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חוויה יפנית
Capturing the sights, sounds, flavors, and customs of a unique and fascinating culture, a native Israeli reveals her firsthand experiences with the rules, restrictions, and outright taboos of contemporary Japan.
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Shifra Horn
14 books7 followersShifra Horn was born in Tel Aviv. She lives in the Old Malcha neighbourhood of Jerusalem and in Auckland New Zealand. After majoring in Bible Studies and Archeology - BA (Hons)- at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, she earned an MA in Bible Studies. Horn also studied mass communications and completed a teaching degree.
Horn worked as an educational officer for the World Union of Jewish Students, and helped to organize the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Horn also participated in the campaign to free Soviet and Syrian Jews, producing films and written material.
In the course of her work with Jewish students from oppressed communities around the world, she discovered a village of Jewish Marranos who had kept their Jewish identity secret for over 500 years. Horn's activity in the village of Belmonte in northwest Portugal resulted in the entire population converting fully to Judaism .
Horn was a spokesperson for the Israel Absorption Ministry until her departure for Japan, where she served as Far East correspondent for the Israel Defense Forces Radio station and Ma'ariv daily newspaper for five years. Horn worked as the director of the Tokyo Jewish Community Center and taught Bible Studies and Hebrew at the Bible College in Ginza, Tokyo.
Upon her return to Jerusalem, she opened a public relations firm, and lectured on Japan and literary topics. Her books have been translated from Hebrew into English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Greek, Mandarin and Turkish.
Horn worked as an educational officer for the World Union of Jewish Students, and helped to organize the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Horn also participated in the campaign to free Soviet and Syrian Jews, producing films and written material.
In the course of her work with Jewish students from oppressed communities around the world, she discovered a village of Jewish Marranos who had kept their Jewish identity secret for over 500 years. Horn's activity in the village of Belmonte in northwest Portugal resulted in the entire population converting fully to Judaism .
Horn was a spokesperson for the Israel Absorption Ministry until her departure for Japan, where she served as Far East correspondent for the Israel Defense Forces Radio station and Ma'ariv daily newspaper for five years. Horn worked as the director of the Tokyo Jewish Community Center and taught Bible Studies and Hebrew at the Bible College in Ginza, Tokyo.
Upon her return to Jerusalem, she opened a public relations firm, and lectured on Japan and literary topics. Her books have been translated from Hebrew into English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Greek, Mandarin and Turkish.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 20, 2019
JaPaN iS wEiRd YoU gUiZe.
I'm sure you're familiar with the Western media's preoccupation with Japan as the home of all kinds of weird and CrAzY things, looking over the horizon and seeing it like Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, filled with explosions and zaniness and people being wacky all the time. Most of Shalom Japan is in exactly the same vein, and if you've read any article about Japan from that perspective you've already read 90% of this book.
Did you know that the Japanese are committed to bureaucratic nit-picking and obsequious devotion to the rules, unlike every other country where government officials routinely break the law for the benefit of just-arrived foreigners who don't speak the language? That there's corruption between organized crime and the police? That marriage is very important? That Japan has hypertech robot toilets? That the Japanese love and are in tune with nature, which is why the construction industry routinely lays concrete over hillsides, riverbeds, and beaches all throughout the country? That cuteness is an important part of Japanese popular culture? That Japanese television is so weird? I bet you did! And you probably don't need to read more of the same about it again.
Most of the book isn't even about Horn's experiences, not even in the form of anecdotes. It's all shallow cultural analysis that if you've read any expat-in-Japan books--or, like me, been an ex-pat in Japan--you've encountered dozens of times before. Sure, I've been to a kaiseki restaurant and seen the small portions. Sure, I've laughed with friends over drinks at the Japanese guy we knew who insisted that kimchi is a Japanese invention that the Koreans stole from them. Sure, I've been to an onsen and noticed a man come into the bathing area with his young daughter and everyone treat it as the most normal thing in the world. Sure, I've been to a festival with a Japanese friend and had him repeatedly ask if I was tired and hot, only to later realize that he was asking me that because he was tired and hot and wanted to leave but wouldn't dream of suggesting we leave before I, the guest, wanted to.
