Just when you thought it was safe to go to the bookstore

[Taro Toporific]

[Samurai_Jerk]

Oh, man. I love the cliche cover art.

[Kanchou]

I think in the literary industry they refer to this as a Mary Sue.

Or perhaps this will be more like OJ's book.

Is the title a pun or a spelling error?

[Netherlander]

I guess you're a hater. Well anyways, thanks for the reminder. I must buy my copy.

[IparryU]

I guess you're a hater. Well anyways, thanks for the reminder. I must buy my copy.

good timing with that movie coming out about child abduction issues...

[canman]

What is up with the Canadian flag in the background? I hope to god he isn't trying to pass himself off as a Canuck. That would be so unkind. Also I think he would have been better to go with his actual name and not that godawful translation.
Nobody is going to know how to pronounce it.

[AssKissinger]

This fool is like a retarded MLK who's hated by all black people.

[Catoneinutica]

This fool is like a retarded MLK who's hated by all black people.

Well, this nigga gonna give Martin Luther Muhfuckin' Debito a break a buy his book. Sure, he stakes out an extreme position, but I've actually learned a thing or three from his writings. He's a blowhard, but there are nuggets of first-hand information there: a rarity on tha intarwebs.

[IkemenTommy]

Man, Deadbeato the drama queen-o is back and he is getting all the free advertisement here on FG.com

How many books is he expecting to sell? Like 5?

[bolt_krank]

I'm not a big fan of the guy....

But for some reason - I am tempted to buy his book...


(Internal struggle)

[legion]

Very now photo of the naturalized man on the back, looks like he took it himself.

I wonder if there is a scene where "Gary" gets turned away from a sento.

I have absolutely no intention of buying this book, I already have a book, and a pen.

[ChargerCarl]

I'm still banned from the childrens section at my book store...

[Catoneinutica]

Man, Deadbeato the drama queen-o is back and he is getting all the free advertisement here on FG.com

How many books is he expecting to sell? Like 5?

That's about the typical print run for English-language Japan-themed tomes these days. Still, Debito's got the five of us talking about him. Love him or loathe him, he's got a certain gravitational pull; must be that hefty mass of his.

[IkemenTommy]

[quote="Catoneinutica"]That's about the typical print run for English-language Japan-themed tomes these days. Still, Debito's got the five of us talking about him. Love him or loathe him, he's got a certain gravitational pull]
That's just about all the media attention Drama-Queeno will get and deserves.

AK compared him to MLK.. well sorta.. but I wonder if he has any real followers that worship his foolish ill-intentions.

[Coligny]

As usual, france follow America's footstep few years later...

(Don't think Sarkozy have read a book since highschool)

[ChargerCarl]

[IkemenTommy]

As usual, france follow America's footstep few years later...

(Don't think Sarkozy have read a book since highschool)

Ha, I will watch In Appropriate, the Rated-R movie version, when it comes out in the theaters.

[Iraira]

Ha, I will watch In Appropriate, the Rated-R movie version, when it comes out in the theaters.

I hope the scene where the soon-to-be Debito arrives in Japan and observes that "Japanese think that gaijin will fuck just about anything", while Greji runs around nekkid in the background chasing a domesticated farm animal of dubious reputation, doesn't hit the cutting room floor.

[waruta]

[IkemenTommy]

[Catoneinutica]

[Taro Toporific]

[FG Lurker]

No plans to buy the book (too busy to read right now anyway), but he really should've found a better photographer to take that photo. Talk about horrific lighting and composition. Even Charles could've done better!

[Mulboyne]

I've often been a natural buyer of just about any novel/memoir about Japan, or using Japan as a backdrop, written by a non-Japanese author. I'd say that the majority of the ones I've read have been poor but even the worst garbage can sometimes have humour value. They can even have some retrospective value: it's interesting to look back and see how clichés about the country and its people can go in and out of fashion.

Ebooks and on-demand publishing have changed the calculation for me in this category. At least with the old system there was some nominal gatekeeper commissioning work. This tended to keep new titles down to a manageable number and even the old vanity publishing model required some financial commitment from the author, so there usually weren't too many on offer at any time. I'm a fan of ebooks in general, both as a format and a publishing option, but it's an odd consequence that some niches are now flooded.

In the last few years, there have just been too many titles to take in. Worse, most of the books I have tried have been just dreadful. The writing is horrible, and frequently unedited. The authors often don't have any sense of narrative, and end up writing soft porn fantasies or recycling facts and stories from the web.

It probably wasn't very sensible of me in the first place to think of reading any Japan novel I could get my hands on but now I've got to exercise some judgement. Unfortunately with an ebook, you usually just get a few sample pages to go on. Having looked at those on offer for this book, I'm going to pass.

I'll keep an eye out for reviews in case it does get good press somewhere. Given that Debito writes for the Japan Times, it might get reviewed there. If so, I hope Mark Schreiber does it. He has no axe to grind and likes a good Japan novel. If he says it's worth a read then I'll give it a go. If he says it's a stinker then I recommend you take his word for it.

[waruta]

... Given that Debito writes for the Japan Times, it might get reviewed there. If so, I hope Mark Schreiber does it. He has no axe to grind and likes a good Japan novel. If he says it's worth a read then I'll give it a go. If he says it's a stinker then I recommend you take his word for it.

Amy Chavez writes for the Japan Times and half the time I think she pinched some 'shrooms from C.W. Nicol's woodland...I can't understand 99% of the shit she writes and wonders why the JT even publishes her shit.

[IkemenTommy]

I can't understand 99% of the shit she writes and wonders why the JT even publishes her shit.

I wonder why JT even exists as a "publisher" in the first place..

[Doctor Stop]

I wonder why JT even exists as a "publisher" in the first place..

JT exists so Nifco has a hole to bleed money from.

[Catoneinutica]

Amy Chavez writes for the Japan Times and half the time I think she pinched some 'shrooms from C.W. Nicol's woodland...I can't understand 99% of the shit she writes and wonders why the JT even publishes her shit.

Heh. I wonder if C.W. has an industrial-sized still on that land of his, because it's obvious from his appearance how he whiles away those cold, dark Nagano winters (and humid, dank Nagano summers).

-catone
-then again, the Karuizawa Cainz Home Center has a big display right inside the entrance of industrial-sized jugs of shochu for 1300 yen. Probably the cheaper way to go.

[IkemenTommy]

JT exists so Nifco has a hole to bleed money from.

More of like for tax write-off purposes..

[Greji]

Heh. I wonder if C.W. has an industrial-sized still on that land of his, because it's obvious from his appearance how he whiles away those cold, dark Nagano winters (and humid, dank Nagano summers).

Cat, you just don't realize what it's like for a po' ole boy who's done and gone green on us to get out front and save this here so-ciety.....

That means he's gotta put all them green plantings to work. Corn squeezin's through the sack, strained spuds on the washboard and pushing them veggies through an old '50s toyota radiator.

Now that's the original kickapoo joy juice. Not only will it'll handle any season in Nagano, what ya don't drink, you can pave the roads with come spring!