Orienting

Ms.Aiyar's ( globe-trotting housewife-cum-journalist ) latest travelogue-cum-memoir ( after her similar efforts on China , Indonesia etc ) , based on her four year stay in a fascinating country like Japan, is a winner in many ways. As the wife of an European Union bureaucrat , she is no stranger to moving every three or four years to a new country. Yet , she describes her Japan stint ' as an exceptional privilege '. She plunges headlong , after a strenuous home work of reading , into the day-to-day life , culture ,history ,psychology of every thing Japanese and the reader is benefited by the fascinating insights she provides on this opaque nation , rivaled perhaps only by her neighbor , China . Aiyar shatters quite a few stereotypes about Japan . For example , its technological prowess proves to be incomplete when it comes to digitization of routine transactions ( cash is apparently king in Japan , banking procedures glacial ). Japanese schools and corporates were totally unprepared for w.f.h mode in the pandemic period .She provides similar surprising insights by way of the poor participation by the Japanese public in the political process and the prevalence of the racist and sexist attitudes that have pervaded the society for centuries. She waxes eloquent about the Japanese passion for beauty , nature , spiritualism , public honesty ( a major portion of the articles lost in the public space in Tokyo is restored to their owners ) , the safety of its public spaces , and above all , the country's obsession with cleanliness. The Japanese preoccupation with toilets makes for amusing , if not educative , reading. The author discovers also a lot of paradoxes like Tokyo homes being tiny and untidy and the country being the the world's second highest user of plastic packaging. She finds the Japanese preference for silences while conversing ( as compared to the Indian garrulousness ) quaint and the haiku verses addictive. Aiyar devotes considerable space to the country's linkages with India , especially the ' bromance ' between the two leaders , Modi and Abe. Apart from the names of Rash Bihari Bose and Rejinikanth among the Indians popular with the Japanese , one Radhabinod Pal , a jurist on the War Crimes panel ( who wrote a dissenting judgement ) is a surprising figure.All in all , this is a deftly written volume providing great insights into a unique country and culture.

B'fuly written. Pallavi transports you to Japan n makes sure that you experience all things Japanese including voices of common people.

A very insightful look into Japanese society, culture, and more. An enjoyable read from a writer with a great sense of humour and, yes, an Indian perspective.

Book ReviewOne of the places on my wishlist to visit is Japan...exotic, beautiful, land of the Cherry Blossoms (the Sakura), puffer fish sashimi, the super efficient ever punctual iconic bullet trains and so much morePallavi, a freelance award winning journalist has written this travelogue on Japan based on her and her family's four year stay in Japan as expatriates. In this 200 page plus 10 chapters she covers all the above in a very distinctive perspective.A rich nuanced tale where she talks not just about her personal experiences like visiting a public hot spring bath, trying to learn the popular winter sport skiing with dangerous consequences, enrolling for Japanese language classes (more painful than extracting a filling!) but also her interviews and meetings with unique people like a group of Rajnikant crazy Japanese fans!As an observer who has previously lived in countries like China and Indonesia she is able to deeply analyse many aspects of the Japanese psyche, culture, religious beliefs and idiosyncracies. Plus compare them in a Pan Asian setting particularly with India and ChinaOne is left much richer and wiser...than any touristy trip can ever be (whenever that materializes in a Post Covid World) and as one critic put it "It is equal to a dozen learned books on the subject"If you are looking to read one book on Japan, then let it be this

Even though I come face to face with the ‘not so aesthetic’ realities of Japan via some amazing books like Orienting by Pallavi Aiyar, the urge to visit it still thrive under the other specifications like of those world famous Sakura in the Spring Season among many others.The book is written in a profound yet witty manner about the authors personal experiences in Japan while she lived there, which made me enjoy it even though I already knew quite a decent amount of things mentioned in the book.

Pallavi Aiyar, thank you for the wonderful gem of a book that 'Orienting - An Indian in Japan' is. I caught myself trying to slow down my reading of it, to savour it longer! I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who wants a fascinating, witty, well-researched, informative and nuanced slice of life in Japan lived as a local (well, almost!) Thank you also for the liberal peppering of references to classics of Japanese literature - The Makioka Sisters is now on my reading list, among others!

A holistic journey into the lives of Japanese people, culture & what makes them the way they are!