Japan is such an interesting country with an interesting culture, but you won't learn about it from this book. Try The Traveller's Tales of Japan for a fabulous sampler of all the wonderful things that have been written. This book is about Rhiannon Paine and her inability to connect with Japan. She uses nicknames for her co-workers which are derogatory and may or may not mean something to her, but they mean nothing to the reader. The people don't come alive because she never got to know them. She admits at her going away party, "Maybe I should have invited them over." She whines about her American co-workers and their petty feuds. Maybe it gets better, but life is short and I could only offer this book enough time to get half way through before tossing it.