You only had one job.

Young Amélie-san, recently returned to Japan, through great pains secures a one-year job contract as a translator at the prestigious Yumimoto Corporation. What follows is a mildly rocky start to a full speed spiral down the corporate ladder to the worst experience of her life.

An amazingly engaging and hilarious start, five star worth. Around the middle however, as events start turning for the worse, it became a bit difficult to read and highly exasperating sometimes. All the characters, Ms. Fubuki Mori, and especially Mr. Omochi, were extremely unlikable. Mr. Tenshi was the only redeemable one, yet sadly his protagonism was too short lived. One is left to wonder how someone President Haneda got to the top.

This was greatly enlightening about certain aspects of the Japanese work life, and especially about a western trying to accommodate to their customs. I think the inability to defend yourself, or others, is a free pass to a world of mistreatment. Some very excruciating moments, and a few ones way over the top. Some of it may be overly exaggerated of course, yet sadly IÂ’ve watched certain movies, heard several things, and even read enough news to know the harsh reality described in this book is partly true, if not completely.

I find the Japanese culture fascinating, although the corporate side, if it resembles anything this, is one aspect I truly wish I never EVER have to face. Still, good enough to spend the time, fun, and valuable. Could greatly appeal to someone interested in the subject.

*** Fear and Trembling (2003) is THE perfect adaptation. I mean except for a few aerial shots, a few childhood flashbacks and the music score, everything is 100% the book, without any deviations whatsoever. I donÂ’t think there was a single dialog line not extracted directly from the book. Amazingly, Fubuki, Omochi, Tenshi and Haneda were exactly as I had pictured them. Not necessarily a great film, 7/10, but by far the most faithful adaptation IÂ’ve ever seen methinks.

---------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1999] [144p] [Memoir] [Conditional Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------

????? Fear and Trembling
????? Tokyo Fiancée
????? La nostalgia feliz

-----------------------------------------------

Sólo tenías un trabajo.

Joven Amélie-san, recientemente regresada a Japón, con grandes esfuerzos logra asegurarse un contrato de trabajo de un año como traductora en la prestigiosa Corporación Yumimoto. Lo que sigue es un levemente inestable comienzo hacia una rápida espiral en caída libre de la escalera corporativa hasta la peor pesadilla de su vida.

Un asombrosamente atrapante e hilarante comienzo, merecedora de cinco estrellas. Alcanzando la mitad sin embargo, cuando los eventos empiezan a empeorar, se vuelve un poco difícil de leer y altamente exasperante a veces. Todos los personajes, como la Sta. Fubuki Mori, y especialmente el Sr. Omochi, fueron extremadamente desagradables. El Sr. Tenshi era el único rescatable, pero tristemente su protagonismo fue breve. Uno queda preguntándose cómo alguien como el Presidente Haneda llegó hasta la cima.

Esto fue enormemente enriquecedor sobre ciertos aspectos de la vida laboral japonesa, y especialmente sobre un occidental tratando de acomodarse a sus costumbres. Creo que la imposibilidad para defenderse uno mismo, u otros, es un pase libre a una infinidad de maltratos. Algunos momentos realmente desesperantes, y algunos muy descabellados. Algo de todo eso posiblemente muy exagerado por supuesto, pero tristemente he visto algunas películas, escuché varias cosas, e incluso leí suficientes noticias como para saber que la dura realidad descrita en este libro es parcialmente cierta, sino completamente.

Encuentro la cultura japonesa fascinante, pero el lado corporativo, si se asemeja aunque sea un poquito a esto, es un aspecto que verdaderamente espero nunca JAMAS tener que enfrentar. Aun así, suficientemente bueno para pasar el rato, divertido, y valioso. Podría ser muy atrayente para alguien interesado en el tema.

*** Estupor y temblores (2003) es LA perfecta adaptación. O sea excepto por algunas tomas aéreas, un par de escenas de la niñez, y la música, todo es 100% el libro, sin ningún tipo de desviación en absoluto. Creo que no hubo ni una sola línea de dialogo que no fuera extraída directamente del libro. Asombrosamente, Fubuki, Omochi, Tenshi y Haneda fueron exactamente como los había imaginado. No necesariamente un gran film, 7/10, pero creo que por lejos la más fiel adaptación que he visto jamás.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1999] [144p] [Memoria] [Recomendable Condicional]
-----------------------------------------------adapted fiction memoir399 s Jim Fonseca1,121 7,545

Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb

Something bothers me a lot about this novel.

