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    Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me
    Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me
    Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me
    Ebook270 pages3 hours

    Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me

    By Lisa Fineberg Cook

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Six days after an InStyle-worthy wedding in Los Angeles, Lisa Fineberg Cook left behind her little red Jetta, her manicurist of ten years, and her very best friend for the land of the rising sun. When her husband accepted a job teaching English in Nagoya, Japan, she imagined exotic weekend getaways, fine sushi dinners, and sake sojourns with glamorous expatriate friends. Instead, she's the only Jewish girl on public transportation, and everyone is staring. Lisa longs for regular mani/pedis, valet parking, and gimlets with her girlfriends, but for the next year, she learns to cook, clean, commute, and shop like the Japanese, all the while adjusting to another foreign concept -- marriage. Loneliness and frustration give way to new and unexpected friendships, the evolution of old ones, and a fresh understanding of what it means to feel different -- until finally a world she never thought she'd fit into begins to feel home-like, if not exactly like home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPocket Books
    Release dateOct 20, 2009
    ISBN9781439166864
    Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me
    Author

    Lisa Fineberg Cook

    Lisa Fineberg Cook, a self-described Jewish American Princess from L.A., leaps at the chance for an exciting adventure when her brand-new husband’s brand-new job takes them to Japan a week after they’re wed. 

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    Reviews for Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me

