Customer Reviews

Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa

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As implied by the subtitle, A Year In Search of Wa, Karin Muller's book shapes up as a sort of contemporary Pilgrim's Progress, in which the writer undertakes a journey she hopes to be of benefit to her soul. For many years, Ms Muller says, she has been on a quest for "the meaning of life," and her focus has at last settled upon the "calm and inner strength" of her Japanese judo instructors in America. However, they have told her that to truly master judo, she needs to understand the philosophy behind it, and so to understand Japan. As she adds herself, this will mean "becoming Japanese." On a first level, then, her book sets out to recount the progress of a self that is thoroughly imbued with Western adventurousness and individualism, as it aspires to acquire the quietude and harmony (wa) that are implicit and omnipresent in traditional Japan. This is a promising subject. The paradox of a self striving to overcome itself guarantees dramatic interest, and insofar as most Westerners picking up this book are likely to be similarly curious about Japan and "wa" and possibly eager to attain some wa themselves, there is a sure complicity of writer and reader. Secondarily, as implied by the main title, Japanland, Muller's book functions as a conventional travelogue, relating impressions and experiences of assorted aspects of Japan in the chatty manner one might adopt in writing to a friend. Here again, the Western reader will generally follow Muller with complicit humor.

Initially, the book seems likely to live up to its potential. Muller gains our respect as she sets out with humble determination to "become Japanese," in particular conforming as well as she can to the customs of her home stay family, the Tanakas. She writes honestly, and is informative and entertaining as she describes her interactions with the family and along the way explains aspects of Japan (sumo, sword-making, the yakuza, Confucianism etc.) incidental to her story. Given all this, it is not hard to understand the positive reviews Japanland has had in America.

However, from the point of view of a reader living in Japan, it is hard not to have reservations. There are, to begin with, troubling errors and inaccuracies. Muller consistently refers to her home-stay town as "Fugisawa" where it is obvious that Fujisawa (in Kanagawa Prefecture) is meant. I cannot work out whether this is an awkward attempt to disguise Fujisawa, or whether it is sloppy editing on her or someone else's part. Certain statements are also erroneous. To say that there is a stigma on women who are not married by 30 may have been true ten years ago but it is wrong today. It is also untrue that one third of Japanese marriages are arranged. The most charitable interpretation here is that the manuscript became outdated while awaiting publication. Elsewhere, kojinshugi (individualism) is represented as kijinshugi. All this from someone who, having spent twelve months in Japan, is now, according to the blurb, an "expert lecturer on Japan for the National Geographic Society."

More seriously, as the story progresses, and particularly as the relationship between Muller and the Tanakas deteriorates, both writer and book become less appealing. We soon realize (and no doubt Muller does too) that our heroine is incapable of the sort of assimilation ("becoming Japanese") she first conjectured in the abstract. That this is so is not in itself a criticism of the author, although it does hamper the fulfillment of her task. However, Muller's avowed preference for "freedom" leads her at times into a do-what-I-want tactlessness. Home-stay mother Yukiko at one point criticizes the author for her lack of manners. Probably very few foreign visitors (and a minority of Japanese) would meet Yukiko's exacting standards, And yet there is some truth in Yukiko's remark. Be it manners or tact, something lacks, and one winces here or cringes there as a result. At the yabusame training ground, she reports taking up a position "a foot below the target, trying to get some footage of the archer shooting directly into the camera lens." At another point, she alienates a guide at the Yamabushi training by implying that she knows better than he does. Consistent with this is the way she treats the Tanakas. When her relationship with them is breaking down, she begins to live entirely independently, but continues to avail herself of their home. At this point, they no longer invite her to talk or eat with them (a sure sign that their hospitality is at an end) and yet instead of taking the hint, she stays on and seems surprised when her much later offer to leave is immediately accepted. Consider especially that home-stay father Genji graciously accepted Muller into his home with a view to her learning more of judo. There is no indication given that the Tanakas accepted to have their home life and dealings with others laid out for the world to read. To publish this book, and profit from it, grossly defies the awareness of on (indebtedness) that Muller professes to have on pp69-75.

Despite all this, in her acknowledgements, she writes that she would like to meet her home-stay family again "and perhaps be friends." Tactful?

And what of the search for wa? In the final pages, the writer takes part in the famous Shikoku pilgrimage. Aesthetically, it is an appropriate ending, the culmination of the quest, but has Muller made any real progress? I suspect not. As fastidious as she makes out Yukiko to be, she herself is ultimately just as fastidious in her obdurate individualism. Despite the genuine aspiration that was her first impetus, in the end Japan appears to have served for her as just another pretext for stimulus, activity, a head-on "tackling" of destiny. One has less an impression of unity and harmony than of restlessness and multiplicity. There is little to be learned here about living in harmony with one's self or others.

