Nice book. Great edition to your home library and to get acquainted with moving to a new country. ( )

I lived in Japan in 2001/2, and only served six months of my teaching contract there. If I had read this book before going, I might have had a more successful time there.

I agree with a lot of Steve Edwards' advice, and I think that anyone considering a move to Japan should read this book - but not this book alone, as there are some aspects I would take exception to. The fact that Edwards tried so hard to avoid penalty fees for riding the wrong train or for passing through the wrong toll gate on the highway speaks against the writer and his attitude towards the Japanese - and it is worth pointing out that here in Poland, where I live, the outcome in both situations would have been precisely the same.

Some of the advice is good, and some of it is well-written - but Edwards is a little reliant on cliché and stock expressions - on the already-dated chapter about apps, Edwards writes "Apps come in and out of existence with frequent regularity. They have their moment in the sun, climb to the top of the hill and then are soon replaced by something else that catches on and seems to be the way forward for a little while." This doesn't say very much, but it does take a while to say.

Oddly, then, I shall conclude my review of this book with what might seem a counterintuitive point - it's a short book that should have been longer. It is part of a series of books about life in Japan that Edwards has written, and despite my reservations about the Practical aspects, I would nonetheless be tempted to take a look at the others; what I missed in this book was an expansion of the main points, perhaps more anecdotes at greater length and in greater detail. Edwards clearly lived a full life in Japan - I only wish I'd been able to get a better sense of that in the same book, without needing to look elsewhere as well. ( )

I love this book! It is so useful! It's definitely a must-read for those wanting to have a permanent residency, moving there, or just visiting. What I wish this book would do is to organize the tips better, maybe with some bolded sections, or tip boxes, etc. It's all written in chapters, but it would be nicer if the chapters were together and had the same type of content. The chapter topics were kinda haphazardly put together, so you could be reading about food in one chapter, then about visas, and then about something else in the next chapter. But all in all, this book is extremely useful and very engaging. It shows what the author did so the readers won't make the same mistakes, and I really like how the author would say to stand up for yourself and make a small difference with some of these outdated rules and thinking. ( )

Don't take my rating too seriously. I've not lived in Japan, although I've read many earlier books by people who had, so I'm rating this book mostly on its prose style, which is nice and clean. Edwards discusses the effects a socialist bureaucracy has on people whose parents were taught to avoid saying "no" or asking questions to which the answer was "no," who now have to have "no" shouted at them. He finds a fair bit of bigotry against foreigners, though he's also quick to admit that as an English teacher in Japan he made friends and liked people, including some fellow Americans who wanted to become citizens of Japan.

Can "everything" Edwards wished he'd known about Japan fit into one book? Hah. This book is already part of a trilogy and may become part of a longer series. It's a fun read. ( )

Great read and a lot of food for thought. I've read quite a few books on living in Japan, and this book added a few more ideas to the arsenal that I hadn't come across before. I think the author may have injected a little too much of his own opinions and comes across as very jaded about his time in Japan. Quick read and very informative.