I mentioned in a post awhile ago I would be reading a few books.. I didn’t mention however whether I would review them or not.. I suppose that would be up to the book on whether it was dry and boring or a page turner.

Well today I wanted to shed some thoughts on Mr. Bruce Feiler’s Book Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan.

I first want to say that this book is meant to fill a whole that sometimes– I should say often– get’s neglected from filling. “Learning about the heart of Japan” for students and scholars starting out is a lot like a recovering crack addict finding God. In nearly 1 year you’ll consume copious amounts of knowledge about Japan.. From facts and figures, to little nuggets of culture and language, to hot spots in Tokyo that nobody but you think is awesome. You’ll do all this without ever making 1 step into Japan… So when the day comes, when you leave the plane you’ll be shocked to find that everything you thought you knew– you didn’t..

What Mr. Feiler tries to do is to document in an extraordinary way the details of humility that gushes over you when what you thought you knew about people, especially Japanese people, is ‘off’. Mr. Goes into many details Japanofiles leave out. The little details, the inside scoop on private lives of Japanese, even the word on the Jr. High School Student beat. It’s all there with remarkable thought and reflection that I would only hope one day pouring into my personal experience of Japan.

This book, however, is for a special group of people… “us Japanofiles” typically who ‘get’ the cultural jokes like “The Meeting with one’s boss with no pants on” (Onsen Party) or the Karaoke parties… right down the bizarre rituals inwhich one can only guess at why it survived time in this country…

The greater message I got out of the book is two fold. For one, Japan is a foreign culture that is uniquely un-American. The experience one has in any country other then their own will feel the plight of Mr. Feiler as he stumbles his way through a country non of us (perhaps not even Japanese) can fully comprehend. The second message was one honor and respect for detail and unique messages…

As a foreigner in Japan, Mr. Feiler lamented certain annodotes from collegues that spoke of deep philosophy and a genuine exchange of cultures inwhich the host(s) [Japanese People] wanted to teach the guest [Mr. Feiler] about them. For me, I find that remarkable. Only because my experiences have been similar in that knowledge of a culture only comes when we brake down our wall of ego and attempt to get to know someone else to a point of familiarilty.

In his book, Mr. Feiler mentioned this shift between when he was a “foreigner who scared his students” to when he was a unique member of a secluded rural Japanese town.

Overall the book was intriguing (even through somewhat dense parts), thoughtful of the people/characters and culture, and insightful as it was a book about his experience as an ALT in 1999/2000. Very much a good read for people who sometimes forget to reflect on all the little things happening around us when we’re in such a different place.

Ok now I have to figure out if I’m going to read next: Patrick Smith’s Japan: A Reinterpretation, The Great Wave by Christopher Benfey, or Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (author and also speaker at my LC Graduation). Hmm.. This is going to be tough… 😛

~J out

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