Memoirs of an American Housewife in Japan

Rating:
Summary: Imagine your mother moving abroad
Review: Imagine your mother, a nice, middle-class lady from suburbia who probably hasn't travelled much out of the US, suddenly ups and follows Dad's job halfway across the world. Confronted with something totally alien, she writes letters home or in her journal about these foreign experiences she's having. Basically, that's this book. Sometimes she's totally wrong about Japan and the Japanese; sometimes her middle class western prejudices and assumptions show through; sometimes she reveals insight she probably doesn't know she's revealing, but her voice in all this is totally honest. Any expat living in Japan will identify with a lot of her experiences (haven't we all been dressed up in kimono for a photo?). I confess that I bought this book because I had briefly met Mrs. Hager in Japan and mutual friend told me about it, and after a few pages thought "Oh no!" But though the book is amateurish and could certainly have used a good editor, I was hooked on it anyway and read it straight through. Not because I knew the people (I didn't, as it turns out), but because it was like reading somebody's diary!

Rating:
Summary: Accepting new ways and of coping with language barriers
Review: Memoirs Of An American Housewife In Japan is the true autobiographical story of Pauline Hager, an amazing American woman, who had to adjust to the completely different culture of Japan when her husband had to work there on a multinational project. Living in housing especially designed for Westerners, and surrounded by friendly neighbors from all over the world, Pauline met the challenges of accepting new ways and of coping with language barriers, strict yet unfamiliar rules of etiquette, and much, much more. Memoirs Of An American Housewife In Japan is highly recommended, deftly written reading -- especially for anyone who finds themselves having to cope with being a stranger in a strange land!