Laura Kriska

I hadn't heard of the book when I went to Kinokuniya, but the cover (as pictured) caught my attention, as did the blurb on the back. I started reading it immediately in the mall but it took me some time to get through it. Not because it wasn't god (it was!) or the length (302 pages) but because school sucks up far too much of my time :(

Anyway, some thoughts:

As is the case with other books not written about people doing the eikaiwa thing, it's nice to see another perspective on Japan. See how others experience the country. I found this to be especially so with Rora-san as I've never lived in Tokyo or Sayama. I smiled at her mention of FujiQ, I love that place.

"I discovered a sense of place, of coming home"
That sums up my feelings when I returned to Osaka in November 2005. Namba Walk and the Midosuji Line hadn't changed in my three+ years away, nor had most of downtown Osaka. I remembered why I had loved Japan in the ie first place. Her mention of El Paso taco supplies made me laugh, oh how often finding taco kits was just a wonderful way to eat the 'real' food that I never eat when I'm here in the US.

I love the little things that the author captured, the surprise landing at the factory, the day to day life in the secretariat and little things like how the heat of the rice congealed the egg at breakfast :) While she didn't 100% love her assignment, she recognised the challenges for what they were and how they shaped her life. She recognized that it was all a part of her growth as a person.

Perhaps the most random thing I learnt: that there was a Mr. Honda!
I liked how you needed clues to figure out when this book was set. I figured it out from some smaller clues i.e. what tool wasn't used by the execs, but then the big clue came by a siginificant event that occurred in Japan whilst she was there. The fact that there was no date let me think about when this could of been and whether things had changed.… (meer)