    3.5/5

    26 ratings6 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Always looking for travel memoirs, especially about Japan, this one was just plain awful. It read more like chick lit than a memoir about living abroad and the cultural differences. Much better options are out there a good start is Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler.
    • 4/5
      I was so excited when my review copy of JAPAN TOOK THE J.A.P. OUT OF ME by Lisa Fineberg Cook arrived. As an armchair traveler, I love reading about people's experiences in other countries, the more exotic the better. And the twist of this memoir -- that the author, a self-described Jewish American Princess loses her royal crown while living abroad -- promised to make this book an entertaining read. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed. In fact, I appreciated this memoir on a level I totally did not anticipate. I really didn't expect that I would ever be able to identify with anyone who would be described as a "princess," but I found that many of the author's reactions to her foreign circumstances were not so foreign to me! For example, I hate being the center of attention and feeling that all eyes are on me, especially out in public. Most of the time I tell myself that no one is really paying attention to me and just get on with my business. After all, no one likes being stared at. But for our intrepid Princess Lisa, all eyes really ARE on her! As a tall blond woman in a world of small dark-haired people, she becomes something of a spectacle just by stepping outside her door. Spoiled she may be, but this sort of celebrity attention is not something she is used to or desires.For all her whining about having to figure out how to do her own laundry and cooking and being reduced to using public transportation, Princess Lisa plunges in and carries on. During her first year in Japan, she actually confronts several versions of culture shock: the most obvious is as an American living in a foreign country with it's different viewpoints and customs. Secondly, this is also her first year of marriage, and that requires adjustments and compromises in an uncharted territory that would challenge anyone. And thirdly, she discovers the vast landscape of her own character. In the past, she may have enjoyed her pampered existence, but she takes pride in learning to fend for herself -- and laugh at herself. JAPAN TOOK THE J.A.P. OUT OF ME was an enjoyable read and a fun little escape. I enjoyed the author's light writing style and her ability to poke fun at herself. And if she sometimes sounds childish in her complaints about the lifestyle she has taken on, she also possesses an almost childlike wonder and ability to have fun."Tokyo rocks. I love it. Everything moves incredibly fast and the lights and sounds collide colorfully, creating a kind of benevolent Blade Runner atmosphere. It happens to be raining this weekend, which adds to the allure as live-action billboards glisten throughout the Ginza district. When we come to the famous four corners crosswalk, which is as wide and long as an L.A. city park, we stand on the curb for several minutes waiting for the light to change, and I look at the bright neon puddles and smile at my husband." p. 79I want to read more from this author -- what was her second year in Japan like? How did she adjust to life back in the States? What is her life like now? Oops! Am I staring?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Japan Took The JAP Out of Me By Lisa Fineberg Cook is a memoir about a woman who lives in Japan for a year. She's a stereotypical Jewish American Princess, which is definitely not a bad thing, but it makes for some funny culture show moments.I thought Lisa was intriguing, in America, she's a social studies teacher which is definitely a plus. I felt she was honest, she didn't shy away from saying things which may be politically incorrect, she was upfront about sex, and upfront about her discomfort with living somewhere foreign. I value that sort of honesty in a memoir-writer, especially since many memoirs I come across the author seems to be wearing rose-tinted glasses when it comes to self-reflection and examination. I definitely thought it was interesting to walk a mile in Lisa's shoes.My favorite part of the whole book is when Lisa goes out to the bar with her new Japanese friend, it was SO funny. I also enjoyed the parts where she wrote about her relationship with her husband Peter, who seems quite adorable.If you are squeamish about sex, don't read this book, as Cook is rather frank about what is going on in her bed.
    • 3/5
      This memoir of a self-described pampered Jewish American Princess who marries the man of her dreams and immediately moves to Japan for his two year teaching job is an interesting look at culture clash and the sometimes difficult adjustment to married life. Cook is generally light and flippant about her experiences in Japan although she does touch on a few deeper issues here and there, mentioning the treatment and perception of women, the anti-Semitic movement in Japan, the evolution of long-standing friendships, and the every day challenge of living with another person.Separated into sections headed by generally mundane domestic tasks, Cook uses the challenges she faced doing laundry in a small, ineffective, and completely foreign washing machine, shopping in the overwhelming, neon-lit shops, and mastering public transportation, to name just a few, to highlight her ex-pat experience. Her frustrations with tackling things differently than she is used to comes through the text loud and clear. And she is not only having to learn all of this in a foreign country where she doesn't speak the language, but she has to come to a sense of acceptance of herself as the person who will cook, clean, and sew. Eventually she does take on a group of Japanese women for English conversation lessons, teaches at a school, and gives well-received speeches but she never seems particularly happy living in Japan, not even allowing herself to open up completely for friendship with the one fellow teacher who shares her interest in films.As much of an adjustment as it was for this tall blond woman to move to Japan, sticking out like a sore thumb, it is as much of an adjustment for her to adjust to married life. She doesn't think to call her husband when she is going to be very, very late, not understanding how frantic that will make him. They argue about how they will spend their money, cash or credit. But these and other petty squabbles are learning experiences that serve to make them closer in the end. Also woven throughout the narrative is Cook's friendship with her best friend at home and the changes that it undergoes with the two of them living so far apart. In many of the exchanges between the two, Cook comes off as fairly self-centered, unhappy with living in Japan and wanting to vent but not reciprocating when her friend needs to discuss her shaky marriage or her own unhappiness.Cook does grow as a person throughout this first year of their planned two years in Japan although I never did get the impression that she much liked Japan or the Japanese people. She connected with a few people but never more than superficially. And while she understood that she was trying to impose her idea of correct behaviour and cultural norms on them (as they were on her), there was never a sense that she came to understand and accept their norms as different but equal to hers. Her adjustment to marriage was a much smoother path and one more flexible in terms of give and take. Her husband, who had lived abroad before, seemed very understanding and compassionate with regard to all the life changes being thrown at her at once.Overall this was a fast and mildly entertaining book. There were some cliches offered and some awkward transitions in the middle of the chapters but in general, for those readers not looking for an in depth exploration of Japanese culture or of a Western experience in Japan, most people will find this a light and fun read.
    • 4/5
      I tend to enjoy memoirs, especially when they involve Japan. If I had understood how LITTLE this one actually did involve Japan, I probably wouldn't have read it. I went into the book excited to read about the Japanese culture and came out feeling like it could have taken place anywhere. I'm glad that I didn't know it would be like that beforehand, because I probably would have missed out on what turned out to be a great book.Lisa Fineberg Cook and I have NOTHING in common. Well, very little, at least. I find her to be bratty, snobby, self-involved, and self-inclined. She is the kind of person that some of my friends might occasionally be friends with, and I would just never get it. This entire memoir is basically just her whining about Nagoya, Japan and how it is different from Beverly Hills/L.A. She's also an avid smoker (although she does occasioanlly try to deny this), and anyone that knows me knows that this is an immediate deal breaker for me. (I feel bad saying these things about the author, but I'm sure she would think I am too stuffy and moral for her tastes as well, so it's all good. Our ideas of fun are just very different.)Now you might be thinking - but wait, I thought you "really enjoyed this book." And the fact is that, despite not really liking Lisa and knowing that she and I would NOT get along in life, I did like it. It was a fast-paced, witty, fun, and easy read. I would't go so far as to say that it's laugh out loud funny, but I did find myself smiling and laughing in my head on a regular basis.More than that, though, she really does get across what it feels like to be an ex-patriot. I've been an ex-pat for over two years now, and I could relate on so may levels to the things she was going through. I would have dealt with them differently than she did, but she really made me understand that an ex-pat is an ex-pat no matter where they are. I could have written a similar book whining about Paris.Reading about her experiences made me feel a sense of solidarity with her and helped me to understand her where everywhere else I just couldn't.Oddly enough, depsite my complaints, I found this to be an extremely enjoyable read that I literally could not put down. I read it in two sittings (I don't read books in one sitting, so this is pretty awesome for me).
    • 3/5
      Lisa Fineberg Cook describes herself as a Jewish American Princess, J.A.P. for short, from L.A. She loves going to lunch with her friends, shopping, getting mani's and pedi's, getting her hair done, and all other forms of pampering .When she meets and marries a teacher named Peter and all that changes. Peter has accepted a teaching position in Nagoya, Japan. At first Lisa thinks it is an amazing opportunity, but once they arrive, she soon changes her mind. From not knowing the language to being so much taller than everyone else, to having to either walk or take public transportation, she is almost ready to fly back to the U.S. But the first thing that almost puts her over the edge is having to do laundry. Any washing machine would be alien to her, but this one is like nothing she's ever seen. At first she thought it was a bread box. She soon wished it was.As time goes by, she meets a group of woman who although are nothing like her friends at home, she begins to bond with them and feel more like this is her home. Soon she starts teaching English to some of the women and children. Along the way she learns to do laundry without to much hair pulling, cook, clean and make Japan their home. This is a very funny book, I'd recommend it to anyone who needs a few laughs and a break more serious books.

    Book preview

    Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me - Lisa Fineberg Cook

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