (at least to a craven publisher) spends a week (yes, a week) in Tokyo (yes, just Tokyo), armed with a novice's interest in Manga, and a rather indolent, and one suspects, spoiled son in tow. Although he has a number of inane theories which his Japanese hosts are far too polite to rubbish, he delivers no insights. Along the way, he manages to treat appallingly badly a Japanese youth who had struck up a friendship with his son over the Internet; but it's all right because the Careys leave a gift with his grandmother. The book takes about four hours to read, which is perhaps its one saving grace. But I recommend that you spend your money on The Roads to Sata or Looking for the Lost. The Careys got their free trip to Tokyo, and their meetings with the key players in Anime and Manga: don't give him any more money. Mr Carey: I would suggest that you learn at least two words of Japanese, and that to young Takashi, you utter a deeply felt 'Gomen Nasai'.
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong about this book, 15 Feb 2005
This book may not provide quite the insight people might be looking for into Japan, but it is still definitely worth reading. Yes, it focuses a lot on Manga and anime in general, but Carey's writing is also raw and introspective as he reveals his own failings as a father. Thoroughly enjoyable.
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