Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad

Two years in rural Japan. When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he’d made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan’s history?

Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it.

Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world’s most complex cultures. Spanning ten years and all forty-seven prefectures, Chris takes us from the lush rice fields of the countryside to the frenetic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a mortifying experience at a love hotel and a week spent with Japan’s biggest movie star, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.

by Lília

I heard about this book when it was released in 2023, and as a great admirer of Japanese language and culture, I was immediately curious.

It took me almost a year to finally start reading it– my TBR is always growing! – but after I started, I couldn’t put it down. Abroad in Japan is a book to be read in small doses, savoring the nuances between Western and Japanese cultures.

Starting as a 22-year-old teacher fresh from university, Broad recounts his journey to becoming a well-known YouTuber in Japan, detailing his many teaching experiences without knowing much Japanese, his successes and failures and the culture shock he faced. It’s a fascinating journey in which he shows not only the “exotic” side of Japan, but also its cruel one—from bullying to the unequal position of women today.

Even if the pacing sometimes feels a bit boring, Broad describes his life in Japan in the same sarcastic, funny and charming way as in his videos. His voice is clear, and you can visualize everything he mentions, his experiences and how they affected his way of thinking and understanding this new world around him. His writing style makes for a very pleasant read.

I enjoyed Abroad in Japan immensely and would recommend it to all interested in experiencing  life in Japan, even though I found his experiences as a teacher and learning Japanese more entertaining than his struggles to become the well-known YouTuber he is nowadays.

4 out of 5 stars.