Customer Reviews

Ride in the Neon Sun

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

 

 

At the risk of being accused of having "yellow fever"(?) I would say this book is not worth the trouble. If you are interested in understanding Japan, find another, for example one of the Alan Booth books which was written by a person with real knowledge and understanding of Japan and was a far better writer.

Ms. Dew rambled on for millions of pages it seems--well about 700-- and tells nothing new about the country that hasn't been said many times before by those ignorant of the country. Any criticisms are extremely shallow and what you end up with is: the Japanese and Japan are all kind, polite, and wonderful and of course weird, strange and inscrutable in the end. "But that's Japan."

Little about cycling in this book, so it won't likely satisfy the cycling enthusiast. Cycling was just her mode of travel. So there is little useful info about Japan that would satisfy anyone seeking useful, realistic knowledge, and little to satify cyclists. I really can't say what it is good for, but as mentioned earlier, it does contain many news reports from several years ago that were aired on FEN (US Armed Forces radio in Japan.

Oppressive heat and humidity, choking truck fumes, voracious mosquitoes, howling typhoons, uninspired concrete architecture, venomous snakes....why, I kept asking myself as I read this book, would anybody choose to do a bike tour of Japan? Actually, the ever-optimistic Ms. Dew hadn't planned to either, but managed to take a wrong turn on the way to New Zealand and wound up spending 4 months exploring the many Japanese islands. In the rainy season.

This is Josie's 3rd book on cycling in various places around the world. Those familiar with her previous works (both very highly recommended also) may find this book a little more on the serious side. It is also much longer and more detailed.

Despite having a near-useless phrase book ("Well, by gosh, I am from Missouri"), she manages to get along quite well with the language and quickly becomes very knowledgeable about the local customs. Some of her descriptions of the language interchanges are hilarious.

Josie can't seem to cycle more than a few kilometers without somebody foisting food and/or drink upon her, and always without any ulterior motives. The Japanese are fascinated at seeing a petite, young, attractive, blonde woman cycling alone and always manage to assume she is American. (She's English.) She is constantly being taken in and mothered by families which gives her a special exposure to the culture most of us will never have the chance to experience. The book does an excellent job of shattering many of the western stereotype views of Japan and the Japanese.

As usual, Josie manages to skewer most of the Americans she meets, mostly because of their lack of desire to explore the complexities of the Japanese culture.

The book includes clever maps of her routes, many excellent color photos, a humorous (and convenient) glossary of Japanese words, and an amusing index. She also includes a complete list of what to take along should you be inclined to attempt a long term bike trip. (My only question is how did she ever fit all that gear on her bike?)

While the book made me realize that doing a bike trip in Japan was not my cup of tea, it was entertaining to read of her adventures without experiencing the heat and humidity, not to mention the mosquitoes and snakes. It certainly would be an excellent read for anyone planning a trip to Japan by any mode of transportation. And if you have half the success she did in obtaining free food and lodging, it would be a cheap trip indeed.

i have lived in japan for the last 20 years, having completed my doctorate in japan, and being married to a japanese woman. i feel as though i may have some qualification to comment on this book, as opposed to the neo-japanologists who may have only spent a year or two in japan. i really enjoyed this book for what it is, a light-hearted and humorous account of a bicycle trip through japan. her accounts are spot on, and i find them even more so after all this time. i cannot agree that she has a racist outlook to the japanese or demeans them in any way. it is just an author describing what she sees, not what you want her to see. i find this refreshing and do not see the need to subscribe to a politically correct format in her style of reporting. she seems a regular person who is out to enjoy a bike ride without the politics.
all in all i can recommend this book for anyone who wants a great travel read or an insight into japan.

All I can say is that this book was soo enlightneing and interesting that I have read it 4 times. The excitment, the wonder the thrill as Josie deepens and increases her significant knowledge of China and enlightens the reader upon the kind, thoughtful and always welcoming folk who live there. It makes me want to grab my bike and head west tomorrow.
If you want a good read that is quite deep, but at the same time very light even thought it is a pretty long masterpiece, I suggest you pick a copy up. You'll be thrilled excited and educated all at once. A work of art.

josie dew is one of my favorite cycling writers, but.... this time she seems to have gone overboard. 700 pages of what seems like a transcribed journal-snore. her first two books are excellent. for a hilarious view of americans, try-"travels in a strange state". i sincerely wish ms. dew a rapid recovery!

I have to say, I disagree with many of the reviews of this title. I found Josie very thoughtful of Japanese contradictions, traditions and ways of life. I bought this book because it was the only travel writing on Japan that looked interesting at the time and I was very pleased. I have bought all of the rest of her books just because I love her style of writing. It's her sense of humour that lightens the situations she faces...

...and guess what? She ends the book to go back home for her brother's wedding...and so she is going to write another one! Japan 2 is the working title. Yay! Buy this NOW and preorder the next!

I loved Josie Dew's first book, "The Wind in my Wheels" when I read it back in 1990, shortly after a long, solo bicycle tour I took in Europe. She was wide-eyed and playful then, writing solely about the experiences that she met along the way, without trying to define the nature of the countries she encountered. So when Neon Sun came along, naturally I snatched it up at the bookstore here in Tokyo, where I live. At first I had mixed reactions about what I started reading. Here again capered the ever-undaunted sprite of Josie Dew, this time in Japan. However, as the book went on it grew more into a collection of facts than of a bicycle journey. Granted, Dew has done her homework, but nearly all the knowledge in the book is second or third-hand, all strung together to give the impression that Dew is knowledgeable about Japan- which she is decidedly NOT. All she has ended up doing is writing yet ANOTHER "this is Japan" book, by one of those fleeting passersthrough who can't even speak the language.

As someone who has lived in Japan and associated with it for nigh on 31 years (I grew up and worked here altogether 19 years), speaks Japanese, most of whose friends are Japanese, teaches English to Japanese students, loves the country as my own, has Japanese in-laws, and has bicycled in most of the areas that Dew writes about and more, her ignorant statements about what the country is all about infuriated me, because she is perpetuating myths about Japan that are simply not true. A few examples: the Japanese do NOT speak the way she has rendered their English dialogue; "Fuji-san" does NOT mean "honourable Fuji"...(the "san" here is the formal, Chinese reading of the character for mountain, otherwise read as "yama"...Fuji-san should not be called "Fujiyama" as so many westerners mistakenly read the characters); counter to Dew's proclamation, the Japanese LOVE camping (go to any bookstore and peruse the magazine racks); and all women are NOT subservient to men here (to imply so is deeply insulting to women and men in Japan, an arrogance that attempts to render them as somehow not modern or "liberated"...go DEEPLY into the daily culture of the people before you judge them..that means speak to them in THEIR language, on their terms, women and men included..I doubt that in Dew's tiny period in Japan that any of her hosts felt intimate enough to open such controversial issues with her, especially because most Japanese know how vehemently westerners feel about the issues). The scene that finally was the last straw for me was when Dew was staying with Motoharu and Hiromi Nakashima. One evening Mrs. Nakashima asks that Dew sit down with her husband for a conversation. Because Mrs. Nakashima does not join them, Dew immediately interprets it as Mr. Nakashima's acting the chauvinist male. But reading the way the conversation ensued, I gathered that Mr. Nakashima was trying to conduct a very serious talk with her, from an elder to a younger person, about his and Mrs. Nakashima's worry about her safety. Having Mrs. Nakashima out of the room signified that they probably didn't want to embarress Dew with weight of what they wanted to say by having too many people in the room. That is why Mrs. Nakashima moved about so quietly. When the conversation touched upon the difference between GB-UK, that was probably just an ice-breaker, something to make convesation before launching into what Mr. Nakashima thought was a serious matter. What hit me was when confronted with the problem of GB-UK, Dew couldn't even give an educated reply, spewing an inanity like, "Why couldn't Motoharu ask me something easy, like how many ball-bearings did I have in the fixed cup of my bottom bracket?" And here she is, a whole 689 pages of knowing all about Japan, and she can't even answer a simple question about her own culture! I threw the book down on the floor in disgust.

There are better travel books about Japan out there, namely Alan Booth's "The Roads to Sata", and better bicycle journey books, like Tom Vernon's "A Fat Man On a Bicycle" or Dervla Murphy's bicycle books.

I have been close to Japan all my life and have met and read stories by countless people who claim to know all about Japan, and yet have spent very little time here or cannot speak the language. It is hard to understand why such people are taken seriously in America and Europe. Surely such people, if they were to make such statements about countries in Europe or North America, would be laughed out of the publishing industry? Japan is not an "exotic" place. It is a place of human beings, not so different from any one else.

I almost quit reading this book during the first 90 pages. There were over-long sentences containing far more nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives than were necessary. She also "explains" the Japanese private and public face and the importance of group harmony. I have read the same thing over and over again and really dislike it when anyone who is not a native of a country seems to think they understand the people and the culture after visiting that country.

After the first 90 pages it's as though someone else wrote it. It's absolutely delightful. She was a brave and determined young woman with a terrific sense of humor. I don't think there are many people who could have done what she did.

I did keep in mind that Ms. Dew made her trip through Japan 16 years ago--1n 1994. I've been to Japan many times over the past ten years and think the Japanese people, even in remote areas--are quite used to westerners now. The Jet program has placed as many as 5,000 young native english speakers per year in rural and not so rural schools in Japan.

I liked the length of the book. I was sorry that she had to leave Japan unexpectedly before she traveled north. I don't understand why she wouldn't give a reason for her abrupt departure from Japan. If she hadn't made such a mystery of it I would have thought she planned to leave when she did. One of the other reviewers said she had to leave for her brother's wedding. I wonder why that was a secret.

I've spent more time criticizing the book than praising it which isn't nice because I felt it was a very informative and entertaining read. Yes, you need some patience and an open mind, but I found it worth every minute--after the first 90 pages.

i disagree with the user below who said this book is good for swatting flies. it is too heavy--like nuking a flea. however, there are good things in this book. strangely though, it has nothing to do with china as one reader thought. i guess this is a very controversial book. her next one is about the same stuff 2 years later, but is bound to be even more controversial due to some pics of the author bathing au natural in it. it can be used for a door stop if you don't like it.

It's interesting to note that it's people with "yellow fever" (the love of all things Asian) who have leaped to the defense fo Japan just because Miss Dew doesn't have a full cultural awareness of the countries she cycles through. Lighten up people, she is just "passing through" and if you expect to pick up deep cultural insight from what essentially is a light-hearted travelogue then you have very strange expectations.

As it is, Josie paints a very fond picture of Japan and it's peoples and it's clear she utterly loves the place. Travelogues are as much autobiographical as they concern the country travelled in and I would say the author's failure to understand some aspects of Japanese culture and therefore draw incorrect conclusions is more of a reflection of Josie than of Japan.

Miss Dew does a good job of portraying modern Japan and many of it's little idiosyncracies and yes, she does notice and comment on some of it's not so-good points much to the irritation of reviewers below who clearly have a lovers' blind infatuation with the country. Every country has a bad side but the overwhelming picture from this book is that Japan is a wonderful place to visit and it's bad side is minimal. The Japanese tourist industry should be well-pleased at the glowing praise the author lavishes on the country as she describes her extensive bicycle tour about the islands.

The book is satisfyingly long and written in an informail chatty style that is quite engaging. I am deducting stars however for the common problems that afflict modern travel-writing by the young - that is the ending is always rushed and the later destinations are really not well-depicted because of this and also, the tendency of writers to look down on fellow travellers and "dis" them at every opportunity - a problem most acute in backpacker writings. Other than that I highly recommend it.