Journal Entry 1 by foxed from Bedford, Bedfordshire United Kingdom on Saturday, July 25, 2009

I do enjoy Pico Iyer's thoughtful travel writing - my review of his Falling Off the Map at bookcrossing.com/journal/6914961. It will be interesting to see his take on Japan - I enjoyed Robert Twigger's Angry White Pyjamas about aikido training with the Tokyo Riot Police
 

Journal Entry 2 by foxed from Bedford, Bedfordshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Pico Iyer lives a Kyoto year of temples, blossom and poetry. Intrigued by the dreams of the duty-bound wife Sachiko, he finds through her many hidden facets of Japanese life which belie his calm monk-like certainties.
A look at language, love and contrasts 

Journal Entry 3 by foxed from Bedford, Bedfordshire United Kingdom on Monday, August 24, 2009

In the post to rapturina - enjoy! 

Journal Entry 4 by rapturina from Yantai, Shandong China on Saturday, August 29, 2009

It's here, thank you so much, foxed! This looks really interesting, I hope I will be able to get to it soon. :D 

Journal Entry 5 by rapturina from Yantai, Shandong China on Sunday, March 28, 2010

I finished reading this last night and was really quite impressed. I had never read anything by Pico Iyer before, but I am definitely going to check out his other books as I really enjoyed his style of writing. He is very thoughtful and precise and looks to explain things instead of just stating how different the Japanese are, which is a common problem with many books about Westerners in Japan (or any other non-Western country, that is). The first half of the book he does go on a bit about how great and peaceful and beautiful Kyoto is, but he makes up for it in the second half, when his story with Sachiko really takes off and he gets more contemplative about the Japanese and the way they learn to see the world. I have never been to Japan and don't know much about it, so I can't say if his theories are realistic, but I do think it was very interesting how he explained why the Japanese are different and how he came to realize that we are just as "weird" as they are. 

Journal Entry 6 by okyrhoe from Athens, Attica Greece on Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Thanks so much, rapturina!

Selected from the Two Worlds Virtual Bookbox started by loveamystery.