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This book is not
about cycling, but it is. It's not about Japan, but it
is. It's not about sightseeing, but it is. In short, this book is about
six months of someone's life -- a journey. As with all journeys, it
begins with uncertainty and ends in reward. It may inspire you. If it
does nothing more, this adventure will have achieved more than I ever
imagined. - Leigh Norrie
In May 2005, Leigh Norrie left his house and went on
a bike ride... to the rest of Japan. After a lonely and grueling six
months, he'd pedaled 10,000 kilometers through every prefecture, all
41, north to south. On the way he kept a diary of his remarkable
odyssey, now published as his first book, Japan 6,000 Miles on a
Bicycle; and dedicated the proceeds to his chosen charity: the Chi-ki
Children s Foundation. Norrie s mesmeric account of the people and
places he encounters uses two classic themes: the diary and the road
trip. Unlike many modern travel memoirs there are no tales of
gunfights, car-chases, life-or-death poker games, or elicit encounters.
His book is more reminiscent of Steinbeck's adorable Travels with
Charley, with everyday folk as the cast, and customariness fused with
Japan s singular idiosyncrasies making for an exceptionally enticing
script. Never snobby, often judgmental, but always frank, Norrie
peppers Japan with a brutal insight that meanders between outrage and
kindness. Not since Alan Boothe s Roads To Saga has Japan been scoured
with such objectivity, anger and affection. Diaries have made a
comeback of late, yet their value has always been priceless. The
pivotal events of mid-1600s London were encapsulated in the jottings of
one man: Samuel Pepys. Reading Che Guevara s last diary, you scream at
the annals of history, Get rid of those amateurs! And studying the
French Revolution would be oh-so-boring without Restif De La Bretonne s
reports on Paris after dark. About 400 years from now and Norrie s
writings will most certainly evoke a kaleidoscope of reaction and
retort. The keen observations of a peripatetic gaijin, part L'Ingenu,
part veteran, is a message in a bottle floating toward the historians
of the future. Read it, write what you will, and bury your copy. Norrie
also unintentionally takes his passengers, the reader, on the journey
eventually pedaling with him, you can t help but egg him on, hoping he
can tough it out to Naha. While the book highlights the paradoxes
inherent in Nippon, its everyday nature leaves you with another you
feel closer than ever to the Japanese, but equally just as alienated,
just as exasperated, depressingly unable to unlock what makes this
place tick and what with the puncture just before the finish line, you,
like Norrie are always so close, but yet so very, very far... TFM
caught up with the cyclist, writer, poet, Welshman, fundraiser and role
model, in his location of choice a grotty British pub.
..............
--Tokyo Families Magazine, June 2008
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Publisher: Printed Matter
Press
Author: Leigh Norrie
ISBN: 978-1-933606-14-9
Year published: 2008
Pages: 229 Page size: 149x210mm Weight: 410g
Binding: Paperback
Japan base price: Yen 2,000++
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Japan
& East Asia
JEPPstandard
1,000s of English publications from or on |
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