Winging It

"Tune in Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries" by Tim Anderson Wayward Mammal Publishing 257 pages It's a paperback with no price tag, front, back or inside.

Anderson lived in Raleigh, NC, until he decided to take off for Japan. He got a job with an international bureau and away he went. The back flap says "an irresistable new gay, left-handed, diabetic travel memoir." I might have left out some of those adjectives, but hey! It's his book.

There are hysterically funny scenes in the book; he has a gifted, twisted ability to use words. The various things I've read so far are an exploration of why Gaijin men? Over and over, he sees guys who couldn't get a date for love nor money in the US swanning down the street with esquisitely beautiful Japanese girls?

A Japanese student of his develops an insane crush on him, attending every one of his classes. His best friend Rachel tries to square the girl away by telling her the truth: he's gay, forget about it. The girl argues back, "But he looked at my tits!" Apparently that activity signals a desire to marry, mate and have children. Japan is scary.

But the book is funny.