It’s a short novel – 130 pages that can be read at a sitting. Translated from the French, it was a big hit in France and it won a couple of literary prizes when published in 1999. The main character is a young Belgian woman, of college age we assume, who lives in Japan and takes a job for a year in a Japanese corporation. (Just the Belgian author who was born in Japan.)

She has a woman supervisor (very unusual in Japan) and she becomes infatuated with her. To make a short story even shorter --- she screws up everything so badly -- copying, filing, serving tea, simple accounting tasks, that she works her way all the way down to cleaning restrooms. She screws that up too.



In Japanese culture, she can’t be fired for a year, nor can she quit without disgrace before her contract is up, so there’s no immediate way out. She and her supervisor seem to agree that she’s “retarded.” Although we know she not really because she did an excellent job in writing a report with a lot of analysis that got her and several supervisors in trouble with the firm. So she wants us to know that she’s really a brilliant person when challenged with a task equal to her intelligence -- and that may be -- but we also suspect she may simply be a person without the discipline to apply herself to tasks she doesn’t .

Along the way we get an absolutely devastating picture of Japanese corporate culture that chews people up and spits them out. Everything only flows one way --- top down. Supervisors scream at underlings and they just “take it.” You never explain or offer a word in your defense; you never speak up for someone else. There is one horrendous scene where the young woman’s female supervisor is dressed down by her male supervisor in front of everyone in the office and the scene it is portrayed as a “verbal rape” and the female literally collapses under the assault.

As another example of the clash of cultures, at one point the young woman worker asks “How else are we going to work things out if we don’t talk?” The response she receives is “If you DO talk, there’s serious chance you’ll make things worse.”

Women, in particular, are under tremendous constraints in Japanese culture. I’ll just touch on few things because there’s about eight pages elaborating on this. You are ashamed if you are not married by age 25, “your expiration date.” If you laugh you don’t look dignified; if you betray your feelings you look coarse, if you enjoy eating, you’re a pig. When you go to the bathroom, never let them hear you tinkle. I say, this goes on for several more pages. And she says the culture for a male is a little better but fundamentally the same.

The author gives us a summary of her thoughts about Japanese culture near the end of the story. First she tells us about the title: “Ancient Japanese culture stipulated that the Emperor be addressed with ‘fear and trembling.’ “Existence, in Japan, is an extension of The Company… My suffering was no worse than theirs; it was just more degrading. And yet I did not envy them. They were a miserable as I….They were giving up their lives for nothing, and they knew it.” And “ A Japanese person genuinely apologizing happens about once a century.”

And this: “Everyone knows that Japan has the highest suicide rate of any country in the world. What surprised me was that suicides were not more common.” Well this one is FAKE news --- Japan’s suicide rate is about 30th among countries; for example, Russia’s rate is about double that of Japan. (See Wikipedia, suicide rates by country.)



So what bothers me is that this book seems a trashing of Japanese culture. Can it really be that bad? Is our system (the WestÂ’s) that much better? The answer is obvious for the author, but IÂ’m not so sure.

Top photo from trtworld.com
Photo of the author from lettrescapitales.com

belgian-authors french japan276 s Amira Mahmoud618 8,652



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translated ???-?????? ????-??????? ...more162 s Ahmad Sharabiani9,564 148

Stupeur et tremblements = Fear and Trembling, Amélie Nothomb

Fear and Trembling is a satirical novel by Amélie Nothomb, first published in 1999, and translated into English by Adriana Hunter in 2001.

Amélie is a European, who spent her childhood in Japan, gets a job in a large Japanese company. However, it is not completed by the tasks assigned to it. Her behavior, which is unorthodox by Japanese standards, leads, after a game of intrigue by her superiors, to Amélie's "demotion" to the toilet woman. However, other company employees show solidarity with her, and she learns to use humor to break through the malevolences directed against her. ...

Fear and Trembling (French Academy Award winner), in a modern-day narrative, is the story of a European in the Japanese bureaucracy who, with Kafkaesque satire, spreads laughter and anxiety throughout the story.