As a travelogue, the book has some value, but it is limited. The primary theme being the quest of wa, inevitably there is heavy emphasis on traditional spiritual elements of Japan (judo, sumo, Yabusame, the Yamabushi, taiko drums, kabuki, geisha, the Zentsuji naked festival, the Shikoku pilgrimage). She writes well enough on these matters, but it is hard to maintain this bias toward the traditional without appearing to privilege a "mysterious Japan," as criticized by some reviewers on this site, and indeed by some Japanese of my acquaintance. The unfortunate title does nothing to alter such an impression: Disneyland, Legoland, Japanland. A place away from reality that one comes to for wonder and amusement.

All in all, this is an honest work, generally well written, that will entertain as long as one identifies resolutely with Muller herself, her individualism and her picaresque adventures. Look beyond this, place her in a Japanese perspective, and her ever-bustling, at times gauche, accumulation of experience comes to seem trivial, a little whirlwind in nothing, too breathless to touch the placid wisdom she vowed to seek. In consequence, even if laudable as the faithful record of a personal failure, Japanland comes across as naïve and over-reaching in its project to enlighten. By the final page, we know that Muller was too stubbornly full of self to be up to the task. Given her short acquaintance with the country, her newfound status as a Japan "expert" seems likewise overstated.

Finally, for reasons I stated earlier, as an act, publishing this book would appear to be all the opposite of wa.

Karin Muller describes her year in Japan as a search for "wa" or inner harmony. This is a literary construct--an entirely unconvincing one-- designed to tie together a series of travel stories that are really defined by restlessness, not harmony, as Muller and her camera bounce from one unusual festival or cultural practice to another. Then there is the motif of the Rules and Regulations that Muller keeps bumping into, which usually lead to her being Rejected. This happens with the host mother, Yukiko, most notably, and with each encounter I began to feel a little more sympathy for Yukiko, esepcially when Muller attempted to improve the family garden with a vegetable patch. (Yukiko is referred to as Muller's "nemesis" on the paperback cover blurb--a good way to sell the book, I guess.)

Muller may be a good filmmaker (I have not seen the PBS series), but she's not a particularly good writer. She tells her stories in the present tense, evidently to give a sense of action and immediacy, which is wearying after a while and leads to way too many sentences that begin "I + verb". Check out page 205, for example, and just count them, if you doubt me. Muller also has a weakness for the unfortunate simile; when she described being cold after a naked swim in the sea as "I feel my body stiffening like a piece of roadkill after the sun goes down" I almost gave up on the book altogether. Occasionally Muller must supply historical background to explain what has drawen her to a particular place, but each time it has the awkward feel of a sidebar.

Finally, there is her tendency to make sweeping generalizations ("courtesy is bred into their DNA," and so on) that makes you realize that Muller doesn't really like Japan or the Japanese very much.There are some interesting stories in this book, but I would not recommend it as a guide to Japan. I should say in all fairness that I read this book right after finishing "Oracle Bones", Peter Hessler's wonderful book about China. Hessler, in addition to his scholarship and years of living in China, has what I call a quiet eye. He's wonderfully observant and skillfully brings just enough of himself into the narrative to convey his personality and interests. Muller's "Japanland" is too frantic and way too self-absorbed to convey much that's truly interesting or new about Japan.

I wanted to read this book after catching the Japanland series on PBS. I have always been fascinated with Japan, and the television episodes interested me. I thought that by reading the book, I might get some information that was left out of the series.

Although the book has some neat and interesting information, I was disappointed with the book as a whole. To be sure, I liked the information about different cultural institutions, but the core of the first two hundred pages was more focused on the author's self confidence issues in a foreign land. This seems like a situation where the reader might feel sympathy for her, but I felt none. I felt that while she wrote that she was trying to be accepted, she was only being stubborn, and trying to express how superior her own ideas were; there were many situations where she asks a native something like, "why would you do that?" or "I did this instead, since what they said didn't make sense to me."

The last one hundred pages were more enjoyable because she stopped focusing on herself, and wrote more about the different cultural institutions. The last few pages in which she tries to bring the whole experience together and claim that she finally gleamed some understanding did not seem authentic. Rather, I could not get rid of the impression that she was more interested in writing a book and filming a documentary than actually finding some sort of `wa,' since that is all that she seemed interested in during the end of the trip. Thus, the central premise of the book did not seem to hold, and because that lacked, so did any sympathy for the author. It all seemed just too phony.

Because I am not Japanese, I cannot attest to the errors regarding her interpretation of certain customs. In fact, I have read in other books things that seem to confirm some of these errors that others have pointed out; perhaps I have read the same out of date books as Muller.

