I am new to this board. My first love is Europe but my daughter and her husband are moving to Japan for three years and I would like to give them a good and interesting book about Japan (culture, etc.) Any recommendations? Thank you.

Hi aj, welcome. I posted a few months ago asking for fiction books and films on Japan that have cultural, socail, political content. Some of the answers also included ones that are nonfiction as well. So you might want to review that post. Put emd in the search box above and search for all my posts. I think that one will be the 5th or 6th one down, you will know it right away from the title. I got very good recommendations.

A wonderful book, both for learning about parts of Japanese culture and just as entertaining reading, is "Memoirs of a Geisha," by Arthur Golden. Although it's fiction (and maybe sometimes not 100% accurate), it's a fascinating look at the Geisha life.

"Untangling My Chopsticks" by Victoria Abbott Riccardi, is a genuine memoir, written by an American woman who spent some time living in Japan. The focus is on the tea kaiseki (tea ceremony), and the book gives a terrific Western perspective on Japanese customs and lifestyle.

Travel guides are of course also useful for information about local etiquette and cultural traditions. Among the travel guides, the best I've found is "Gateway to Japan" (sorry, I don't recall the authors' names).

Thanks so much! I guess Fodors folks are helpful on all boards!!!!

On a lighter note, the Culture Shock series is good, fun and off-beat. The one on Japan is being revised and a new pb edition is coming out in January at $13.95. I've read the previous edition and enjoyed it.

For "heavier" reading -- George Samson on Japanese Cuture is good. If you want a taste of Heian Japan and "Tale of Genji" which infuses all Japanese culture, try "Tale of Murasaki".

I would also cast another strong vote for Untangling My Chopstick and Memoirs of a Geishi

the book mentioned above by Rizzuto , "Gateway to Japan" is by June Kinoshita and published by Kodansha.
Great book...many chapters on culture, religion, architecture, history, etc, plus great hotel, dining, shopping, and transportation info. I call it my Japan Bible.

You all would like "Confucius Lives Next Door" by T.R. Reid. He was the Wall Street Journal or New York Times bureau chief in Tokyo (later London and now Colorado), maybe you have heard him on National Public Radio. The book is partly about his family's time of living there and partly more deep about how Japan is the way it is.

Another book I liked was "Audrey Hepburn's Neck" by Alan Brown, it's fiction but tells a lot about what it is like for young adults to live in modern Japan.

Enjoy learning about Japan!