Living in Japan: A Guide to Living, Working, and ... (ISBN 0804832889)

Totally unhelpful and a big downer.:
It's mindboggling that these authors found a publisher. This book touts itself as a full guide to living in Japan. This could not be farther from the truth. Lacking specific information about the process of finding a home, work, etc, it's basically a dreary account of all the difficulties that await you in Japan, with an intense focus on the psychological trials, which the book seems to portray as inevitable. Worse still, the only advice offered in coping with the pessimistic, matter-of-fact list of challenges is shockingly trite. I do not know why these two authors wrote this book, because it really seems as though their objective was dissuading people from living in Japan, rather than offering solutions.

Great for mental well being, but not what I expected:
An easy read based on the psychology behind coping, culture shock, and how it will affect you and those around you when you move to Japan, or anywhere else for that matter! Not very helpful as a knowledge base about actual life in Japan, but it is insightful regarding how our minds work when presented with an alternate reality.

Depressing and no practical, specific information:
To be fair, I thought I was buying "Living Abroad in Japan". Please, don't make the same mistake I did. First of all the entire mood of the book is depressing about how hard it is for foreigners in Japan all the time. Good luck finding something positive. The section entitled "Why go through it at all?" is a short paragraph. As someone who's spent a year in Japan and enjoyed most of it, this book made me think I must be hallucinating. While the subtitle is "A Guide to Living, Working, and Traveling in Japan", it doesn't give any advice or tips in any of these things, other than saying it's possible. (I'm not even sure it ever mentions traveling. About 85% of the book seems to reference general culture shock and social research, with the remaining 15% being specifically about Westerners in Japan. Replace "Japan" with "France" and most of the book would make sense. It offers no specific advice like how to look for an apartment or open a bank account, but does have charts with labels like "Mortar shells of criticism" and "wall of hurt" Lastly, the entire focus of the book seems to be for expats to fit in with the expat community. While useful for some, I would have liked to have some information on how to culturally explore Japan rather than form an American cocoon for myself. The only general information that might be useful to some is exploring the motivations and reactions to tag-along wives/husbands/children (ie: People who didn't really choose to go to Japan) and how to deal with it.

You have the wrong information:
I cancelled this book an hour after clicking on it. I was comparing the cost of this book from Amazon with the cost of the 2nd hand one and the exorbitant postage costs from Marketplace Books.

Great book for professionals and their families.:
Others seemed to really dislike this book but I think it is very much geared at those who will be moving into companies. Yes a good portion does lean to the negatives but it is very necessary to take off the rose colored glasses. If you want all the facts and expectations of your family then this is the book for you.