Forgot about looking for wa, Karin Muller should try to learn about the basics of politeness in any society. Ms. Muller goes to Japan and lives with a family without paying them any room or board or helping with chores around the house. She goes off and plays with the husband and then comes back to the Japanese home and lets the wife do all the work while she chats happily with the husband. When the wife is resentful, Ms. Muller is shocked and then goes on in the book to criticize and slander the family that has been kind enough to take her in.
Another thought that occurs while reading the book is how cheap is the National Geographic Society or are they too being slandered by Ms. Muller? Supposedly, she has been sent to Japan to make a documentary about her experiences for the National Geographic Society, but she is constantly seeking free everything from anyone she includes in her videos. Does the National Geographic Society send out people to do work for them and not pay them anything? If they do, shame on them for they are then exploiting those who work in their name.
As others have mentioned in their reviews, the author is not concerned with finding wa, but with making a documentary and then a book as a spin off. Ms. Muller's work is unsettling but not for the reasons she thought it would be.

Having just returned from Japan, I looked forward to the release of this book and was not disappointed. It makes abundantly clear that Japan is still the domain of the Japanese and the rest of us gaijin will only be able to grasp bits and pieces as they are revealed to us. This is not a bad thing, just the reality of coming to Japan as a non-Japanese person with a western perspective. This is made clear to the author in many instances as she struggles to understand the expectations of her host family, especially as a woman who is skilled in judo and used to standing up for herself.
The book also does a great job of telling stories about how great it is to travel in Japan. I have been many places in the world, but the wonder of wandering in Japan was second to none. Karin Muller shows how different Tokyo is from the "other" Japan. Get off the beaten path of the Shinkansen and one experiences the warmth and hospitality of a truly gracious people. The cities are wonderful, especially Kyoto, but the smaller towns are where you can connect with people on a more personal basis. You will not find more hospitable (or sometimes frustrating) people anywhere. Lafcadio Hearn would be proud of some of her stories as she illustrates the paradox of life as it is practiced here, as one of the monks she encounters laughingly says to her.
I think this is a balanced portrait of a country and its people from someone who obviously became a fan as she lived there. It deserves our attention. I look forward to the PBS program she made as part of this project.

I enjoyed the style of this book very much. It was a surprise to see that the author identifies herself primarily as a filmmaker rather than as a writer, since she writes with a very natural narrative style that seems more purely literary than visual, and I mean that as a compliment. In any event, it is a style that propels the reader through the book while transporting the reader into another world.
Having never lived in Japan or any other Asian country myself, I could not pass judgment on how vivid the characterizations might seem from an insider's point of view. However, I certainly felt as if I personally knew the host-family daughter, Junko, among others.
I've been checking out various memoirs on life in Japan by westerners as part of a research project. The two most interesting I've uncovered among recently published works are this book and something called "How to Pick Up Japanese Chicks and Doom Your Immortal Soul" by Josh Muggins. They are an interesting study in contrasts. One is a short-timer's view of Japan as told by a self-possessed, clear-headed woman; the other describes a man's turbulent lifetime in the country. If you're going to buy just one book to prepare you for a limited stay in Japan, though, I'd go with "Japanland." For a somewhat deeper look into the experience of living in the country, the other might be the better bet.

To truly appreciate Muller's work, one must have spent more than a couple of days in Japan, which is by far the most perplexing, contradictory, and fascinating place on this planet. Muller is such a refreshing change from another famous travel writer Paul Theroux, who stubbornly and deliberately remains an arrogant outsider wherever he travels and takes perverse pride in discomfiting the locals. I admire her courage for actually trying to live by Roberto's advice that "If you want to live in Japan for a long time, then you must be reborn... You cannot feel resentment against the system, not even for a single moment...". Chapter 17 is a little masterpiece, and anyone who has actually visited a public bath in Japan (or another Asian country) would have a great laugh at Muller's mercilessly vivid and hilariously precise description of the entire experience.

The last time I visited Japan for business, a colleague of mine who's originally from India and now living in Japan in semi-permanent basis told me that living in Japan is a vastly different experience than visiting as a tourist. You have to feel for Muller for making the Herculean effort as an older single foreign woman to make the agonizing transition from a visitor to a native-wannabe. I agree that one must be a 'misfit' of some kind to want to live in Japan as a Gaijin, or simply masochistic. Read this book to appreciate more all the benefits of living in America, for all its own faults and hypocrises.

Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa

I read the many positive reviews of this book, and while I agree that the book was entertaining, it also disturbed me to a point.

I began to read Japanland with a sense of anticipation. I am a student of Japanese, and I enjoy reading about the country and it's customs.

