This book will crack you up!

I'm not going to write a long, thoughtful review for two reasons:

1) I've written some long, thoughtful reviews and made about 28 cents each (and I've figured out that I'm never going to become an expert reviewer no matter how hard I try).

2) There's not much to say other than this book is funny, buy it.

I really wish I had discovered Dave Barry earlier in life. He's a humor writer who writes for newspapers and who also has many books out. I first read a sample of his column earlier this year, which was funny, but this is the first time I've read one of his books.

Written in 1992, this is an account of Dave Barry's three- week trip to Japan with his wife and son.

His descriptions of the differences he finds between our culture and the Japanese culture are interesting and hilarious. Dave Barry may not know much about Japan, but he knows a lot about comedy.

By the time I was about halfway through this book, I was literally laughing so hard I was in tears. My son was sleeping in the next room and I was afraid that I was going to wake him up with all my chuckling and sputtering.

Here's an excerpt about his experiences when he first arrived:

"As I was descending the steps of the airport bus, two uniformed bellmen came rushing up and bowed to me. Trying to look casual but feeling like an idiot, I bowed back. I probably did it wrong, but they bowed back. So I bowed back. The three of us sort of bowed our way over to where the luggage was being unloaded, and I bowed to our suitcases, and the bellmen, bowing, picked them up and rushed into the hotel. We followed them past a bowing doorman in the hotel, where we were gangbowed by hotel employees. No matter which direction we turned, they were aiming bows at us, sometimes from as far as twenty-five yards away. Bobbing like drinking-bird toys, we bowed our way to the reception desk, where a bowing check clerk checked us in."

And that's just a sample. His writing has this runaway train affect, wherein you start laughing a little bit but the more you read on, the more funny things you come across until you just can't stop reading.

The book isn't all about humor. Barry devotes one chapter in the middle of the book to a discussion of the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II and its effects on the country today.

And in the end, Barry manages to sum up quite nicely his experiences and to draw some really eye opening conclusions about the differences between the United States and Japan.

Other books by Barry include:

Claw Your Way to the Top
Dave Barry Slept Here
Dave Barry Turns Forty
Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You Ever Need

I can't actually recommend any other the others yet because I haven't read them. But, as soon as the library opens tomorrow, I'm going to check them out.

Okay, there is is--my short and sweet review. I'll take my 28 cents now please.