The Accidental Office Lady

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Entertaining, Heartwarming and Genuine!
Review: "The Accidental Office Lady" is a wonderful treat for all readers! I enjoyed the book immensely and have recommended it to all my friends. Kriska's account of her years in Japan are insightful and genuine, and you'll hear yourself laugh out loud as she describes her experiences. She is honest with her readers as she describes everything she encountered in Japan as an American employee of Honda and is willing to share all her ups and downs. The characters come alive as Kriska deftly describes her day-to-day life in Japan, and you find yourself cheering her on as she eagerly approaches new challenges. I gained new insights into the psyche of the Japanese and realize how different and terrific it can be. I can't wait for Kriska's next novel, but for now I will have to be content to re-read "The Accidental Office Lady."

Rating:
Summary: easy to read, for the Japanese also
Review: (I am a colledge student in Japan. I happened to find this a book online.)Her efforts to struggle to accept and change wrong phases of Japanese custom for herself made me inspired, though I would prefer to comment on what she recounted. Her yarn may be a little bit dated; Japen's society has changed since then: times are bad; most people don't indulge in luxary; increasing young men are breaking with tradition. It is TRUE, however, that Japan is a sexist society. You will find how much discrimination the auther encountered. As a female, I feel offensive against old, ridiculous Japanese notions of women which defines that they are so weak that they must depend on men. Most women in this book seem not to be aware of sexism in the society, but I hope you to know today's many Japanese women are claiming their rights.

As she uses a word 'embarrassed' many times, I found Japanese people are too shy at trivial situations(maybe I am, too!). She made me grasp my country objectively and differencies between Japanese and American culture. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially Japanese people. The 'gohatto' she made in this book may be useful for those who ventured into the westrn society.

Finally, she has made a mistake of a sumo wresler's name; his name is Chiyonofuji, correctly.

Rating:
Summary: No insight into Japan
Review: I found this book to be a straightforward retelling of the author's two years in Japan. There is little insight or explanation of why things might be different in Japan, just a constant reminder that Japan is quite different than America.

Ms. Kriska was born in Japan but shows surprisingly little respect or understanding of Japan as a culture, whining incessantly about a variety of things, including petty co-workers (surely not only in Japan), Japanese women in general, but mostly sexism in the workplace. I admit that based on our norms, this is a negative aspect of Japanese society, but for Americans to criticize the Japanese because of it is too ethnocentric and implies the superiority of American culture.

As someone who has lived in Japan and worked for a Japanese company, I understand some of what Ms. Kriska went through (though frankly as a male, I have been spared some of the more frustrating aspects). It is tough to adapt to this country and succeeding here gives one a great feeling, which she describes very well. But it really isn't that hard to live here if you put your mind to it, and I felt that Ms. Kriska overstated the difficulties of living in Japan as a foreigner.

If you wish to live in another country, you should try to understand the people you are living with. Ms. Kriska spent too much time understanding only that the Japanese are different but never seemed to comprehend why they are different. This flaw made this book quite frustrating to read.

Overall, this book is worth reading if you are interested in a fun recounting of two years life in Japan, but should be avoided if you have lived in Japan for any length of time, because the author's experiences will probably be the same as yours. If you want insight into Japan and its people, however, you should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: It's not just Japan....
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and found it to be an interesting, useful, and above all, blessedly unsentimental (no sakura or lyrical descriptions of mountains, trees, or destruction thereof) book. However, since Kriska mentions that she joined up with Honda for a career, not a job, I wonder why her bio on the back cover describes her as a writer living in NYC ....

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational for anyone looking to effect change
Review: Kriska not only paints a compelling picture of being the first American woman to work for Honda Corporation in Japan, but also provides a roadmap for anyone trying to get unstuck from a frustrating, demeaning position. With honesty and integrity she shows us her foibles and fumbles as she negotiates her way through the austere Japanese hierarchy and sexism in the workplace. By the end of the book, she has begun to master the subtle art of deference and found chinks in the armor of a huge corporation. She and the Office Ladies of the title manage to get the sexist policy of workplace uniforms for women only revoked at Honda. No small task given the steadfast nature of rules in Japan. This book is inspirational for anyone looking to effect change when the odds are against you!

Rating:
Summary: naive to the max
Review: Maybe because I live in Japan, this does nothing for me. Heard it all before and heard it told better. Reminds me too much of the bright-eyed bushy-tailed who come over expecting it to be geishas and cherry blossoms and find it's pink salons and garbage strewn on beaches. They only missed the Edo period by 500 or so years just like this book missed the mark on really telling a less whiny tale of woe. Have to agree with reviewer who wanted to strangle her becuase she reminded him(?) of so many non-Japanese here who just won't shut up.

Rating:
Summary: Ugh.
Review: My main complaint with this book:

Please, *please* can Laura Kriska stop whining?

You took the job, you didn't ask specifics (or so you say). You wanted a job in Japan, you didn't care. So when things go Japanese on you, why do you constantly complain?

For anyone interested in office lady politics or the reasons for the Japanese feminist movement this book is worth a read. There is information in there. I just really had to supress the urge to want to strangle the narrator.

Rating:
Summary: A recommended read for those who haven't been to Japan.
Review: This book is definitely a worthwhile read for those who have never visited Japan or even for those who have spent a short time there and were less than enthralled with the experience. It offers a very accurate view from a typical American experience whether working in the Japanese business world, in the English teaching profession, or in another field generally made up of foreigners.

I was disappointed that there was not much mention of the positive aspects of Japanese business culture. Unfortunately, most foreigners who visit Japan also make this same ommision when recounting their experiences.

Something that perplexed me from the outset of the book was the great lack of knowledge and understanding of modern Japan that the author exhibited as she made her way through the events of her story. It was my understanding that she had completed a Japanese Studies program which included study abroad at a very prestigious Japanese university before beginning as a trainee at the Honda headquarters.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable read
Review: This engaging memoir reads like a novel and is almost impossible to put down once you begin reading it. The story of a young American woman who works as a trainee at the Tokyo headquarters of Honda Motor Company, "The Accidental Office Lady" is refreshingly free from many faults commonly found in books of this variety. It does not try to make Japan seem overly exotic, nor does it attempt to make condescending comparisons between the Japanese way of doing things and the American way of doing things. The author merely relates in a straightforward, honest manner her personal experiences working for a Japanese company, and in the process, we are allowed a very human glimpse into the workings of an international corporation. Laura J. Kriska has been criticized for making herself in this book seem more naive than she probably was, having been born in Tokyo (though only living there for two years before returning to the US), raised by Japanophile parents, and spending a year at a prestigious Japanese university before coming to Tokyo to work for Honda. But that is just the professional writer creating a persona for herself to better dramatize the transition from a spunky, independent young American woman to the truly bicultural young adult she became in the end. I believe that is well within the bounds of poetic license, and is definitely justified by the fine results.

Rating:
Summary: A good top level view of experiences while living in Japan
Review: This should appeal to both students preparing to study abroad in Japan, and those who have lived there several years.

If you've been to Japan for more than a year, this is an entertaining story about being immersed in a foreign land and battling cultural steriotypes. She has lots of great antidotes I could remember going through myself. While it looks like the author is going to dwell on the "injustice" of women having to wear uniforms while men do not, she does a great job of addressing the issue and then moving on.

For the student or expat expecting to go to Japan soon, this is a wonderful collection of stories showing a few easily avoidable mistakes people encounter while living in Japan.

The only glaring weakness I found was she acted so naive for someone who had spent time studying at Waseda - a Japanese Ivy School.