But those are my experiences, not universal pronouncements about How Things Work. I lived in Japan a few years, in a rural area, and that itself made things pretty different--for one thing, I was repeatedly invited to people's houses for dinner because they actually had houses, not cramped Tokyo apartments. If I wrote about that as a universal truth, people would think it was ridiculous, and they would be right.
I mean, look at this:
Also it's a personal thing, but the transliteration of Japanese is abysmal. 日本語分かりません Nihongo wakarimasen ("I don't speak Japanese") is rendered as "Nihon go Vakarimasen." 可愛そう kawaisou ("pitiable," "pathetic") is rendered as "kwa'iso." お化け obake ("ghost," "monster," "thing that goes bump in the night") is rendered as "obaka," which really confused me until I figured out what word was being referred to. Maybe this is the result of transliterating the Japanese -> Hebrew transliteration into English, but it really should have been checked again. Almost all of it was wrong.
The only part I really liked at all was the final section, where Horn finally dealt with Judaism and Japan. A Japanese woman who wanted to work for Mossad, how antisemitism can take root in a nation that has never had more than a few thousand Jews living there, or the oddly philosemitic new religions like Makuya that exist in Japan. It was the only section that was mostly personal stories about Horn's life, and the only section I really connected to. But it wasn't enough to salvage the rest of the book for me.
I hesitated a moment over tagging this nonfiction, but I guess it counts.
I'm sure you're familiar with the Western media's preoccupation with Japan as the home of all kinds of weird and CrAzY things, looking over the horizon and seeing it like Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, filled with explosions and zaniness and people being wacky all the time. Most of Shalom Japan is in exactly the same vein, and if you've read any article about Japan from that perspective you've already read 90% of this book.
Did you know that the Japanese are committed to bureaucratic nit-picking and obsequious devotion to the rules, unlike every other country where government officials routinely break the law for the benefit of just-arrived foreigners who don't speak the language? That there's corruption between organized crime and the police? That marriage is very important? That Japan has hypertech robot toilets? That the Japanese love and are in tune with nature, which is why the construction industry routinely lays concrete over hillsides, riverbeds, and beaches all throughout the country? That cuteness is an important part of Japanese popular culture? That Japanese television is so weird? I bet you did! And you probably don't need to read more of the same about it again.
Most of the book isn't even about Horn's experiences, not even in the form of anecdotes. It's all shallow cultural analysis that if you've read any expat-in-Japan books--or, like me, been an ex-pat in Japan--you've encountered dozens of times before. Sure, I've been to a kaiseki restaurant and seen the small portions. Sure, I've laughed with friends over drinks at the Japanese guy we knew who insisted that kimchi is a Japanese invention that the Koreans stole from them. Sure, I've been to an onsen and noticed a man come into the bathing area with his young daughter and everyone treat it as the most normal thing in the world. Sure, I've been to a festival with a Japanese friend and had him repeatedly ask if I was tired and hot, only to later realize that he was asking me that because he was tired and hot and wanted to leave but wouldn't dream of suggesting we leave before I, the guest, wanted to.
But those are my experiences, not universal pronouncements about How Things Work. I lived in Japan a few years, in a rural area, and that itself made things pretty different--for one thing, I was repeatedly invited to people's houses for dinner because they actually had houses, not cramped Tokyo apartments. If I wrote about that as a universal truth, people would think it was ridiculous, and they would be right.
I mean, look at this:
The Japanese are exposed to constant brainwashing; which tells them they are like no other nation on the face of the earth, different in culture, traditions, and beliefs. The Japanese are told over and over that they belong to a special and extraordinary race, unlike any other, and this is the secret of their success.I'm sure this is totally different to compared, say, Americans and our story about how freedom and the free market make us the greatest country on Earth.
Also it's a personal thing, but the transliteration of Japanese is abysmal. 日本語分かりません Nihongo wakarimasen ("I don't speak Japanese") is rendered as "Nihon go Vakarimasen." 可愛そう kawaisou ("pitiable," "pathetic") is rendered as "kwa'iso." お化け obake ("ghost," "monster," "thing that goes bump in the night") is rendered as "obaka," which really confused me until I figured out what word was being referred to. Maybe this is the result of transliterating the Japanese -> Hebrew transliteration into English, but it really should have been checked again. Almost all of it was wrong.
