October 10, 2005: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Writing - Philippines: Japan: Press Release: Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa by Philippines RPCV Karin Muller
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October 10, 2005: Headlines: COS - Philippines: Writing - Philippines: Japan: Press Release: Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa by Philippines RPCV Karin Muller
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa by Philippines RPCV Karin Muller
Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa by Philippines RPCV Karin Muller
JAPANLAND
A Year in Search of Wa
By Karin Muller
"Karin Muller achieves a kind of harmonic 'wa' in this year in Japan by
following that most intense journey, that of the self, in extremity. Whether challenged by the rigors of living in the hermetic world of a Japanese family; or flung about with an island cult, she maintains her composure and delight, and so do we."
~Jacki Lyden, NPR senior correspondent and author
of Daughter of the Queen of Sheba
"Messy, independent, and talkative, Muller has a hard time shoehorning her boisterous personality into a country full of quiet nuance . . . [but] Muller is not nearly the oafish American she makes herself out to be; she's actually a sensitive observer with a great wit and a talent for deciphering a country and decoding behavior"
~Body + Soul
"The diverse activities and excursions to far-flung places make this a fine travel memoir, but it's the backbone of Muller's voyage that gives her book resonance and richness . . . Muller went to Japan to find wa: a quality of dedication, inner strength and spiritual peace. Her memoir isn't an account of achieving those goals, but it is
an engrossing, rewarding record of her travel toward them."
~Publishers Weekly
"Muller's engaging, funny voice turns what could have been a superficial picaresque account into a deeper exploration of a Westerner longing to fit in."
~Outside
*OCTOBER 2005 BOOKSENSE PICK*
Wa. From her years of judo practice, Karin Muller knew that the Japanese had a word for the seemingly effortless state of harmony that she longed for, but she wasn't sure exactly what it entailed-and she certainly wasn't sure how to get it. Living in a soulless apartment in Washington, D.C. and "casually dating a divorce lawyer who was casually dating at least two other women," Muller knew she needed a change of scenery as well as some spiritual peace. Craving the focus and calm that seemed to accompany the elusive wa, Muller decided to move to Japan for a year, to immerse herself in its rich past and colorful yet conflicted present. The result is JAPANLAND: A Year in Search of Wa (Rodale / October 2005 / $23.95), a uniquely American odyssey into the ancient heart of modern Japan.
Related with intimacy and humor, JAPANLAND tells the story of Muller's immersion into Japanese culture, which is filled with poignant moments of clarity and hilarious incidents of impropriety. As she seeks out the many unique and sometimes obscure subcultures of Japan-including sumo wrestlers, samurai swordmakers, geishas, Buddhist monks, and even the now-iconic workaholic, career-track salary-man-she experiences the great diversity and proud humanity of a nation rooted in the past but looking toward the future.
JAPANLAND is also a journey of growth and personal awareness for Karin, as the rigid norms of Japanese society force her to adjust, acquiesce, and learn to appreciate the idiosyncrasies of her host country. An independent, thirty-something, single American woman with a strong sense of curiosity and a less fine-tuned sense of the baffling intricacies of her adopted culture, Muller quickly discovers just how maddeningly complicated it is being Japanese. Along the way, she-and we-get to know the cultural biases and all-too-human quirks of an absorbing cast of characters, including Muller's host mother and nemesis, Yukiko, who spends most of the day preparing impossibly artful meals and finding fault with her adopted daughter's every move; and Junko, Muller's Japanese "sister" and one of Japan's rebellious New Human Beings, who's aggressively modern and dismissive of her parents yet utterly dependent on them (at twenty-eight, she parties almost every night but must get married in the next two years or lose her job).
JAPANLAND is an honest, engaging narrative made all the more insightful and enjoyable by Muller's sharp eye for detail and keen sense of humor. Opening the door on a land of culture and contradiction, JAPANLAND will strike a chord with travel buffs, explorers of distant cultures, and all readers looking for some wa in their own lives.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KARIN MULLER's four-hour documentary series, also titled Japanland, will air on public television in fall 2005. Her previous documentaries, Hitchhiking Vietnam and Along the Inca Road, premiered in 1998 (on PBS) and 2000 (on the National Geographic Channel and MSNBC), respectively. Muller is an expert lecturer on Japan for the National Geographic Society; she has been featured on National Public Radio and on Minnesota Public Radio's Marketplace, and her writing appears in National Geographic and Traveler magazines. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
JAPANLAND: A Year in Search of Wa
By Karin Muller
Rodale / October 2005
Hardcover / 320 pages / $23.95
ISBN: 1-59486-223-6
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Story Source: Press Release
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Philippines; Writing - Philippines; Japan
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