Wrong about Japan: A Father's Journey with His Son - Hardcover

Carey, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1400043115 ISBN 13: 9781400043118

Publisher: Random House Inc, 2005

Synopsis

When famously shy Charley becomes obsessed with Japanese manga and anime, Peter Carey is not only delighted for his son but also entranced himself. Thus begins a journey, with a father sharing his twelve-year-old's exotic comic books, that ultimately leads them to Tokyo, where a strange Japanese boy will become both their guide and judge. Quickly the visitors plunge deep into the lanes of Shitimachi - into the "weird stuff" of modern Japan - meeting manga artists and anime directors; painstaking impersonators called "visualists," who adopt a remarkable variety of personae; and solitary otakus, whose existence is thoroughly computerized. What emerges from these encounters is a far-ranging study of history and of culture both high and low - from samurai to salaryman, from Kabuki theater to the postwar robot craze. Peter Carey's observations are always provocative, even when his hosts point out, politely, that he is once again wrong about Japan. And his adventures with Charley are at once comic, surprising, and deeply moving, as father and son cope with and learn from each other in a strange place far from home.
This is, in the end, a portrait of a culture - whether Japan or adolescence - that looks eerily familiar but remains tantalizingly closed to outsiders.

About this title

Review:

"Manga and anime . . . become not only a key for unlocking Japanese culture, but a bridge over the generational divide between the author and his son. . . . Moving." -The New York Times Book Review

"The mysteries of Japan and father-son relationships prove to be rich subjects, especially for a writer at the peak of his powers. . . . An entertaining and uplifting book."
-The Sunday Times

"Curious and affecting . . . physically diminutive but emotionally huge." -The Denver Post

"A pleasure to read." -The Economist

Book Description:

Embark on a special kind of pilgrimage in Wrong About Japan, with twice Booker-winning author Peter Carey and his twelve-year old son Charley.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Inc
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1400043115
• ISBN 13: 9781400043118
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 158