Journal entry 1 by SKingList from New York, New York USA on Friday, November 25, 2005

Not as much of an anime/manga fan as some visitors to Japan are, but I was given this book and I'm quite enjoying it. Will probably pass it on to Nicole when I am done for her to read and share if she wishes and/or hasn't read it yet.

Journal entry 2 by SKingList from New York, New York USA on Saturday, December 03, 2005

Found this to be an interesting and readable book, not too much OD on the manga/anime for those of us who aren't die hard fans, but enough to pique the interest. Kind of makes me want to read some manga, but we'll see. ( )

Nice little ‘travel’ book that explores Tokyo through the eyes of a Western father and son who are interested in understanding manga and anime from a Japanese perspective.

I picked this up out of interest in Japan rather than for its focus on anime and manga, but I became interested in watching some of the Japanese films Carey describes. It is interesting to discover the ways that the bombings in Japan during World War II influenced these art forms and to hear the explanations that Japanese people give regarding the symbolic aspects of manga. Carey recognizes that as a foreigner he will never quite understand Japan in the way that he would like to, but this is a perfectly satisfying and honest outcome.

Although it is not a weighty book, I found it entertaining and readable. Carey’s twelve year old son, and his Japanese friend Takashi also lend humour and interest to this small story. ( )

http://pixxiefishbooks.blogspot.com/2...

I picked this up one day from a secondhand book shop because it had an intriguing premise: Peter Carey, famous Australian author (among other things, he is the author of the novel True History of the Kelly Gang, which I really want to read someday) who is based in New York City, takes his 12-year-old son to Tokyo for a week after his son declares that he is going to live in Japan someday. Charlie is interested in Japanese manga and anime, not kabuki theatre and temple architecture. So he gets his dad to promise that they will visit the Real Japan, which they do. They meet a young Japanese boy who speaks English (I guess in Tokyo, anything is possible) who shows them some way-off-the-beaten-track aspects of Japanese life. There is a bit of Japanese theatre, despite Charlie's loud protests, and if I recall correctly, Carey gets away at one point by himself to visit one temple or something like that. But mostly there is anime and yakuza and comics and Mr. Donut. It's a short book, and you don't have to be a Japanophile to appreciate it. It's a fun read with a number of laugh-out-loud moments. ( )

an account of peter carey's trip to japan with his 12-year-old son to explore the world of japanese anime and manga. it seems that all peter carey found in japan is disappointment and irritation. this would be fine, if he could turn those findings into an interesting book with any sort of insight. when i wasn't waiting for him to really get into it, i was busy being irritated and offended. (also annoyed with the translation/transliteration errors.) it seems to me that all of his disappointment comes not from japan itself, but from being told that all of his show-offy theories of the effects of WWII, Commodore Perry, and Hiroshima on anime are all incorrect. he randomly injects long blocks of text from other sources about japan, presumably to give the book some sort of historical depth. carey admits that he was wrong about japan, as the title suggests, but he also does not take seriously any of the explanations he receives from the japanese he interviews. i got the sense that once he knew he was wrong, he wasn't interested in learning more so he could be right. if he spent less time talking about his theories and examining, or even just depicting, what was actually there, it would have made for a much more interesting book. i wonder why and how he decided his obviously unfulfilling and disappointing trip would be a topic with enough meat for a 100-something page book. ( )

I picked up this book for a laugh. Also to be "edutained", but it turned out to be more entertaining than educating as a travel book. "Wrong About Japan" proves Noel Coward right when he said about tourism: "Why do the wrong people travel, when the right people stay at home?".

And of course, what makes the book compelling is the stubbornness of Peter Carey in his attempts to understand the meaning of Anime and Manga, through visits to creators and producers of such artforms. He always misunderstands the main purpose these creators and producers had in mind.

The shocking truth behind the origins of Gundam Wing as something designed to sell toy robots is hard for Peter Carey to stomach, but as a veteran cartoon show watcher, having seen what Transformers was as a franchise, it's not that impossible to imagine that this was the truth with Gundam Wing.

Yet Peter Carey never gives up in his mistaken belief he understands Anime and Manga, and therefore Japan itself. The futility of his attempts at piecing together an accurate understanding of Japan through these art forms is as much unspeakably funny as it is painful to read what Carey does next, digging himself into a hole that he buries himself in with the shovel of his own ignorance, prospecting for meaning but finding only bitter disappointment.

The premise of the travel book is that Peter Carey takes his son along to Japan because Charley wants to find out more about Manga and Anime. Simple enough a premise, but not a good foundation for a book about "understanding Japanese culture". The resulting, light reading tome is fun and is a page turner, but you will cringe as Carey refuses to admit defeat and his constant assumption that there is something about Japan that he believes, paranoid to the end, that the natives will not tell gaijins.

The answer to Carey's dilemma is that he approached the way he asked his questions the wrong way. Even if you don't live in Japan, assuming you know the answer all the time when you ask a question will not help you win friends. Carey gets what he deserves in this book, and he was lucky enough to escape the country without being thrown out by force. ( )