???????? ??? ??? ?? ?????: «??? ? ???»? «??? ? ???»? ???: ???? ??????? ??????????? (???? ????? ??? ????) ????? ?????? ?????: ??? ?? ? ??? ??? ????? ???2003??????

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????? ??: ??? ? ???? ???: ???? ??????? ??????: ???? ?????? ?????? ???: ?????? ????? 1383? ??114?? ????: ??????

?? ??? ??? ????: «??? ? ???» (?????? ? ?????? ? «?????? ??????»)? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ? ????? ?????? ?? «???????» ?? ??? ? ????? ? ????? ????? «?????» ???? ?? ?? ???? «???????»? ???? ? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ????????????

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????? ?????? ????? 27/02/1400???? ???????? 25/01/1401???? ???????? ?. ??????? Pakinam Mahmoud918 4,202

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?????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??????? ? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ????????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ?? ????? ???????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ??????!

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????? ????? ??? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????? ???????????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ..??? ??? ????? ???..??? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ? ??? ????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ??? !
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?? ???? ????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????? ?????..!
??? ????? ??????? ? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ??!110 s MannyAuthor 34 books14.9k

My Japanese friend Yukie said I had to read this if I wanted to understand how a Japanese job worked. And indeed I do feel I have a great deal more insight into it!

Rule number 1: NEVER take initiative for anything you're not supposed to take initiative for. The heroine finds this out the hard way. She's just started working for this Japanese company. She speaks fluent Japanese, French and English, so of course, any Westerner, she's looking for an opportunity to impress her new bosses. A colleague goes off on vacation, there's a piece of work that's been left hanging which requires knowledge of French, and she sees her chance.

Oh dear. Not only does she get no praise; she, and the misguided person who helped her, are suddenly in huge trouble. But she still doesn't understand how things work, and makes one mistake after another, being moved further down the ladder each time. In the end, her job consists of changing the toilet paper in the men's room.

The book is supposed to be based on the author's experiences when working in Japan, and is quite funny. I started reading it on a transatlantic flight, and had finished before I arrived. Strongly recommended if you're interested in Japan and the Japanese.

french japanese well-i-think-its-funny88 s Rowena501 2,615

*3.5 stars*


I must say, I was really surprised by this book. I work for a Japanese company here in Vancouver and I have noticed that my Japanese co-workers have to adhere to different standards and rules from the rest of us (we donÂ’t question it, what can you do?). ItÂ’s been interesting working there because half of my co-workers are Japanese, the other half arenÂ’t. WeÂ’ve had to adapt to each otherÂ’s cultures and I think we do so quite well. It does feel weÂ’re split into two camps and I have often been approached by a Japanese co-worker to say something to the boss, something I can get away with saying as IÂ’m not Japanese.

So because of my experiences working with the Japanese, and talking to them about corporate culture in Japan, I shouldnÂ’t have been too shocked by the content of this book but I was. Yumimoto Corporation sounds hell to me and I felt sorry, for the most part, for Amelie, the Belgian girl who works there and quickly gets on the bad side of her female co-worker, who is villainous but feels the need to be as she is a woman working in a male-dominated world.

IÂ’m still not completely convinced by Amelie though. She was born in Japan, lived there until she was 5 years old, yet when she moves back to Japan, she seems to have accepted the Japanese corporate life way too easily. As a westerner, Amelie is used to taking the initiative. That doesnÂ’t fly in Japan, apparently. She becomes a total pushover. It doesnÂ’t sound plausible that a western woman would do that without a fight.

This book was meant to be satirical. Not that I found too much of it funny, it was more sad than anything. And I was surprised by the comments Nothomb made about Japanese society, how thereÂ’s only two ways out for women; marriage or suicide. I found that a bit harsh. It was weird because on one hand she loves Japanese culture, on the other hand she is so scathing of it.


I realize I’ve gone off topic and I’m not talking so much about the book now. Well, I did the book. It was a quick read and Nothomb does have a graceful writing style. However, a few things didn’t sit right with me.literary-fiction76 s ????? ??????Author 23 books27.4k

??? ?? ??????? ??????? ???? ?????? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ????? 72 s Tahani Shihab592 1,066


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-?????? : 3.5

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