Previous winner of two Booker Prizes, Peter Carey expands his extraordinary achievement with each new novel but now gives us something entirely different. When famously shy Charley Carey becomes obsessed with Japanese manga and anime, Peter is not only delighted for his son, but entranced himself. Thus, with a father sharing his twelve-year-olds exotic comic books, begins a journey that will lead them both to Tokyo, where a strange Japanese boy will become both their guide and judge. The visitors quickly plunge deep into the lanes of Shitimachi into the weird stuff of modern Japan meeting manga artists and anime directors, visualists who painstakingly impersonate cartoons, and solitary otakus who lead a computerized existence. What emerges from these encounters is a pithy, far-ranging study of history and culture both high and low from samurai to salaryman, from kabuki theatre to the post-war robot craze. Peter Careys observations are provocative, even though his hosts often point out, politely, that he is wrong about Japan. In adventures that are comic, surprising, and ultimately moving, father and son cope with and learn from each other in a place far from home.No Real Japan, said Charley. Youve got to promise. No temples. No museums.What could we do?We could buy cool manga.Therell be no English translations.I dont care. Id eat raw fish.excerpt from Wrong About Japan From the Hardcover edition.
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