My Awesome Japan Adventure

Picked as one of the best books of 2013 by the Association of Booksellers for Children“…the story and illustrations will hold a child’s interest with comparisons to Japanese and American culture written in a voice they can easily identify with.” —The Japan Times“This diary-cum-travelogue surveys aspects of traditional and modern Japanese culture from sushi and bowing (how and when to do it) to ninjas and manga.” —School Library Journal

Rebecca Otowa was born in California, and studied Japanese Language and Culture at the University of Queensland in Australia. In 1978 she went to Japan, and never left. After graduating from Otani University in Kyoto, with an MA in Buddhism, she married the 19th-generation heir to a country estate nearby. In the years since, she has brought up two sons, taught university-level English, played music, acted on stage and kept a vegetable garden, but she eventually returned to her two great loves-writing and drawing. She is the author of At Home in Japan and The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper and Other Short Stories, along with her work as a translator and columnist.