The only part I really liked at all was the final section, where Horn finally dealt with Judaism and Japan. A Japanese woman who wanted to work for Mossad, how antisemitism can take root in a nation that has never had more than a few thousand Jews living there, or the oddly philosemitic new religions like Makuya that exist in Japan. It was the only section that was mostly personal stories about Horn's life, and the only section I really connected to. But it wasn't enough to salvage the rest of the book for me.
I hesitated a moment over tagging this nonfiction, but I guess it counts.
May 20, 2023
קראתי את הספר הזה במהלך נסיעה ליפן והוא הסביר הרבה תופעות, כנראה טוב יותר מכפי שהיפנים דוברי האנגלית המשובשת היו מסבירים אותן, גם כשהן שפכו על היפנים אור מחמיא ובמיוחד כשהאירו את הצדדים האפלים בתרבות שלהם. הפרקים האחרונים דווקא חרו לי כי הרגשתי שהסופרת חודרת שלא לצורך לפרטיות של היפנים שהכירה ומסתמכת על כך שכנראה לא יקראו את ספרה בעברית.
December 13, 2009
I've read a fair amount of expat-in-Japan books, as well as a few on Japanese culture, over the years, so there wasn't a lot new for me in this one. However, Horn's adventures were often funny, including inadvertently crashing a Yakuza retreat, and her depiction of being shown the proper way to eat a grape (with a knife and fork of course!), after she and her family had barbarously eaten theirs whole (unpeeled!) at a fancy dinner. I had thought the final section of Japan and the Jews would be the least interesting, but it turned out to be rather well done.
November 4, 2018
This book was written in 1996, so it may be a bit outdated, but I still found it interesting and entertaining. The subject matter is all over the place but Horn's observations are humorous and I did find many of her insights into the culture helpful when traveling to Japan. I ran into a situation very similar to one mentioned in the book. A street vendor who sold us grapes seemed shocked when he gave us a few to sample and my friend ate one whole. I peeled the skin off mine in the "proper" Japanese way. Thanks Shifra! The Israel and Judaism connection in the last section of the book was all new information to me and certainly sets the book apart a bit. Overall an enjoyable and informative read.
March 22, 2022
So, this was a book that I both found enjoyable and frustrating. I had to remind myself multiple times that this was being written through the cultural lens of a foreigner to Japanese culture. Also, as this was written in 1996 and many of the statistics mentioned were from the 1980's I was left wondering at times if they were significantly different over twenty years later. Some of the author's insights about things she witnessed in Japan seemed a little bit dated even for the times she was writing about. Also very much in the vein of many memoirs of expats living in Japan. But there was also some very interesting stories about the author's life as a teacher of Hebrew in Japan towards the end of the book.
January 17, 2020
מרתק ומומלץ,פותח צוהר לעולם זר ושונה.
April 21, 2024
her books are very different!
March 24, 2009
My impressions of Japan are that while I'd always be a "gaijin," there is much in common with my upbringing. The chapters related to body language and negotiation struck a familiar chord with me as I read of this commonality. I was surprised at how my conversant style (for lack of a better term) turns out to be somewhat "Japanese." I like long pauses and expressive silence, and I may say "yes," but not necessarily in agreement with whatever you just said. It's a sort of formality that is congenial and relaxed.
My impressions of the affinity between Jews and Japan seems to be that we both understand tradition, not as an unchanging set of rules, but a living and evolving home that works when it works, and changes when it ceases to work. Still, Japan is a closed society when compared to most "Western" cultures, and any relationship between Japanese people and Jewish people remains to be explored by both. (Side note: Jewish Civilization is "Eastern" more than "Western" despite what your Comparative Religion professor may have told you.)
I was struck by the honesty of this book. When speaking of the country and people, the author didn't present sentiment or flowery descriptions. When my spouse consulted a dear Japanese friend, she learned that the author had been as close to the truth as a non Japanese person could get. In the present period of cultural drift, I'd recommend this for a safe primer into Japanese culture. Of course, time will change everything.
My impressions of the affinity between Jews and Japan seems to be that we both understand tradition, not as an unchanging set of rules, but a living and evolving home that works when it works, and changes when it ceases to work. Still, Japan is a closed society when compared to most "Western" cultures, and any relationship between Japanese people and Jewish people remains to be explored by both. (Side note: Jewish Civilization is "Eastern" more than "Western" despite what your Comparative Religion professor may have told you.)
