Book Launch: At Home Abroad: The Contemporary Western Experience in Japan

By Adam Komisarof                                                                    

Published by Reitaku University Press

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With Japan’s working population greying and rapidly dwindling, supplementing the labour shortage with non-Japanese workers has been proposed as one solution to this demographic crisis.  It is crucial, however, that foreign nationals not only be “imported,” but also that Japanese and non-Japanese can coexist comfortably and ultimately thrive together.  Professor Komisarof focuses in this book on one group of foreign nationals—attempting to discover the essence of the contemporary Western experience in Japan by interviewing 12 trailblazers who intimately know the heart of Japan.  The interviewees describe heading a multinational corporation, life in a remote mountain hamlet, the inner sanctum of the Japanese entertainment industry, and much more. Luminaries such as Donald Keene, Donald Richie and Patrick Harlan reveal the extent to which they feel accepted within Japanese society as well as what can be done by both Japanese and non-Japanese to strengthen the inclusion of foreign nationals.  A rigorous analysis following the interviews explores the keys to creating a more global Japan and actualizing positive intercultural communication between Japanese and Westerners.  This book is essential reading for people who are searching for keys to developing synergistic, effective relationships between Japanese and non-Japanese in the workplace and beyond.

* The book will be available on the day at the special price of £25.