Tales from High Mountain: Stories and Recipes from a Life in Japan, Part I [Kindle Edition]

Tara Austen Weaver (Author)

Book Description

A few months after graduating college, at the age of twenty-two, Tara Austen Weaver boarded a plane and then a train for a journey high into the mountains of central Japan. She did not realize she would also be traveling back in time, to a traditional town and inside the home of an old and established family.

Tales from High Mountain is the story of those first few months of immersion in a foreign culture, of learning to find your feet in an unfamiliar land with very different rules. It is a journey into rural Japan—the festivals, the feasts, the quite beauty found in ancients temples and changing seasons. It is the story of finding a new home, and the family and food and traditions that came along with it.

Included are ten Japanese food recipes, to bring the flavor of Japan home.

Product Details

• File Size: 164 KB
• Print Length: 52 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005J2VOHM
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,008 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #96 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Asia > Japan

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Life in Japan August 28, 2011

By winosandfoodies

I have been an admirer of Tara's blog Tea and Cookies since the beginning. I love her writing style. Her writing has the ability to take me places in my head. Tales from High Mountain does just that. I lived every moment as she lived it. The book is a mixture of culture,family, emotions, food. Although it is an adults book, it is a book I would have enjoyed reading to my children when they were around 9 - 10 years of age.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun story March 1, 2012

By Athena J Simpson

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a really fun, though rather short, story about a woman who goes to live in Japan for a few seasons. The story details her culture and how when she moves back home to the states she ends up missing her new family in Japan. The story also includes some really great recipes at the end, and let me tell you, homemade udon noodles rock.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Slice of Life August 29, 2011

By E. Wootton

Tara, or Tea as she is affectionately known due to the name of her amazing food blog Tea and Cookies ([...]), has given us a tantalizing slice of life in rural Japan. She touchingly describes the awkwardness, in all of its different guises, of being a Westerner in a small Japanese town. The language, customs, holidays, even the food are foreign to her, in spite of having spent summers there as a child. She finds her way, true to a food lover, in the kitchen with the help of her patient homestay mother. This is such a lovely taste of her years there, the tip of the iceberg, and I can only hope that she will produce parts 2 and more soon. Tara has written this book from her heart and what she gives to us with her beautiful prose she also hopes to give back to Japan. She plans to donate proceeds from the book to ongoing tsunami relief in her adopted country. An added bonus are some of her favorite Japanese recipes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A love story August 28, 2011

By Ken Iisaka

It is an exquisitely written narrative of the author falling in love. The author spends 3 months in Takayama or High Mountain, living as a member of a local family. She becomes intimate with everyday aspects of life there: from architecture, food, to festivals that are far ingrained into its residents.

The writing is beautifully simple, and narrates the author's experience eloquently. It is as though we can see the world in which she was immersed through her very own eyes.

Highly recommended to those who have visited or wants to visit Japan, as well as to the romantics who believe that we also fall in love with inanimate objects and the surroundings.

4.0 out of 5 stars a great begining.... March 5, 2013

By fileg

Amazon Verified Purchase

I found this book really intriguing.

On the surface, it is the story of a young woman who spent a lot of her growing up years in Japan who goes to stay with a family in a small rural village where the lifestyle has never lost it's connection to the traditional.

But there is also the story of coming to terms with a place that the author had a "sibling rivalry" with growing up, vying for her mother's attention with the place her mother loved.

I liked the story we got, but I wish it had been longer. I was just really getting into it and it was over.

Obviously, one of the failings here is mine. I have been disappointed in how short some of my recent reads have been. Because I have been reading on my kindle, I haven't gotten a sense of the size of a book when I buy it and have been disappointed when they were abruptly over. I need to start looking at the page count when I buy!.

4.0 out of 5 stars year off in Japan February 3, 2013

By fanofjapan

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a sincere and heartfelt account of a young woman's trials and tribulations settling into a completely alien culture: she's from the US and although she has visited Japan many times as a child and teenager due to her mother's interest in the country, Takayama as a small mountain town is very different from the big cities of Tokyo or Kyoto, and being there to live, not just as a passing visitor, is quite a challenge.
The author tell us all about her struggles, but also the joy she derives from the progress she makes with improving her knowledge of Japanese and taking part in the daily life of her hosts. She makes no attempt to present herself in a flattering light, which is refreshing. Her writing style is clear and straightforward. This book was a pleasure to read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it! September 8, 2011

By S. Desprez

Amazon Verified Purchase

I do read Tara's blog and really like her sensitivity and openness. But this book was quite a surprise. I sheepishly admit to not having read her first book though it's been on my wishlist since it came out. I loved this little book--not only for the fact that it was for a good cause--but also for the great way she gets to those emotions living in another country can bring out in you. Oh the loneliness and everything....and also how, when you return to your own country, you long to be back...in fact, you are never the same back in your own country. You remain almost country-less. I lived abroad for more than a decade and I'll never be the same--never look at things with truly American eyes again. I felt like I was reliving my own experiences abroad--and at the same time able to learn so much about a new culture....can't WAIT for the rest of the story!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Japan: A Love Story September 2, 2011

By Elaine

Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been reading Tea's blog, Tea & Cookies, for a couple of years now. I don't even remember how I discovered it - probably reading one blog which led to another which led me to Tea - but, no matter how I found her blog, I am so thankful I did because reading it and keeping up with Tea's life has been truly delightful. When I read on her blog that she wrote this book as a fundraiser for Japan I thought, "How great!" I knew that it would be wonderful reading with Tea's eloquent prose, but I wasn't prepared for how easily she transports you to another world. I have always wanted to go to Japan and Tea makes it come alive. It is as if you are right there experiencing her newfound world with her - every sight, taste, smell. I was also delighted to discover that there were recipes at the end of the book. I wasn't aware of that when I purchased it, even though I see now that the Amazon link indicates recipes in the subtitle, I didn't notice it when I purchased the ebook, so it was a delicious surprise. I can't wait to try the recipes. I am really looking forward to the second part of Tea's journey back to Japan.