Good, witty, writing, but after a while I got tired of it and all the negative descriptions of Japanese culture. Was it meant to be funny? I found it gloomy. It was one of those books that when you put it down, you later have to force yourself to pick it up again. Happily, it's a short book -- a novella. ( )

Belgian 22-year-old woman, raised in Japan and speaking Japanese, achieves her dream working for a Japanese company only to spend a humiliating but amusing year cleaning toilets. Well written and novel. ( )

It was easy enough to read and has a consistent tone... but it's so racist. I guess some of it must be true? Like a lot of japanese companies really do have a noxious work culture... but nothomb's characterization of a lot of japanese culture rings completely false to me.

she's also really wapanese - there are bits in this book where she talks about having been born in japan and wanting to rediscover the culture, but i've heard they're absolutely false. ( )

Un libro stupendo e geniale che mi ha fatto innamorare perdutamente di una scrittrice che di diritto si piazza tra le mie preferite.
Amelie narra le sue vicissitudini di un anno di lavoro in Giappone presso una grandissima multinazionale. Quello che per lei inizialmente sembra l’avverarsi di un sogno si rivelerà invece essere solo un’esperienza tragicomica in un mondo dalla mentalità così differente da quella occidentale.
Lo stile è ironico e graffiante, ma al tempo stesso pervaso di dolcezza e amore verso una cultura tanto diversa e distante da quella occidentale, cultura di cui, peraltro, riesce a mettere in luce le particolarità e le differenze senza alcuna acrimonia.
Uno spaccato impietoso ma al tempo stesso benevolo di un mondo tanto differente dal nostro da sembrare quasi alieno.
( )

In Nothom’s caricature of Japanese corporate life, Belgian national Amelie begins by taking a new job at the import-export division of the Yomimoto Corporation. In almost no time, she finds herself slipping down the corporate ladder. Using an exaggerated sense of humor to poke fun at some of the absurdities of the Japanese work ethic, the author enlightens its readers to a Western mind’s reaction to such a situation. What could be thought of by some as a scathing attack on Japanese corporate life seems to be just the author’s examination of culture clash presented in a very entertaining manner. ( )