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Learning To Bow by: Bruce Feiler List Price: CDN$ 15.50 City Travel Guides Price: CDN$ 11.32 You Save: CDN$4.18 (27%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 373.52 EAN: 9780060577209 ISBN: 0060577207 Label: Harper Paperback Manufacturer: Harper Paperback Number Of Pages: 336 Publication Date: April 22, 2004 Publisher: Harper Paperback Release Date: May 03, 2004 Studio: Harper Paperback Sales Rank: 179388 Browse for similar items by category:
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Useful Information For Any Gaijin in JapanThis book is useful for anyone moving to Japan, either as part of the JET Programme or any other reason. After living in Japan for a few years (not on the JET Programme) I recognized a lot of truth to what Feiler had to say. This book also provided me with an inside look at and the pros and cons of the Japanese school system. Through my own experience, I honestly am amazed at the amount of pressure placed on students to do well in school in Japan. For the most part, the students' effort pays off when they are accepted into a great high school or college, regardless of the two-hour-one-way commute some of them endure. At the same time, however, I wish the school system in Japan encouraged students to be more creative and that the environment ... Read More: Rating:  - Cultural lessons disquised by an American sensei in JapanBruce Fielder pens the story of his experience as an English Teacher in Japan. Similar to "You Gotta Have Wa", this book is more about the experiences of an outsider fitting in to Japan than the occupational hazards of teaching English. To use his own words, Fielder really does cut into the heart of Japan. Interspersed between stories of the challenges of the educational system are many deeper lessons. Included are an explanation of the importance of group harmony and identity, how co-workers balance formal working relationships with personal bonds, and how personal development differs between Japan and the West. Perhaps my only struggle was hearing how hard it was for the author to find a date in Japan. Japan is legendary for ... Read More: Rating:  - rather offensive to a fellow AmericanI am an easy audience and for the first twenty pages or so, I was really set to enjoy this book. Then I found myself gradually more and more frustrated when Mr. Feiler would stop to explain how some event or peculiar classroom trend he experienced was obviously due to blah blah blah historical or cultural Japanese dynamic...for pages upon pages. If I wanted to study social complexities, I think I could read Reischauer or someone with ample expertise. He also maintains quite an attitude of American superiority over the absurd Japanese way of doing things. He seems to think himself immune to this, though, because he has learned Japanese. He even goes so far in one chapter to discuss his anxieties about the feasibility of engaging ... Read More: Rating:  - A Bag of WindIf I hadnt actually lived in Japan i could see how i could mistake this thing for authoritive, but it amazes me that anyone who has lived out here more than a year could see this as much more than the bag of wind it is. With its pretentious title and lofty quotations of translated haikus, Feiler proves he knows how to make a good impression. The problem is, if you actually read it, you realize he isnt much good at doing anything else. At the time of writing this book, Feiler had been living out here a year as JET highschool teacher (though he doesnt actually admit to that in so many words- to hear him tell it, he was here on "special invite from the japanese goverment", as if he was some kind of high-ranking diplomat). The title ... Read More: Rating:  - Interesting at leastThis book is well-written and flows very well. However, some of the events in the book and the way that they are described are too "black and white" for my tastes. A good read, but if you are considering teaching or living in Japan, take this book with a grain of salt. |
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