Dave Barry Does Japan
by Dave Barry
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dave BarryEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-09-14
ISBN: 0449908100
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Dave Barry Does Japan
Book Review: A response to the few negative reviews
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read at least a half-dozen of Barry's books, and this is BY FAR my favorite. My wife and I both laugh out-loud when we re-read it, and I have bought multiple copies to give to friends.
What makes it so good? Barry at his best is an observer who steps back from daily life just far enough to notice how crazy everything is. So Random House had the brilliant idea to send him to Japan, thereby giving him a brand NEW world in which to notice how crazy everything is!
Not having been to Japan, I found myself learning along with Barry. Did you know that most streets in Tokyo have no names, and address numbers are not ordered? Imagine trying to find the trendy new bar under those circumstances... Did you know that the word "No" is considered impolite in Japan? Imagine trying, as an American, to make arrangements with a Japanese travel agent when you don't understand that she's trying to tell you that some of your preferred travel options don't exist... The results, at least in Barry's hands, are hilarious.
Yet there are some folks who've given this book just one or two stars. Their complaints seem to come in two categories: Barry is smug, superior, and ignorant, laughing at things just because he doesn't understand them; and/or the book just isn't funny. Some of the people arguing that the book isn't funny mention having lived in Japan, and I can understand that the book would be less amusing for them, because the craziness Barry is observing would already be familiar. If that doesn't apply to you, then I say trust the majority of reviewers here who have found the book to be quite funny.
As for Barry being a smug, stereotypically ugly American: he is NOT laughing at the Japanese and their culture, but at the MISMATCH between himself and the Japanese--either enjoying the sheer novelty of the unfamiliar or poking fun at his own ignorance. No one who reads the whole book with open eyes can fail to notice his admiration for many aspects of Japanese culture (nor his preference for the individuality and self-expression of American culture). And no one who reads the serious chapter about his visit to Hiroshima can justify calling Barry arrogantly pro-American.
My bottom line: this book is very interesting, very funny, and deeply humane. If Barry has written anything better, I haven't read it.
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