The author wrote this after she was posted to Tokyo for five years with her husband. It was published in 1996 and is translated from the Hebrew.
What we have here is a very entertaining printed 'blog' of that time, consisting of her adventures and observations.
There are many laugh out loud moments. While new to Tokyo she was invited to a women's only lunch at which she had to use the toilet which looked - 'like the inside of a space ship'- is one. Even if there is is some exaggeration in what unfolded it must still have been an utter disaster. Its amazing how anyone could end up as dishevelled as she does .
The chapters cover aspects of Japanese life with the authors take on them -she covers : bathing, pornography , geisha's , Japanese hotels , food and humour- among others.
Her take on the Japanese sense of humour is the same as mine, - i.e it can be a bit bizarre.
We have a memoir which is not too judgemental, just a record of her time and it is thoroughly enjoyable.
This is not deep stuff - when she writes about bathing we don't have a three hundred page history of water - and that is not a bad thing, but it is enlightening because what is written about is what she experienced.
This is absolutely perfect for an Auckland - L.A flight or a really, really long bath. It won't put too many demands on your concentration but its a nice bit of education with no pretensions.
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