No Pianos, Pets or Foreigners!

My Life in Japan in the 80's

By: Joe Palermo

Narrated by: Joe Palermo

Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

A young Japanese woman was running through Tokyo station screaming “Save me! Save me!” There was a Japanese man chasing her and closing in. He grabbed her wrist and caught her, about 10 feet in front of me. The woman was still yelling “Save me! Save me!”, but the Japanese people in the crowded station ignored her, not wanting to get involved.

This is the beginning of just one of the stories from my experience living in Japan in the 1980s, where I had moved right after graduating university. It was still rare to see an American who could speak Japanese fluently. This book guides the listener through my many adventures navigating through Japanese culture while living in the outskirts of Tokyo, as well as Tokyo proper.

©2020 Joseph M. Palermo (P)2020 Joseph M. Palermo

Fascinating look behind the fusuma in Japan!

Joe gives us front row seats to his personal, cultural, and corporate adventures in Japan during a time when it was very rare to be a non-Japanese person living in Japan. We experience his emotions and impressions during this transformative journey from West to East. He navigates uncharted waters (sometimes getting wet) like a true explorer. I laughed and I cried (a little) reading this book. My top question: Did you ever "drift" your modified Cervo Kei while in Tokyo?

Not so much emphasis on the 80s

The reading was well done, which was a nice surprise since sometimes the author is not the best reader. I enjoyed several stories in the book and can relate to many of the experiences.

My criticisms are that the chapters are short and kind of feel like a collection of stories you tell friends at a party, and don't have much development. Also, other than a few references to lacking email, the novelty of car phones, and so on, the book didn't give me much of a feeling of what Japan was like in the 80s, which is one of the reasons I bought the book. Most everything in the book is still relatable today - how people interact with you in small towns, how you have to buy your own fixtures and appliances, etc., it's cool to see how some things haven't changed, but I'd also like to know more about what has.

Overall the stories are entertaining and I think there's some cultural value that is still applicable for people who want to spend time in Japan today.

mediocre

I ain't gonna front, the writing sounds like that of a 6th grader, but the anecdotes are interesting enough I suppose