2.5
Wrong About Japan
ByPublisher Description
When Peter Carey offered to take his son to Japan, 12-year-old Charley stipulated no temples or museums. He wanted to see manga, anime, and cool, weird stuff. His father said yes. Out of that bargain comes this enchanting tour of the mansion of Japanese culture, as entered through its garish, brightly lit back door. Guided–and at times judged–by an ineffably strange boy named Takashi, the Careys meet manga artists and anime directors, the meticulous impersonators called “visualists,” and solitary, nerdish otaku. Throughout, the Booker Prize-winning novelist makes observations that are intriguing even when–as his hosts keep politely reminding him–they turn out to be wrong. Funny, surprising, distinguished by its wonderfully nuanced portrait of a father and son thousands of miles from home, Wrong About Japan is a delight.
45 Reviews
2.5
Ellie
Created 5 months agoShare
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Elga
Created 7 months agoShare
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Onetrooluff (Julie)
Created 7 months agoShare
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“Wrong About Japan tells the tale of Peter Carey's trip to Japan with his 12-year-old son, Charley. Charley has become obsessed with manga and anime (and Gundam in particular) and so Carey pulls his publishing-world strings to get interviews with some major anime/manga figures: Yoshiyuki Tomino, the director of the early Gundam series; Hiroyuki Kitakubo, director of Blood: The Last Vampire; and perhaps most impressively, filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
In planning the trip, they kept talking about "Real Japan" and what they thought that meant, and what parts of it they were going to avoid (the son was completely anti-museums, temples, kabuki, or anything resembling traditional culture). Both of the Careys went into the trip with specific desires: Peter Carey to try and get some insights into how anime and manga represent the culture of Japan, and to bounce his interpretations off of Japanese people and see if any of them are remotely true; Charley to see as much cool Gundam/anime/tech stuff as possible.
The title should explain how Peter's part of the trip went. He was constantly, consistently, "wrong about Japan." I think that he applied the same kind of literary analysis to manga and anime that made me never want to be an English major: interpreting higher meaning and symbology where there isn't necessarily any in the first place.
One segment I did really enjoy (that was completely Carey's idea) was where he sat and watched Miyazaki's film "My Neighbor Totoro" with a Japanese friend of his. They would watch, and pause the movie so his friend could point out what a Japanese person sees when he watches the film. His comments were fascinating: what the characters' accents and speech patterns tell you (we can do this in English but non-Japanese-speakers can't do it in Japanese); what the architecture of the family's house tells you; the significance of things like the well, the paper bird hanging near the roofline... I wished that I could have read about the whole movie.
Much of the rest of the book, though, seemed to be about Carey's frustration with his misinterpretations. I think he needed to not bring in so many preconceived notions and LISTEN more.
My biggest problem with the whole book can be summed up in one word: Takashi. My problem is two-fold. First, Carey's treatment of Takashi was kind of frustrating to read, and even his son seemed to think it was really wrong. Second, TAKASHI IS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER. I could not believe this when I read it in an interview with Carey. It really undercuts the authenticity of anything else Carey says, particularly because he never explains that Takashi is fictional anywhere in the book.
Overall, it was a fast, interesting read. It frustrated me at times, but it was also interesting getting an overview of how manga and anime came to be (even if I had to read through Carey's incorrect conclusions first).”
Tief King
Created 9 months agoShare
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Nomes
Created over 1 year agoShare
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