Vintage January 1, 2004. 2004. Softcover. 8vo softcover 121pp very good. French flaps. For Peter Carey, a trip to Japan with his twelve-year-old son Charley would be a unique opportunity to share and learn something about his son's passion for Japanese comics and animated film, otherwise known as manga and anime. Convinced that there is 'a whole history and culture hidden between the frames', Carey hopes that this journey will help him to break the skin of Japanese culture. Charley, on the other hand, simply wants to buy cool manga. Either way, Carey looks forward to forging some indelible memories with his thoughtful, reticent son. And while some of the memories they create are not those that Carey might have wished for - such as Charley's ill-concealed boredom when forced to sit through four hours of traditional Japanese theatre, and Carey's own less-than-joyful reaction to Sega World - nonetheless it's an unforgettable and precious time, a time Carey considers a privilege, most especially for the pleasure of sharing his son's enchanted response to the adventure. .

Synopsis

The recipient of two Booker Prizes, Peter Carey expands his extraordinary achievement with each new novel--and now gives us something entirely different.When famously shy Charley becomes obsessed with Japanese manga and anime, Peter is not only delighted for his son but also entranced himself. Thus begins a journey, with a father sharing his twelve-year-old's exotic comic books, that ultimately leads them to Tokyo, WHERE a strange Japanese boy will become both their guide and judge. Quickly the visitors plunge deep into the lanes of Shitimachi--into the "weird stuff" of modern Japan--meeting manga artists and anime directors; painstaking impersonators called "visualists," who adopt a remarkable variety of personae; and solitary otakus, whose existence is thoroughly computerized. What emerges from these encounters is a far-ranging study of history and of culture both high and low--from samurai to salaryman, from Kabuki theater to the postwar robot craze. Peter Carey's observations are always provocative, even when his hosts point out, politely, that he is once again wrong about Japan. And his adventures with Charley are at once comic, surprising, and deeply moving, as father and son cope with and learn from each other in a strange place far from home.This is, in the end, a remarkable portrait of a culture--whether Japan or adolescence--that looks eerily familiar but remains tantalizingly closed to outsiders.From the Hardcover edition.

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On Jun 8 2012, Rmbooks1gmailcom said:

Book as described pleased

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Details

Bookseller: Dial a Book (AU)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 48696
Title: Wrong About Japan
Author: CAREY, Peter
Format/Binding: Softcover
Book Condition: Used
Binding: Paperback
ISBN 10: 1740513258
ISBN 13: 9781740513258
Publisher: Vintage January 1, 2004
Place of Publication: Australia
Date Published: 2004
Keywords: Wrong About Japan CAREY Peter

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Flap(s): The portion of a book cover or cover jacket that folds into the book from front to back. The flap can contain biographical...