The book begins with Karin Muller's determination to "become Japanese" and her search for a sense of Wa, a sense of harmony and enlightenment. However throughout the book, there is no sense of harmony as Ms. Muller bumbles through various experiences in Japan. It is unfortunate with her choice of goals in mind, that Muller instead exhibits a tactlessness that often puts her at odds with her goals in many of the situations she finds herself in.

Moreover, halfway through I began to feel at odds with the author because of her attitude toward her host family and her thinly veiled sarcasm toward the mother and daughter. The Tanaka family accepted her into their home, yet instead of truly trying to fit in, Muller seems to almost relish throwing her individualism into Mrs. Tanaka's face. Instead of honestly trying to learn what she can from the woman, Muller disrupts the household by often going against what the Tanakas request. She came to Japan to become "Japanese" yet she seems to exhibit a sense of exasperation with many cultural traditions and Mrs. Tanaka's role as a full-time housewife.

While I liked reading about her varied experiences, her tactlessness in many situations often irritated me, to the point where it took away my enjoyment of the book. I also wonder if the Tanakas had any idea that they would show up in a published book - unless names where changed, but even then people who knew Muller in Japan would associate her with the family she lived with, and her comments would surely result in a loss of face for that family. I feel sorry for Mr. Tanaka, who so generously took her in as a guest, and then has his family's private life published for the world to see.

I hate to say it, being someone who generally loves any travelogue or book about Japan, but I couldn't get past the authors attitude to truly enjoy this one.

The author's Japanese Judo instructors had said that to truly master the sport, one has to understand the philosophy behind it. And to do that one needs to understand Japan. What better way to do it than to pack up one's bags and go live in Japan for a year? Karin Muller did just that. Her narrative covered her uneasy relationship with the Japanese family that hosted her, as well as various side trips to peel away the veneer that is modern Japan.

Foreigners often find it hard to reconcile the conflict that is Japan. The country that gave the world Sony Walkman, the robotic dog Aibo and led the world comfortably in any number of high-tech, consumer electronic products, is also bounded by traditions.

In my view, Karin's host family was, in many ways, a microcosm of Japanese society. The elder Genji was a president of a Japanese corporation awaiting retirement. While he's more than happy to treat this American Gaijin as his equal, someone whom he could discuss economics and world business with - something he'd never do with his wife, he also revelled in the traditonal role of a husband, being waited on hand and foot by his supremely conservative wife. Genji's 28 year-old daughter wanted to live life as she wanted it but was forced to attend match-making sessions by her panicking parents. Their son however, followed in his father footsteps with approving nods from both parents. He graduated from a prestigious Tokyo university and became a salaried man at Nissan. He's no doubt hoping that decades of loyal service would eventually land him the same prize his father received.

This should have been an interesting read but i found myself skipping over parts of the books. One reason's entirely personal: i wasn't that interested in learning about the religious aspects of Japan. Hence her numerous journeys to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples didn't resonate with me. I found snippets of her narration describing modern Japanese trying to come to terms with their parents' values and those concerning foreigners trying to make a living in Japan, far more interesting. Karin used present tense exclusively and her story felt somewhat disjointed. I thought past tense would have been much better. But it's just me.

The book promised a "hilarious portrait of the land of Wa" but i didn't find much laugh-out-loud humor of the Bill Bryson variety. What you get is a straight-forward narration from the point of view of a westerner. I'd have given this book 3.5 stars if i could.

I have what some might call a minor-- er, major obsession with Japan. As such, it didn't take much convincing for me to buy this book, which is an account of the author spending a year in Japan in search of harmony and balance for her life.

What this is not, I should say, is a travel guide to Japan. It contains a lot of fantastic insights into the culture, both mainstream and more esoteric, but if you plan to read this book thinking that it will make your trip to Tokyo easier, you'll be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you have an interest in what Japanese culture is like for both an insider and an outsider, then I definitely recommend this book. From her stay with a host family to her Buddhist pilgrimage, Karin Muller weaves a wonderful story with skill, honesty, and respect. She's not ashamed to reveal her own ignorance of some situations, nor is she ashamed to point out when other people are just plain baffling, at least by Western sensibilities.

I have read this book more than once now, and it's one of the few books that I can safely say I take more away from it each time I read it. It's an engrossing book, with plenty to amuse those who nothing about Japanese culture and those who know quite a bit.

By the end of the book, whether the author feels they've achieved a sense of inner peace and harmony is almost irrelevent. She's learned a great deal, experienced more than most people ever dream of, and she's taken away a little piece of another place to keep inside herself. In a sense, her pilgrimage toward the end of her time in Japan was only a fraction of the pilgrimage she embarked upon, and it left an impression that even the reader can feel as they share the journey from beginning to end.