I was struck by the honesty of this book. When speaking of the country and people, the author didn't present sentiment or flowery descriptions. When my spouse consulted a dear Japanese friend, she learned that the author had been as close to the truth as a non Japanese person could get. In the present period of cultural drift, I'd recommend this for a safe primer into Japanese culture. Of course, time will change everything.
Read
December 11, 2008My housemate lent me this book after we started playing some Japanese video games. I was curious about a lot of the seemingly strange symbols in the game Kikikaikai. I was introduced to some of the spirits involved in Shinto including tinuke which is one of the characters in Kikikaikai. Each short chapter in this book describes the author's personal interactions and observations while she was in Japan working for the Israeli embassy. She casually uses outside sources for general information to support some of her observations. She does an admirable job of describing some of the more negative aspects without becoming condemning and she is never condescending.
The sweetness of this book is that the author's voice is frequently present so it does not get too dry. She also has a section devoted to her experience teaching Hebrew to Japanese students. In one chapter Horn describes how two students felt comfortable to ask very direct personal questions to each other in Hebrew that they would never ask in Japanese because of the strict formality of Japanese and the simple directness of Hebrew. The book was a quick and fascinating read.
The sweetness of this book is that the author's voice is frequently present so it does not get too dry. She also has a section devoted to her experience teaching Hebrew to Japanese students. In one chapter Horn describes how two students felt comfortable to ask very direct personal questions to each other in Hebrew that they would never ask in Japanese because of the strict formality of Japanese and the simple directness of Hebrew. The book was a quick and fascinating read.
April 1, 2011
On one hand, I loved this book. I lived in Japan for 6 months in the 80s and loved reading about the ways in which the place had changed and stayed the same from the viewpoint of the shell-shocked gaijin (foreigner). I also enjoyed the Israeli/Jewish angle on the culture, which was new to me.
On the other hand, it was not all that well-written. I think it must have originated as columns for a periodical or something. There were chapters that revisited an idea from earlier in the book as though it had never been mentioned before. That got annoying. Within a chapter, at times a topic would seem to be headed somewhere and then just stop. This was less likely to happen in a vignette about her life, and more likely to happen when discussing some cultural topic. These factors definitely detracted from the pleasure of the book, but not enough that I wouldn't recommend it, especially to someone who has lived in Japan or will live there in the future. For someone who has spent time there, the book was full of "oh, man, I had forgotten about THAT!" moments that brought back the fun of being a stranger in a strange land!
On the other hand, it was not all that well-written. I think it must have originated as columns for a periodical or something. There were chapters that revisited an idea from earlier in the book as though it had never been mentioned before. That got annoying. Within a chapter, at times a topic would seem to be headed somewhere and then just stop. This was less likely to happen in a vignette about her life, and more likely to happen when discussing some cultural topic. These factors definitely detracted from the pleasure of the book, but not enough that I wouldn't recommend it, especially to someone who has lived in Japan or will live there in the future. For someone who has spent time there, the book was full of "oh, man, I had forgotten about THAT!" moments that brought back the fun of being a stranger in a strange land!
April 5, 2009
With the experience gained from living in Japan for 5 years, and with humour and humility, Shifra Horn gives her insights into the Japanese way of life. Some of the book is descriptive, but the best bits are those where she tells of her own misunderstandings and mistakes in a culture where knowing how to do the right thing can be mystifying for a gaijin. Hope I can remember some of this when I get there!
March 21, 2012
Now that I've read the entire book, I'm not sure I'd really classify it as a memoir. Each chapter covered some aspect of Japan or the Japanese language. There wasn't much information about the author herself or about her acclimation to Japan. The book was interesting but I didn't read much that I didn't already know about the country.
October 11, 2009
Fascinating read, and often funny, but it made me less interested in visiting Japan. Certainly, if I ever go I'll have to bring food with me!
March 11, 2011
Favorite kinds of books have people explore societies that are Forgein to them. It would be intresting to see how much things have changed since technology has advanced.
January 24, 2014
Very funny though might be somewhat out of date in terms of facts
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews