Customer Reviews

Shalom Japan: A Sabra's Five Years in the Land of the Rising Sun

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

 

 

Shifra Horn, a well-known Israeli writer, gives us her mostly-friendly take on Japanese culture. There was a lot of potential here, but this book could have been more than it turned out to be.

I read this book hoping to find something more than the usual "visiting Japan" travelogue. I was hoping to find out what it was like for Horn, as an Israeli and a Jew, to live in Japan, but that's exactly what she denies readers for most of the book.

The way it's been organized, the book is divided into two distinct sections, and the first section, unfortunately, gives mostly the kind of rambling overview of Japanese culture that you might expect from any travel writer.

From the well-known (the Japanese obsession with business cards) to the cute (the Japanese obsession with toilets) to the obscure and sometimes jarring (the Japanese obsession with abortion), Horn writes capably, but deals out few surprises and little by way of her own perspective on the issues.

Perhaps these essays filled a niche for Hebrew speakers, with little access to the wealth of material already available in English for Japan-philes, but as an English speaker, I felt like I'd read most of what she was saying before.

Just when I was getting fed up, though, I found the second "half" of the book (significantly shorter). Here, Horn really gets going; it's like we're meeting her for the first time. She writes about what it's like to be an Israeli diplomat and Hebrew teacher in a country where, though Israelis and Judaism are often revered, the Nazi alliance hasn't faded from memory and antisemitism is making an unsettling comeback.

Perhaps the book would have been more of an even read if she'd spaced out these more personal essays, rather than clumping them together into a ghetto of their own. As it is, the first section isn't astonishing, and the second half, unfortunately, just seems like too little, too late.

Hello! I am the translator of this book and the reviewer is right, I am not familiar with the Japanese language; it woudl be nice if I were, but not really essential, since I translate from Hebrew to English. I transliterated the Japanese words from Hebrew and the author - who claims a deep and expert knowledge of all things Japanese - corrected them into what she assured me was the correct, phonetic English spelling.
My sincere apologies for any offence caused.

I just finished reading this book, Shalom, Japan, and I must say that I was fascinated. Although I agree with the previous reviewer that there is not much in the way of in-depth analysis of the Japanese culture as a whole, I don't believe that the author intended to attempt such a feat. Horn basically has filled the book with little vignettes of her experiences and encounters while in Japan, and she is a very good storyteller. She covers everything,for example:super toilets that can tell you if you're pregnant, red-light districts, garbage collection systems, her experiences teaching the Hebrew language to the Japanese,the onsen (communal Japanese baths), and trying to accomodate Japanese food to her vegeterian way of life. There are also some stories about Jews living in Japan during WWII. There are a few passages which may come across to some as generalized statements about the Japanese people as a whole, but in retrospect, her observations are lighthearted and reflect the thoughts that entered her mind at the time. At no time does she ever condemn the Japanese. In fact, she makes it quite clear that she highly respects the Japanese people and tries diligently to understand their way of life. As an Asian American who has visited Tokyo several times, I enjoyed this book tremendously. It brought back many memories and also allowed me to experience Japan through the eyes of an Israeli. Please give this book a chance. Even though it will not win any prizes for deep comparative anthropologic analysis, it was genuine, fun, and thought provoking. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Japan or the Jewish experience in Asia.

More than merely stereotypical and incorrect, this book and books like it are actually dangerous to genuine understanding between cultures. I'm afraid the "Japan" Ms. Horn lived in for five years doesn't actually exist; however, the Japan she has fabricated for this book is so stereotypically perfect that she might have written it without spending even one afternoon in the country. It is blatently obvious that Ms. Horn doesn't speak a word of Japanese and was never able to break the barrier between "us and them". I don't know why some people will try to explain a culture without understanding it themselves, but it always saddens me when these deep misinterpretations are taken by others as fact. It's not difficult to mock a culture you don't understand, but it is terribly irresponsible in today's global society. I wonder if Ms. Horn would appreciate the trivialization of her own cultute in such a manner. I could site specific errors in the book, but that would take another book. If you wish to understand Japan leave this book on the shelf.

As a frequent visitor to Japan I'm always trying to learn more about this fascinating country. Ms. Horn's book provides a series of vignettes which are illustrative of the country yet fairly run of the mill for anyone who reads much about Japan. The stories are well written and humorous. Her book would be much better if she tried to work on a few overall themes of how she viewed Japan from the perspective of an Israeli. These two cultures are quite different. The book reads quickly and will not cause one to look much beyond the surface. When she began to discuss Jewish life in Japan I felt as if she finally started to get below the surface of the two cultures and the book then moved beyond the "can you believe this happened to me" type of narrative.

It is sad when people with a similar background as yours make such unaccurate, generalized criticisms of cultures they didn't even try to understand. After living in Japan myself, I became tired with foreigners always trying to point out how strange Japan is without realizing that their own cultures also have their own weirdnesses.

I have to say that I was sorely disappointed in Ms. Horn's oversimplication of a very complex society. I lived in Japan for 11 years and am married to a Japanese man. Although she states that she has the utmost respect for the Japanese people, it is not reflected in her words.

I agree with the other readers that a more detailed account of her life as a Jewish woman/diplomat would have been a much more interesting read.

Finally, the horrible spelling of all things Japanese was unbearable and at times - believe it or not - made it impossible to understand what the author was referring to.

The book is an easy read novel, very funny. In spite of the humor, it brings very honest account of the encounter between very different cultures. I found that aspect fascinating.

Ms. Horn has spent 5 years in Japan, and relates her personal experiences there. Her personal point of view is very evident in the book - as a vegetarian, she describes a very special meals friends had invited her to, and as a pet lover, she describes the Japaneses' treatments of animals. This personal point of view can be a great bonus, but on the other hand has its drawbacks for those who are looking for a more accurate story about Japan. I really enjoyed this personalized point of view, since I'm Israeli and could easily see what Ms. Horn thought was funny, strange or disturbing. Someone who is not fimiliar with the Israeli attitude towards things might not have this full understanding of the author's point of view.

I found this book to be a fun and easy read, but being one who has studied japanese history, literature, language, and culture for a while, I found the book to be vry superficial. This book is not intended for one who already has a decent knowledge of Japan, it would definately be better for one who has just gained an interest in Japan, because most of the information in this book is very banal and threadbare to one who has already studied Japan a good deal. The only new information I gathered from reading this book was of the Jewish community in Japan. My main complaint about this book is the horrible spelling of Japanese in romanji. vakarimasu instead of wakarimasu; Om Shinari-Kiu instead of the Aum Shinrikyo. I know this might seem like an unimportant matter, but some of the words written out in this poor romanji can be rendered unrecognizeable. I believe this to be the fault of the translator: she seems to have little familiarity with the japanese language. the book was translated from Hebrew by the way.