Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Though I’d never recommend visiting Japan in August unless you want to experience what it feels like to be a rotisserie chicken, there’s no doubt it’s at its most visually striking at the height of summer. I’ve been watching Chris on YouTube since my own Japan trip was planned in 2016 and I’ve never missed a video, he’s really fantastic at what he does. Pas grand chose à dire de plus que bravo à Chris pour toutes ces années et toutes ces histoires racontées sur YT et ici mises sur le papier pour certaines.
The latter 40% talk a bit more about the missile and when his Youtube career started to pick up - and that’s when the pacing changes. Having also moved from southeast England to teach, reading this book brought back a lot of awesome memories, and it was fascinating to read of his earlier experiences and struggles that were similar to my own, but in the northern Honshu region of Tohoku rather than the southern prefecture of Shizuoka. 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. I have been watching Chris’ content and listening to his podcast since 2020 and genuinely enjoy what he has come out with.It's nice hearing about Japan from someone's perspective who didn't move there due to interest in the surface culture alone. When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake.
Chris does a great job of not sugar coating his experiences, and will highlight the positives and negatives of Japanese culture. Muching on a packet of strawberry Pocky I managed to find at the Asian supermarket, while I read, I was transported back to Japan. When you're trying to take a photo of a geological wonder and Sharla keeps putting her hand in the bloody way" (Tweet) – via Twitter. I have watched the Abroad in Japan Youtube channel for many years, and as such was delighted that Chris wrote a book!Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world's most complex cultures. Spanning 10 years and 47 prefectures, Chris takes us from the chilling summit of Mount Fuji to the chaotic neon-lit streets of Tokyo.
Japan is an archipelago with over 5,000 islands to explore and Kyushu is home to many of the most mysterious and iconic in the country. Needless to say, I've now been watching Broad's youtube videos for several years and he never fails to entertain, his snarky comments and brilliant sarcasm also made their way into the book which gave it an ulterior sense of familiarity. My favourite thing about the channel is Chris's dry and sarcastic sense of humour, and that definitely crosses over into this book.We honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' continuous connection to Country, waters, skies and communities. 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. He focuses on the creation of videos about Japanese culture, Japanese food and travel in Japan, primarily in the Tōhoku region. In 2022, Broad appeared in an interview with the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, and received an honorary membership for a duration of one year.
As for this book, I absolutely loved the first half of the book when he was going into more detail with his early days and teaching in Japan. One of Broad's first videos to gain widespread attention was his review of the Japan-only McDonald's McChoco Potatoes. The book cover Chris's stay in Japan from arriving as a rookie English Teacher in a rural part of Japan to accidentally becoming viral and eventually becoming a famous Youtuber. Also, interesting hearing about the "Journey Across Japan" from the author's perspective, since I was among the viewers who watched during Covid and thoroughly enjoyed it. Chris Broad’s experiences are far from average, I just did not find the book as engaging as I think it could’ve been.The first half of the book offers a more candid insight into how and why he went to Japan, his culture shock, his efforts to integrate into and contribute more to his adopted community. Without really thinking, I mentally started to compare our experiences though different with him being a teacher and an youtber and me as an exchange student. 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. 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?
Great Deal 
New Comment