Non-fiction about life in Japan

thechanger

Can anyone recommend interesting non-fiction either set in Japan, or based on some aspect of Japanese culture?

Two examples that I enjoyed are:

• Haruki Murakami - Underground [About Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway]
• Niall Murtagh - Blue eyed salaryman [Life in corporate Japan]

Thanks

ps. I'm not looking for travel books.

Setun

I read a book called Hokkaido Highway Blues a couple of years ago, and remember enjoying it quite a bit. The author Will Ferguson decides to travel from the southernmost tip of Kyushu right up to Cape Soya in northern Hokkaido, following the cherry blossom front. Of course he gets picked up by all sorts of odd people, runs into problems and has mini adventures along the way. His honest writing style doesn't over-do typical cliches about Japan but rather gives an honest account of the gaijin experience quite clearly, and articulates some of the many curious paradoxes of Japanese culture.

old gregg

not quite non-fiction but an interesting study of Japanese culture of the post war period you could take a look at the work of Mishima http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima