Kyoto Stories - Paperback

by Steve Alpert (Author)

• a sardonic look at being a young and single American in Kyoto in the 1970s; it didn't happen just like this, but it could have
• before he wrote his successful memoir about working at Studio Ghibli, the author of Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man had a very different experience of Japan; the many readers who enjoyed his behind the scenes adventures in business will surely come along for this very different but equally engaging ride
• as an outsider, the hero is privy to shared details of what really goes on behind the Japanese façade of politeness and restraint
• teachers, housewives, geisha, cynical expatriates, struggling language learners, blundering tourists, all among the backdrop of temples and contemplative gardens: a classic Kyoto landscape with a touch of acerbic wit
• will appeal to fans of Pico Iyer's classic The Lady and the Monk and Donald Richie's bawdy yet insightful "novel" The Inland Sea

Author Biography

Steve Alpert grew up in northern Minnesota before moving to Connecticut as a teenager. He attended Cornell University before enrolling in Columbia University's graduate department of East Asia Languages and Cultures, where he studied Japanese Literature under Donald Keene and Edward Seidensticker. He lived and worked in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Taipei for more than 35 years and speaks Japanese fluently and Chinese poorly. Miller gave up a promising career as an extra in Japanese B movies to work in Tokyo as a vice president at a major bank, president of a TV animation company, and head of a company that produced and distributed Japanese films. He has translated a number of Japanese films and several short works of Japanese fiction. Kyoto, where he lived as a student, is his favorite city in the world. He is the author of Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli.