Customer Reviews

Japan Ai: A Tall Girl's Adventures in Japan

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up Japan Ai not really expecting much. I thought it'd be a cute read, but not something I'd really read twice, let alone buy. I was pleasantly surprised when I flipped through the pages. Steinberger's eye for details is amazing when it comes to describing her travels through Japan. Some people may be decieved by the seemingly simplistic artwork on the cover that the storytelling is just as simplistic, but they'd be amazed. The author's passion for travel, anime/manga, & hobbies comes through on every page. Fans of anime, manga, & cosplay will get into the journal because of the detailed information about those interests, but the average person will get drawn into the journal for the attention to details. It is easily accessible to most people. I would consider it a good guide to read before going overseas so one can plan out where to go, as well as knowing what to expect if you are a english speaking traveller.

This is a half comedy/half travel book in cartoon form. The drawings are simple, sweet and very expressive, detailing the story of three American friends in Japan. Unlike most travel books that tend toward dry text and pretty pictures, this book spends most of the time delving into little known facts about Japanese subcultures. This book definitely does not trot out the tired and repetitive discussions of electronics and chopsticks.

I loved it! Not only was it unexpectedly funny and informative, it reminds us how much of travel can be a roller coaster between adventure, bewilderment and embarrassment! Definately a great stocking stuffer for any of your well-travelled friends!

This is an adorable little book, a charming story of a fangirl's adventure in visiting her favorite type of doll's birthplace. Who wouldn't want to go on an adventure like this! The artwork is clean and lovely, a unique style that made this book a delight to read. It really makes you want to go to Japan! It's cute, it's pleasant, it's a very much worth picking up.

"Japan Ai: A Tall Girl's Adventures in Japan" is the "story" (the term is used loosely here) of Aimee Major Steinberger's trip to Japan to visit her favorite doll maker. Along the way she goes to temples, tries strange foods, and does everything a good tourist should do. And she makes notes and sketches of it all, which she puts together into this book.

Aimee's style is distinctive: passionately cute, acknowledging a manga influence without kowtowing to it as so many would-be Japanese imitators do. Although most of the book is done in this cartoony style, a handful of more realistic sketches of people and animals suggest a versatile talent at work.

The book is not, nor is it intended to be, a penetrating social commentary on Japan, but Aimee does have an eye for what makes the country unique, interesting, and above all, fun, and she evokes these things memorably. Readers who are already familiar with Japanese culture will not find many surprises here, but they will find a kindred spirit, and readers without that cultural knowledge will get a personable introduction. In a word, good times all around.

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I purchased this book because I had heard of it in a chat forum and was already familiar with the author/artist. Most books don't keep my interest long enough to get through the book in a day or two, but this was impossible to put down. Aimee's lovely sketches and playful comments kept me laughing at the turn of every page. Her useful information will fuel anyone dreaming of a trip to Japan into setting the date after reading this book. I am excited to visit the places she mentions and share in the wonderful experiences she wrote about.
What a brilliantly lighthearted way to address the ups and downs of tourism.

A+

Cute. Simple. A lovely guide book to one girl's adventures in Japan. So don't look for millions of pages of details. This is about her and her two friends and their journey to the VOLKS store in Tokyo by way of Kyoto. The cartoonist happens to also be six feet tall. It is a sketchbook and guide to many of Japan's little delights and, sometimes, tiny problems. It has a glossary and a appendix of websites of hotels, food places, stores and so on.

As a tall man who lived in Kyoto I just love this book. It's an illustrated travel log of 3 self-proclaimed geek girls in Japan. It covers the wonders of life in Japan from bizarre foods, to tiny shoes to squat toilets all with wit and grace and no small amount of cuteness.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT for anyone going to Japan for the first time or former residents looking for a reminder.

Have you ever felt like you stood out from the crowd? Like you were so strange and different, that people couldn't help but stare? Lately, Aimee's been getting that feeling all the time. Yes, she's a fangirl from California who has the ability to detect all things cute. She loves dolls, drawing, manga, and video games. In her spare time, Aimee and her friends like to cosplay, which is making costumes and dressing up as your favorite anime or video game character. But none of these things are the reason that Aimee stands out like a sore thumb. Aimee's 6' tall and, while that's not such a big deal in California, when you're visiting Japan, you might as well be Godzilla.

When you're 6' tall and in Japan, you tower over almost everyone else. People might mistake you for a monster out of a Godzilla movie. You don't always fit in every bathroom stall. Losing your luggage on the flight is a big deal, because finding cloths your height is almost impossible. People are scared to share a hot springs pool with you. And dressing up as a geisha means you need two people and a chair just to put on a wig.

Aimee's determined to have a good time while she's visiting Japan. It's her dream to see Kyoto, home of traditional Japanese culture, and Tokyo, a city that's all about the future. Along the way, she and her friends, A.J. and Judy, visit temples, watch musicals, get lost on the trains, cosplay in Harajuka, and adopt a doll. Japan Ai: A Tall Girl's Adventures in Japan is Aimee's sketchbook journal of the entire trip.

I was curious to see how well the book would look on my Kindle 2, but found some of the journal handwriting difficult to make out at the default page view. Zooming in was much better and I would have liked it to be the default setting, because turning the page zoomed it back out, and meant I had to zoom back in which hampered the flow of reading since the inputs would take awhile for the Kindle to respond to.

All in all, I suppose the Kindle is first and foremost designed for text reading, but I think it needs some tweaking to handle graphic browsing at a comfortable speed.

The book itself is enjoyable, but I wouldn't recommend it in Kindle format in this current version.

I've been a fan of Aimee's online journal for awhile now (she loves costuming, Dr Who, and is unapologetic about being a total geek) so even though I've never felt much interest in Japan I decided to buy her book.

It was worth the price; full of great detail, fantastically cute artwork, and awesome geekiness involving cosplay. I now actually want to visit Japan myself!