A quick rec and a (sort of) anti-rec

Finishing out the week's theme of "Outsiders in Japan," I thought I'd close with a quick rec of American Fuji by Sara Backer. To be honest, it's been many years since I last read it, so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but it came up in an online conversation recently, and I do recall enjoying it. Main character Gaby loses her job teaching at a Japanese university and winds up working for a company that sells "fantasy funerals" and gets entangled in a murder mystery when she meets an American man who has come to investigate the death of his son, who has died mysteriously while studying in Japan. As I said, I don't remember that much about the book, but I recall it having a pretty good outsiders' view of the country that felt realistic.


On the other end of the spectrum, I recently read Owl and the Japanese Circus by Kristi Charish, an urban fantasy in which the main character Alix (also known as Owl) is an antiquities thief who gets bribed/blackmailed into stealing a supernatural artifact by Mr. Kurosawa, who appears to be a powerful Japanese businessman but is actually an even more powerful red dragon. I read the summary and thought, "Japan! Dragons! Supernatural fantasy! This is totally my jam!"

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