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A review by boodschappenlijst
Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.75
As a longtime follower of Abroad in Japan I was waiting feverishly to buy this book as soon as it dropped here. It took me a week to read it all; in that sense it is a very light-hearted and entertaining read. Knowing Chris Broad it couldn't have been any other way.
That said, I am not sure if this book would be as entertaining for people that don't know the channel. While the first 200 pages form a cohesive timeline of Broad's first years in Japan, the last 100 jump forward in arbitrary leaps until 2022, when the book was finished. With brief mentions of his activities through these latter years, it seems to imply that the reader should already be familiar with what he is talking about. Even with brief explanations of things like Journey Across Japan (something that in my opinion deserved a chapter of its own), I wonder if readers unfamiliar with the channel will have enough context.
Funnily, as a fan I was not entirely satisfied either. I had wanted deep dives into specific chapters of the channel, but got little of it. I can imagine it is hard to write a autobiographically about things that readers can easily find on the internet, but I would have liked to see Broad share more about what was left unsaid in (or behind) those videos.
Don't get me wrong, I was well-entertained for the first 200 chapters, but that makes me wish that the book was just about his time in Sakata. That way, the book would have been about a bloke confusedly finding his way on the other side of the world, with all the ups and downs that come with it.
That said, I am not sure if this book would be as entertaining for people that don't know the channel. While the first 200 pages form a cohesive timeline of Broad's first years in Japan, the last 100 jump forward in arbitrary leaps until 2022, when the book was finished. With brief mentions of his activities through these latter years, it seems to imply that the reader should already be familiar with what he is talking about. Even with brief explanations of things like Journey Across Japan (something that in my opinion deserved a chapter of its own), I wonder if readers unfamiliar with the channel will have enough context.
Funnily, as a fan I was not entirely satisfied either. I had wanted deep dives into specific chapters of the channel, but got little of it. I can imagine it is hard to write a autobiographically about things that readers can easily find on the internet, but I would have liked to see Broad share more about what was left unsaid in (or behind) those videos.
Don't get me wrong, I was well-entertained for the first 200 chapters, but that makes me wish that the book was just about his time in Sakata. That way, the book would have been about a bloke confusedly finding his way on the other side of the world, with all the ups and downs that come with it.