Book Review: Abroad in Japan

By J.D. Kelly

Mr. Affable, YouTuber, Documentarian, Barry Chopsticks, Aspiring Pirate, iTunes charting musical artist, IronMouse, alternative theorist, swear-word missionary, snarky sarcastic British dickhead bumbling his way around Japan, Chris Broad of the Abroad in Japan YouTube channel has a lot of titles but with his new book also called Abroad in Japan, he can now add author to that list as well.

The book details his first ten years in the country through a collection of humorous and heartwarming stories ranging from his original interview for the JET Programme that brought him to Japan to the time he taught his Japanese friends that intricacies of cursing. Though these stories are mostly separate from each other, Chris weaves them together as steps along his journey to where he Is today while adding in callbacks to previous tales in his narration.

Fans of his work will recognize many of the stories as ones he’s either talked about in videos like the time he screwed up while trying to pay a toll on the Japanese highway, or ones that were captured in videos at the time like his rant about the warning for a North Korean missile launch that woke him up. When Chris has a funny story to tell, the humor lands. I was generally stopping multiple times a chapter just to laugh at some comedic event or joke he had made about the situation. I greatly enjoyed seeing both how his idea of Japan differed from the reality he found there and how his Japanese associates also had their idea of the UK shattered by Chris’s revelation that he had never met Queen Elizabeth II.

And, when Chris wants to be serious, he is just as adept there. He talks about the initial loneliness and anxiety of moving to Japan fresh out of college and only a few years later, moving again to Sendai after leaving the JET Programme. He also talks about how stressful it was making his first Journey Across Japan series when he had tried to bike across Japan while filming, editing and releasing an episode every day and how his failure affected him. And when discussing making a documentary about the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Chris cedes the spotlight to the people who lived through it rebuilding for a better future but never forgetting the tragedy.

Overall, the book is a great read. It’s not terribly long at about 300 pages (but I’m also the kind of guy who reads 1200-page fantasy novels that double as bludgeoning weapons for fun so take that as you will). Chris does a good job of explaining the Japanese ideas and words. The first time they are brought up, he’ll explain them immediately afterward. As an American, I only had trouble with a few words that are more British English than American.  I don’t think I’d ever seen OAP (Old Age Pensioner) before. Those don’t get explanations but are generally less relevant. Whether you’ve been a fan of Abroad in Japan since the first video or are just learning about it now and want a glimpse of what it’s like for someone living abroad in Japan, this book is for you.

I hope that 10 years from now, he puts out a second book 2 Broad 2 Japan​.

For More Information on Abroad in Japan:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455290/abroad-in-japan-by-broad-chris/9781787637078

Rating: A