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A Circle Round the Sun: A Foreigner In Japan
Describes the life of an Englishman in Japan, a banker by day and a writer by night. The book records the experience of an outsider in a country where the group is all-powerful, and of an individual in a society where conformity is an almost religious duty. By the author of "Under A Sickle Moon".
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Published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 29, 2020
This was a book I had found in a used bookstore a few years back, and in my intended reading pile since. Initially, I was attracted to the book because of its theme; the foreigner in Japan. After reading a bit about Japanese baseball stars in the United States, as well as American players going to Japan to play; I have found the difference in cultures to be fascinating.
This book tells of the author's experience as a British freelance writer working in the Japanese office of an international banking firm. Telling the story as a series of jagged entries (some of which may be written, others transcribed from a lecture recorder he used to jot down thoughts); I totally found sympathy for the author and all he goes through in this time.
Several books I've read already about Japanese history, baseball, and crime have tended to sum up very general differences between the cultures and exploit one or more of these differences to frame the conflict as it would appear on a story curve. What I really enjoyed about A CIRCLE AROUND THE SUN was that the author/narrator usually references the existing generalization, but often provides additional context that explains much of what is left out or ignored when we only draw the conclusion to a simple stereotypical generalization.
This book's strength and what makes it still relevant many years later is how he addresses communications throughout. In one entry, he discusses the concept of 'wa' as not necessarily being wholehearted harmony; but as a default setting of compromise within a team. Despite Japan's reputation (at the time) of being a cooperative society; he shows us the potentials for passive-aggressive behavior and the killing-with-kindness that actually drains enthusiasm and lessens its power. In another case, he is curious as to how 'worldly' Japanese treat him more like gaijin than those who've never left the country. He discusses the expectations of certain settings, when he realizes the communication is not in what is being spoken, but in the silences and facial expressions. Yet one more example shows the change in demeanor of a woman who clearly dislikes him, was trying to maintain polite conversation with the author, and then loses control when he mentions using his work experience as part of a future book. Leaving after having a cup thrown at him and this woman shrieking in a self-possessed rage.
It may not be enough to sustain the average reader; but I found myself reflecting on the subtleties here. Perhaps I enjoyed the nostalgia of a Japan that was still on the rise, rather than mired in an economic loop waiting on China's emergence? Or it could just be that nearly 30 years after Hodson was going through his uncertainties in trying to embrace the role he's selected; that I figured out uncertainties never really go away.
Though my favorite thing from this book is the following quote...
"The Buddha teaches that one must lose illusions to find enlightenment. I learned that disillusionment is not enlightenment."
Perhaps this is the greatest challenge in trying to navigate the differences in cultures... an astute restatement fitting somewhere between "all that glitters..." and "the grass is always greener".
This book tells of the author's experience as a British freelance writer working in the Japanese office of an international banking firm. Telling the story as a series of jagged entries (some of which may be written, others transcribed from a lecture recorder he used to jot down thoughts); I totally found sympathy for the author and all he goes through in this time.
Several books I've read already about Japanese history, baseball, and crime have tended to sum up very general differences between the cultures and exploit one or more of these differences to frame the conflict as it would appear on a story curve. What I really enjoyed about A CIRCLE AROUND THE SUN was that the author/narrator usually references the existing generalization, but often provides additional context that explains much of what is left out or ignored when we only draw the conclusion to a simple stereotypical generalization.
This book's strength and what makes it still relevant many years later is how he addresses communications throughout. In one entry, he discusses the concept of 'wa' as not necessarily being wholehearted harmony; but as a default setting of compromise within a team. Despite Japan's reputation (at the time) of being a cooperative society; he shows us the potentials for passive-aggressive behavior and the killing-with-kindness that actually drains enthusiasm and lessens its power. In another case, he is curious as to how 'worldly' Japanese treat him more like gaijin than those who've never left the country. He discusses the expectations of certain settings, when he realizes the communication is not in what is being spoken, but in the silences and facial expressions. Yet one more example shows the change in demeanor of a woman who clearly dislikes him, was trying to maintain polite conversation with the author, and then loses control when he mentions using his work experience as part of a future book. Leaving after having a cup thrown at him and this woman shrieking in a self-possessed rage.
It may not be enough to sustain the average reader; but I found myself reflecting on the subtleties here. Perhaps I enjoyed the nostalgia of a Japan that was still on the rise, rather than mired in an economic loop waiting on China's emergence? Or it could just be that nearly 30 years after Hodson was going through his uncertainties in trying to embrace the role he's selected; that I figured out uncertainties never really go away.
Though my favorite thing from this book is the following quote...
"The Buddha teaches that one must lose illusions to find enlightenment. I learned that disillusionment is not enlightenment."
Perhaps this is the greatest challenge in trying to navigate the differences in cultures... an astute restatement fitting somewhere between "all that glitters..." and "the grass is always greener".
June 11, 2015
Hodson is quite a fine writer. He captures modern urban Japan--well, Japan of the early 1990's, when it was still at the peak of it's financial power. Yet I was reminded, of all things, by that Seinfeld line . . ."it's about nothing." Hodson describes a period of time where he was some kind of stock broker, dropped into an office in Tokyo by an order from the London office, viewed as an intruder, with little concrete responsibility. He meanders through his job, through visits and conversations with friends. There is absolutely no drama, almost no story beyond his almost aimless life in brief chapters, almost diary entries.. Just a man musing on his place as an outsider, claiming that the separation between Japanese and foreigners (really himself) can never be bridged. He captures the claustrophobic atmosphere of Tokyo, both physical and the people, to such a degree that I, who lived there a decade earlier, found myself tempted to tear the book up just to get free of my more unpleasant memories of that same environment.
Yet I really did not take to the book, because I did not take to the writer. He writes about kokoro (a Japanese word that can mean mind/spirit/heart all at once), but at this point in his life, he describes himself as a man without. There is one scene where he wakes before a lover and finds one of her long hairs in the drain and falls out of love with her because that hair somehow exemplifies how different they, a Japanese woman and an English man, must be. This is a man who sees the world as an assemblage of 'signifiers' - the meaning he takes from this sign, and many like it, makes him seem a man preoccupied solely with his internal world. The world he lives in is vague, and the meanings he derives from it seem almost arbitrary, imposed from a stance of ennui and distance.
Yet I really did not take to the book, because I did not take to the writer. He writes about kokoro (a Japanese word that can mean mind/spirit/heart all at once), but at this point in his life, he describes himself as a man without. There is one scene where he wakes before a lover and finds one of her long hairs in the drain and falls out of love with her because that hair somehow exemplifies how different they, a Japanese woman and an English man, must be. This is a man who sees the world as an assemblage of 'signifiers' - the meaning he takes from this sign, and many like it, makes him seem a man preoccupied solely with his internal world. The world he lives in is vague, and the meanings he derives from it seem almost arbitrary, imposed from a stance of ennui and distance.
June 2, 2009
This was an interesting expose of one's experience of working in a financial banking corporation in Japan. I have a particular fascination with Japan, so quite enjoyed the book. However, I don't think I would recommend it to everyone. If you like Japan or you have an interest in Japan, then by all means go ahead and read it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews