The American Who Couldn't Say Noh: Almost Everything You Need to Know about Japan

This lighthearted guide to Japanese customs explains, in easily digestible bytes, many of the cultural oddities that mystify Western travelers. Danziger, a Wall Street lawyer whose initial exposure to Japan was as a language student at a university in Nagoya, subsequently spent a year working for a large Japanese law firm. Here, he presents daily life in Japan in brief sketches (and his own drawings), each of which is devoted to an aspect of business, modern life or tradition. He describes the space-saving ``capsule hotels'' where a tiny sleeping room can be rented for as little as $25 a night, women's attitudes towards marriage, the mass interest in pornography, the shopping emporiums and the plumbing. He explains how to take a bath a la Japanese, why business cards are rife, office pecking orders and the nature of interlocking structures in industry. Danziger's light fingers leave few details untouched; his perceptions are sharp, entertaining and leavened with affection and humor. (Jan.)