Customer Reviews

Pictures from the water trade: An Englishman in Japan

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I don't remember where I got a copy of "Pictures of the Water Trade," or why, but I know I haven't lost track of it since.

"Pictures" is a fictionalized account of the author's experience in moving, as a young man, to Japan, and his experience of 'turning Japanese.' He passes through several stages of understanding, incomprehension, accepatance and rejection, examining his feelings and reactions through the prizm of the Japanese language. He explores how concepts and metaphors embedded in a language can change the perception of someone who immerses themselves in it completely. His relationships with co-workers, his roomate and a girlfriend detail these changes. I recall a scene in which he realizes he has begun to bow when on the telephone, and he understands how his personality is changing in response to culture.

This is a poignant and intellectually challenging work. John David Morley alternates personal, illustrative events from his life with detailed explanations of sociology and linguistics. I am reminded of authors like Neal Stephenson, and Noam Chomsky. Strange and heady company.

If John David Morley's use of English does not bring a gasp of pleasure then the contents of his work certainly will. If you have the slightest interest in things Japanese then you are sure to enjoy this remarkable journey of cultural exploration seen through the eyes of a fictional Englishman. It seems very real, and for those who have traveled in Japan the context is set so perfectly. But more than that, it provides delicately woven connections and insights into a whole fabric of Japanese society of which most Westerners will never be aware. Perhaps the author's fluency in Japanese helps him unravel the thinking behind many interpersonal and cultural patterns which otherwise remain opaque to outsiders. To me the book was emotive, and real, with a captivating web of characters and a motion which maintained my interest to the last page.

This is a mildly interesting book that explores aspects of Japanese culture from a Westerner's point of view. The cover of my edition describes it as an "extraordinarily evocative, at times erotic," story. Given that the book is ostensibly about the steamy nightlife of the mizu shoubai, one might expect a rather heady description of what goes on after dark in Japan. Despite the title, the book does not particularly concern itself with the water trade. When it does, it is often just a description of the author sitting in some little bar or other drinking. The book does devote lengthy stretches to things like calligraphy and home furnishings, and perhaps it's just me, but I found it rather boring.

It is hard to imagine who the target audience for this book would be. For those with little knowledge of Japan, many of the descriptions lack enough context to make much sense. For persons already acquainted with the culture, the long musings are hardly revealing and some of the author's conclusions are questionable. Ultimately, it feels like the author wrote this as memoir for himself. It should give hope to diarists everywhere that they too can one day be published. There are a few genuinely evocative moments in this book (especially notable was a good description of a funeral), but hardly enough to justify the time it takes to read it.