Help me find non-racist stories about Westerners in Japan

January 11, 2016 8:06 PM

I'm hunting for examples of stories about Westerners travelling to Japan that don't indulge in orientalist/exoticizing/racist tropes.

Please feel free to give me examples in any medium. Are stories about this kind of culture shock impossible without entertaining these negative tropes? I'm also wondering in particular about stories with fantastical elements. Also please feel free to give general rules of thumb about how to tell when a story is or is not indulging in these tropes--I'm able to spot obvious examples, but being a white American my radar is not super well attuned to these things.

posted by zeusianfog to Writing & Language (14 answers total)

Am I correct that you are looking for fictional stories?

Not fiction, but possibly of interest to you, since you say any medium, (and if you are generally interested in Japan) there is a community of Youtubers who are foreigners/ex-pats living in Japan, many of whom talk about their experiences and the differences, how foreigners are treated, etc.. I particularly like Rachel and Jun. The videos are maybe a bit ... Youtube-y, but they're definitely not from a racist perspective. She (Rachel does more videos than Jun) talks a lot about what it's like in Japan as an obvious foreigner, does interviews with Japanese people about their views on various subjects, and is doing a series now on traditional Japanese craftspeople. Like I said, not fiction if that's what you specifically want, but possibly of interest to you nonetheless, and might actually lead you to more specifically what you're looking for- so many of these people are very responsive to questions and might be able to point you to good stories, as well.
posted by catatethebird at 8:30 PM on January 11, 2016

David Mitchell's novel "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" might fit the bill. It's about Dutch traders in late 18th century Nagasaki.

"Several years ago, while composing this story, he told a Japanese newspaper, "My intention is to write a bicultural novel, where Japanese perspectives are given an equal weight to Dutch/European perspectives." And to a remarkable extent, "Thousand Autumns" does just that, illuminating the whole spectrum of villainy and virtue in both these imperial cultures."
posted by icemill at 8:34 PM on January 11, 2016 [12 favorites]

Hokkaido Highway Blues, about a Canadian hitchhiking the length of Japan. He'd already been living there teaching for several years before he wrote the book, so the novelty/honeymoon period is long over. Quite funny and spot on.
posted by jrobin276 at 9:47 PM on January 11, 2016

Lost Japan. It's really, really good. It's a collection of excellent essays.
posted by Blitz at 10:01 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

How about Christopher Barzak's The Love We Share Without Knowing? It was a little too sad for me to finish, but the prose is beautiful and has a touch of magical realism.
posted by Caravantea at 2:54 AM on January 12, 2016

It's a children's story that was either read or suggested on Reading Rainbow. I do remember picking up the book at my school library and the story has stuck with me since:

How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman.
posted by spec80 at 6:40 AM on January 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Donald Keene's Chronicles of My Life is by one of the most respected western academics studying (and now living and a citizen of) Japan. It's non-fiction and I haven't read anything by him, but given that he's one of the founders of Japanese studies in America, the worst you'll run into is some essentialism. He's thought of well enough in Japan that NHK (the state TV network) had a documentary that featured him.
posted by Hactar at 7:09 AM on January 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Try Isabella Bird's "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan."

This is a case where the writer's life is more interesting than her works, and her works were more than a little interesting. She went (to some places) no man went before. Well, where no man in her century ever went. She wasn't one to pander to conventions. You might compare this book with others she wrote.
posted by mule98J at 8:42 AM on January 12, 2016

All non-fiction, if that's of interest:

David Chadwick: Thank You and Ok!: An American Zen Failure in Japan.

Arthur Braverman: Living And Dying In Zazen: Five Zen Masters Of Modern Japan [a good chunk of the book focuses on Braverman's life and Buddhist study in early '70s Japan, and his interviews with then-living Zen masters].

Raymond Mungo: Return to Sender.

Alan Booth: The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:44 AM on January 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Audrey Hepburn's Neck

(I can't say I know what you mean by "orientalist/exoticizing/racist tropes" but I don't believe the book has anything morally offensive.)
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:16 AM on January 12, 2016

You might try Elizabeth Gray Vining's Windows for the Crown Prince. It's her account of her experiences as English tutor to Japan's Crown Prince (now Emperor) Akihito in post-war Japan.
posted by orange swan at 10:07 AM on January 12, 2016

For a different flavor, Silence by Shusaku Endo stars a Portuguese Jesuit.
posted by sukeban at 1:49 PM on January 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

A small caution on the Isabella Bird: she's decent on the orientalist/exoticizing/racist front while on Honshu, but she's significantly worse among the Ainu in Hokkaido. (NB: It's available from Gutenberg.)
posted by Quasirandom at 3:22 PM on January 12, 2016

American Fuji by Sara Backer and Learning to Bow by Bruce Feller.
posted by Rash at 8:08 PM on January 12, 2016 [1 favorite]