Dave Barry Does Japan

I've read at least a half-dozen of Barry's books, and this is BY FAR my favorite. My wife and I both laugh out-loud when we re-read it, and I have bought multiple copies to give to friends.What makes it so good? Barry at his best is an observer who steps back from daily life just far enough to notice how crazy everything is. So Random House had the brilliant idea to send him to Japan, thereby giving him a brand NEW world in which to notice how crazy everything is!Not having been to Japan, I found myself learning along with Barry. Did you know that most streets in Tokyo have no names, and address numbers are not ordered? Imagine trying to find the trendy new bar under those circumstances... Did you know that the word "No" is considered impolite in Japan? Imagine trying, as an American, to make arrangements with a Japanese travel agent when you don't understand that she's trying to tell you that some of your preferred travel options don't exist... The results, at least in Barry's hands, are hilarious.Yet there are some folks who've given this book just one or two stars. Their complaints seem to come in two categories: Barry is smug, superior, and ignorant, laughing at things just because he doesn't understand them; and/or the book just isn't funny. Some of the people arguing that the book isn't funny mention having lived in Japan, and I can understand that the book would be less amusing for them, because the craziness Barry is observing would already be familiar. If that doesn't apply to you, then I say trust the majority of reviewers here who have found the book to be quite funny.As for Barry being a smug, stereotypically ugly American: he is NOT laughing at the Japanese and their culture, but at the MISMATCH between himself and the Japanese--either enjoying the sheer novelty of the unfamiliar or poking fun at his own ignorance. No one who reads the whole book with open eyes can fail to notice his admiration for many aspects of Japanese culture (nor his preference for the individuality and self-expression of American culture). And no one who reads the serious chapter about his visit to Hiroshima can justify calling Barry arrogantly pro-American.My bottom line: this book is very interesting, very funny, and deeply humane. If Barry has written anything better, I haven't read it.

This book kept popping up on my recommendations, and I finally gave in and bought it. I have recently been wading through a series of Japan-orientated intercultural texts, and this book was a breath of fresh air. It is equal parts funny and insightful.The book takes an irreverent, realistic look at Japan. This is the point of view of the tourist. Some things, like plastic squid and Sumo, really are strange to us. Dave Barry is not afraid to call a spade a spade. He does not attempt to cross-examine his own cultural biases, but just is happy to say "Look at that. Weird." Also, he is a very funny writer. I have not read any Dave Barry books before this one. The chapter on Hiroshima shows that he can be respectful as well as silly. That chapter really made the book for me.My only real complaint with the book is that it is "thin." It is a short book, with a large font. Unlike humorous travelogues by Bill Bryson, this book has very little depth and is no more than a "surface glance" at a small part (Tokyo and Kyoto) of Japan. However, Dave Barry is honest about this and says so straight out. Still, it is lots of fun.

Although it's a little dated, it has some super useful (and funny) tips about visiting Japan for the first time. Dave Barry is definitely the funniest man in America no one knows.

This review originally posted at [...]This book contains one of the definitively best passages of Dave Barry's Oeuvre. I would love to retype it here in full, but instead I will let you read the entire book (which you must do RIGHT NOW regardless of your prior commitments) so that you don't miss any of the laughs.Dave Barry is a comedic Genius. We already know this. In Dave Barry Does Japan, he also flexes his journalistic chops, showing us that he is as shrewd, insightful and (while sometimes hyperbolic) honest as he is hilarious. He highlights some of the best things that an outsider would notice about Japan. The not so great things? Presented with humility and grace, if at all.It's certainly not a textbook on Japan, but it was still informative. Even if you don't learn anything, it is still a great read because it is simply so funny!

This is the first (and only) book by Dave Barry that I've read. It was funny--I laughed out loud several times more than one would expect for such a short book--but I would definitely not recommended as one's sole diversion during a plane trip to Japan from the U.S. You'd be done before Hawaii.It's also in a somewhat awkward position in the post-Made in America/Rising Sun/Japan That Can Say No era, as any American who still has more than a passing interest in Japan will no doubt know most if not all the cultural tidbits upon which Mr. Barry's anecdotes are based, thus negating some of the humor/shock value that the book might otherwise provide.

Wanted this particular book and it was priced ok so it came after a long wait but I wasn't in a rush as it's a Christmas gift for my niece.

A very funny introduction to some of the many quirks in Japanese culture.Having lived in Tokyo for 3 years, I was transported back to many of the hilarious experiences that gaijins often find themselves in.