"I've been living in western Japan for more than thirty-two years," Pico Iyer begins, "and, to my delight, I know far less than when I arrived." In A Beginner's Guide to Japan, Iyer--born to Indian parents in England, raised in California, married with children in Japan--ruminates on what he adores and what still eludes him after three decades in his adopted homeland.
Through brief anecdotes and the occasional essay, Iyer (Autumn Light) explores many facets of Japanese culture. Strangers on trains routinely sleep on the shoulders of their seatmates; "love-hotels" abound, as do companies that hire actors to act as loved ones for people who are going through personal crises. Largely apolitical and irreligious, the Japanese value emotional and social intelligence over analysis and introspection: "they turn their backs on the public sphere, and make fantastic worlds out of their passions, counter-societies out of their hobbies." Iyer challenges the Western view of the Japanese as impersonal and robotic, noting how inanimate objects, even the simplest gift, are given "so much spirit and life." Striking observations, such as the ubiquity of small but jam-packed convenience stores in a nation that values minimalism, and the abundance of professional gangsters in an otherwise law-abiding country, speak to its contradictory nature.
Despite his deep affection for Japan, Iyer does not shy away from its unflattering aspects. Recent surveys reveal, for example, that a majority of Japanese men would never consider working for a woman and most Japanese women imagine being single is preferable to marriage; the country's reluctance to accept asylum-seekers speaks to its insularity. Iyer's Japan is a captivating, and sometimes maddening portrait of a nation unlike any other. --Frank Brasile, librarian