“A gifted writer, Anderson is sensitive to cultural differences, delightful in his irreverence, and astutely aware of himself and his particular perspective. His observations are often laugh-out-loud funny and will leave readers with the desire to travel and to keep turning the pages, wondering, by the end, where Anderson will travel to next.” –Publishers Weekly

 

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"“Many writers attempt the Expat Abroad memoir or travelogue, but few do it with such humor and, well, humor. Stuck in the post-graduate world with a seemingly worthless English degree, Tim Anderson decided to ditch his native North Carolina and head out on an adventure. That journey, turns out, ended up with the author teaching English at a language school in Tokyo, an experience he's documented in Tune in Tokyo...In the book, Anderson riffs on everything Japan. It sounds like it could easily fall into the cliché category, but he manages to keep things light and funny...

 

"Dissatisfied with the American Way and anxious about the prospect of turning 30, Anderson, a gay white North Carolinian, left his home country to snap himself out of the sameness of middle-class American life. “The last time I felt totally wide awake and alive was the last time I lived outside the country,” he writes. After a six-month stint in England, he decided to cash in on his otherwise useless English degree and took a job teaching English at a language school in Tokyo.

 

From there, Anderson provides a frantically paced, in-your-face extended riff on everything bizarrely Japanese (which turns out to be pretty much everything Japanese, period). The obvious East/West tension and language barriers account for much of the humor, but even more hilariously observant is Anderson’s wry commentary on the bafflingly instantaneous social rebirth that even the most awkward, dim and unattractive of his American male colleagues often experienced in Japan. From Anderson’s perspective, the simple virtue of being a male Westerner garners instant gigolo status among the most beautiful of Japanese women. The author also found himself playing viola in a ramshackle experimental noise band and, inevitably, the Tokyo karaoke bars.

 

Anderson reliably mines the rich comic potential inherent in simple, innocent miscommunications and misunderstandings, but most impressive is the author’s ability to sustain his hyperactive comedic voice throughout most of the book without losing his edge. A laugh-out-loud look at the East/West culture clash.” –Kirkus Reviews

 

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"Tim Anderson's account of the two years he taught English in Japan stands out among such stories [in the travel genre]...it's so much fun. Anderson refuses to take himself too seriously, and he's unafraid to let his status as a gaijin (outsider) who 'doesn't speak a lick of Japanese' get in the way of seeking out experiences that make great stories...Anderson moved to Tokyo to have a good time. His Gaijin Diaries are your invitation to the party."

–Shelf Awareness

 

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“Tim chronicles his experiences and adventures in Tokyo into 16 stories that keep you laughing from the beginning to the very end...Tim’s stories are filled with creative and outright hilarious abstractions drawn from daily life in Japan. The book can be more easily described as a diary left open for you to read—filled with juicy details and personal confessions that keep you seated until you have finished it all. It is filled with outrageous and witty metaphors that make you stop, reread, and laugh out loud. You can almost imagine these stories being told at a party or at the dinner table and the bursts of laughter that keep you begging for more.” –Neon Tommy