Authors/Books

Auslin, Michael (Prefecture, Years) – Michael is Director of Japan Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and formerly a professor of Japanese history at Yale University.  He also appeared as a guest judge on an episode of Iron Chef America (one where Chef Morimoto was the selected Iron Chef).

• Japan Society – 100th anniversary publication for the Japan Society.  Originally written by Edwin O. Reischauer, Michael Auslin wrote the history covering the last 30 years.
  Negotiating with Imperialism:  The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy

Beaton, Hamish (Osaka, 1996-99)

• Under the Osakan Sun:  A Funny, Intimate, Wonderful Account of Three Years in Japan

D.H. Cermeño (Hiroshima-ken, Years)

• Rising Sunsets (Click here for JetWit post)
  

Chandler, David (Prefecture, Years)

• Getting Both Feet Wet:  Experiences Inside the JET Program

Esikoff, Alexei (Fukushima-ken, 2001-02)

• One of the editors of:
  1. Willow in a Storm (Midwest Book Award finalist, 2007)
  2. The New Writer’s Handbook 2007 (ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year/Career)
  3. The New Writer’s Handbook, Vol. 2
  4. The Once and Future Celt

Feiler, Bruce (Tottori-ken, 1989-90) – Based in Brooklyn, NY, in addition to writing the original JET book, Bruce has written a number of other best sellers, including Abraham (which appeared on the cover of an issue of  Time Magazine) and Walking the Bible (which was later made into a PBS series).

• Learning to Bow (the original JET book)
  
• Abraham
  
• Walking the Bible
• Where God Was Born
• Under the Big Top:  A Season with the Circus
• Dreaming Out Loud:  Garth Brooks, Wynonna Judd, Wade Hayes and the Changing Face of Nashville
• Looking for Class:  Days and Nights at Oxford and Cambridge

Ferguson, Will (Nagasaki-ken, 1991-94) – Established and highly successful humor writer with a book or two about Japan and many more about Canada.

• Hokkaido Highway Blues:  Hitchhiking Japan
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Japan
• Spanish Fly
• Hitching Rides with Buddha
• Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw
• How to Be A Canadian
• Happiness
• Canadian History for Dummies
• Bastards and Boneheads
• The Girlfriend’s Guide to Hockey
• I Was A Teenage Katima-Victim
• Why I Hate Canadians

Gauntner, John (Prefecture, Years) – The Sake Guy

• Sake Handbook
• Sake Companion
• Sake:  Pure & Simple
• Tokyo Sake Pub Guide

Greenfeld, Karl Taro (Kanagawa-ken, 1988-89)

• Speed Tribes:  Days and Nights With Japan’s Next Generation
• China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century’s First Great Epidemic
• Boy Alone: A Brother’s Memoir
• Standard Deviations: Growing Up and Coming Down in the New Asia
• Blind To Failure : TIME Magazine Cover Story
• Life On The Edge : TIME Magazine Cover Story
• Meet the Napster : TIME Magazine Cover Story
• A New Way Of Giving : TIME Magazine Cover Story
• New York Tyrant, Vol. 2, No. 3

Healey, Karen (Prefecture, Years) – Karen is a New Zealander currently affiliated with a university in Melbourne, Australia, and writes young adult fiction.  Read her bio for a taste of her sharp wit.

• Guardian of the Dead

Hodges-Boos, Meredith (Ehime-ken, Uwajima-shi, Yoshida-cho, 2003-05) – Meredith writes adult and children’s fiction and has also illustrated and written stories in manga format.

• The Way House Rules
• Hamlin
• The Grass Roads
• Rabbit in the Moon
• Kangaroo and the Fallen Star
• Ichigo Ichie

Kamata, Suzanne (Tokushima-ken, 1998-90) – Suzanne is a writer of adult and children’s books as well as an editor of anthologies and the editor of LiteraryMama.com.

• Losing Kei (Leapfrog Press, 2008)
• Playing for Papa (Topka Books, 2008)
• Editor of anthologies
  • Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing, 2009)
  • Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs (Beacon Press, 2008)
  • The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan (Stone Bridge Press, 1997)

Kelts, Roland (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) – Roland is one of the preeminent experts on Japanese pop culture today, is a professor at Tokyo University, has a recurring column in the Daily Yomiuri (Soft Power/Hard Truths) and regularly hosts talks with pop culture celebrities such as Haruki Murakami and Hayao Miyazaki.

• Japanamerica:  How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.

Kennedy, James (Nara-ken, 2004-06) – James writes fiction, technically for young adults, but the humor and concepts are so original and engaging that plain old regular adults will enjoy it just as much if not more.

• The Order of Odd-Fish

Klar, Nicholas (Niigata-ken, Omi-machi (now Itoigawa-shi) 1995-97)

• My Mother is a Tractor:  Life in Rural Japan

Kootnikoff, David (Prefecture, Years)

• Getting Both Feet Wet:  Experiences Inside the JET Program

Leheny, David (Prefecture, Years) – Professor of Japan Studies – Princeton University

• Think Global, Fear Local: Sex, Violence, and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan
• The Rules of Play: National Identity and the Shaping of Japanese Leisure
  

Levitas, Ethan (Prefecture, Years)

• Outside and In:  Conversations About Identity

Martin, Benjamin (Okinawa-ken, 2008-13)

• Samurai Awakening – fantasy novel based on JET experience

McConnell, David L. (Prefecture, Years)

• Importing Diversity:  Inside Japan’s JET Program

Popp, Laura (Mie-ken, 2008-Present)

• Laura is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright/film maker.
• Here’s one of her short stories titled “In theShadow Realm” – http://www.viatouch.com/learn/Storystation/Stories/in_shadow_realm.jsp
• Here’s a documentary she made in Malawi (on YouTube):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApdQpfi4i7E
• To read about her amazing adventures all over Japan, check out her her blog:  laurajanepopp.livejournal.com

Shea, James (Prefecture, Years) – James is a poet based in Chicago and also teaches poetry classes at the college level.

• Star in the Eye
• A former Monbukagakusho research student, James published his first book of poetry (Star in the Eye)  in November of 2008, available on Amazon.com.  The book has won the 2008 Fence Modern Poets Series Prize and was also named as one of the “Favorite Books of 2008” by the Chicago Sun Times.

Sparling, Eric (Prefecture, Years)

• Japan Diary:  A Year on JET (2005) – When journalist Eric Sparling and his wife Tanya accepted teaching positions with the JET program in Japan, they had no idea what they were getting into. During his second year in Japan, Eric wrote a bi-weekly column for the Peterborough Examiner, a newspaper in Ontario. Now the Japan Diary has been compiled in one volume. Includes previously unpublished photos not found in the original column.

Tessler, Manya (Prefecture, Years) – Manya is both a children’s book author and illustrator, using beautiful Japan-influenced techniques in her illustration style.

• Yuki’s Ride Home

Weston, Robert P. (Nara-ken, 2002-04) – Rob writes children’s/young adult fiction, in rhyming novel form in the case of Zorgamazoo, which has now won numerous awards in its category.

• Zorgamazoo