Tokyo, Japan – Reading List

By: Philip Blazdell

This is the a short list of books which attempt to deal with the enigma which is Japan.

1. The Asian Saga – James Clavell (Fiction)

Shogun

Taipan

Gaijin

Noble House

King Rat

Whirl Wind

What can I say about Clavell’s work? Each time I pick up one of his books my girlfriend shrieks with horror as she knows that until I finish it there is no use talking to me.

Shogun kicks off the series with the story of Anjin-san and how he comes to terms with Japan. The story covers only a short period of time and deals with the complex relationship between the canny English man (James Clavell is ex-Royal Navy) and the Japanese.

I read this book after being in Japan for a year and it opened my eyes to many things. Some people complain that Clavell’s sense of history is not so good, and that certain events did not historically happen, but as a primer to life in Japan and the Japanese mentality it is unbeatable.

Taipan is possibly my favourite in the series and is mostly centred in Honk Kong. I love Hong Kong, it’s an amazing place, and I loved this book. I deals with the Noble House of Struans (historically, read

Jardines and you are closer to the truth) and it’s role in the Opium Wars. Actually, I found this book as an excellent source of reference to my travels in China and Hong Kong. It only touches on Japan. Again some historical accuracy has been sacrificed but generally history has been adhered to. Possibly one of the best books I have ever read about Asia.

Gaijin (the derogatory word used for foreigner in Japan) covers a short time period just before the Meiji restoration period in Japan. It explores the fate of the new Taipan of the noble house and their

attempted expansion into Japan. Most of the action takes place near to Yokohama, which I have spent a reasonable amount of time in. Again it’s almost uncanny how well Clavell understands the Japanese and their mentality.

Noble House is set in modern day Hong Kong, and as such is not of much use for people coming to Japan. However, it is a cracking story which continues on from Gaijin and takes place in one short turbulent

week . Again, it’s an excellent book.

2. Pico Iyer – the Lady and the Monk (Non Fiction)

A critically acclaimed young writer with a warm eye for the incongruous spends a year in Kyoto, intending to both explore “the private Japan…the emotional Japan” and live a life of Thoreauvian simplicity.

Iyer succeeds in his first goal but not completely in his second as life throws him a curveball in the form of Sachiko, a pretty and wildly enthusiastic woman in her early 30s. The mother of two small children,

Sachiko is a typical Japanese housewife married to a usually absent businessman who “was no more affected by her doings than a big boss might be.”

Everything in Sachiko’s world has been preordained – she had no career, she’s not allowed to travel – and she yearns with enormous hunger for the freedoms of the West.

“I dream you life-style,” she says to Iyer in her struggling English on numerous occasions. “You are bird, you go everywhere….”

Sachiko’s passions are ardent and almost unbelievably eclectic – rock music, tea ceremonies, stuffed animals, classical literature – and through her, Iyer learns much about the conflicts and complexities of modern-day Japan. He also learns much that debunks his preconceived notions about the island nation.

In between Iyer’s increasingly personal meetings with an awakening

Sachiko (she eventually leaves her husband to travel as a tour guide), he describes his encounters with Zen Buddhism, Japanese culture, Japanese literature and Americans abroad. His observations in these sections are often astute and light in touch, but they lack some of the energy and refreshing elements of surprise that suffuse the rest of the book. A personal and evocative work filled with much gentle humour,

intelligence and insight (Kirkus Reviews).

However, Pico does tend to fall into the trap of idolising Kyoto and painting it through rose tinted glasses. After travelling around Kyoto at roughly the same time as the author I can’t help but wonder if

one of us was on drugs. Kyoto was nice, but after reading page after page after page of dripping prose about the temples and shrines you wonder if he ever left the confines of his mistress’s bed. I think

there is a global conspiracy going on somewhere as every travel book I have read worships Kyoto. For me, it is nothing special.

3. Peter Biddlecombe – Travels with my briefcase (Non Fiction)

Biddlecombe is a genius at telling stories and each of the chapters, which deal with a separate country, contain untold gems and anecdotes. Although his Japan writing is not the best (see French Lessons in Africa), this is clearly one of his better books (avoid his later ones). It’s not much use for the average traveller in Japan but it will certainly make you laugh out loud. Something to consider for a long

flight.

4. Paul Theroux – The Great Railway Bazaar

Who can dislike Mr. Theroux. His is bad tempered, a snob and not the kind of bloke you would want to share a train trip with, but he writes wonderfully and has an almost pathological hatred of the Japanese.

His trip, which covered a circuit round Europe and Asia on trains is almost an whispered prayer to the glorious days of the past when trains were the most romantic way to travel. His description on the leg through the urban wasteland of Japan is one of the most apt and

accurate pieces of prose I have read about Japan. Highly recommended.

5. Paul Theroux – The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific

Only a small section dealing with all things Japanese as the possibly cancer struck author paddles his way around a complicated divorce. His continuous rants and raves about the numerous Japanese who flock to

Hawaii had me in stitches and definitely made me less keen to visit these fabled islands. Nice one Mr. T.