Speaker: Michael Howard, Author of The Salaryman: An American Dude Becomes a Tokyo White-Collar Warrior
Hosting Committees: ACCJ-Chubu External Affairs; Programs
Member Fee: Free
Guest Fee: Free
Registration/Cancellation Deadline: Friday, June 26, 2020 (17:00)
This event will be hosted as a webinar. Instructions for joining the virtual meeting will be sent to registered attendees after the above stated deadline.
Event Overview:
No word encapsulates a country’s mainstream lifestyle the way “salaryman” does in Japan. If a Japanese person asks, “What do you do?” and you reply, “I’m a salaryman,” you’ll likely get a laugh and a knowing look. They will instantly understand the office rituals, refined mannerisms, and nocturnal consumption habits that dominate your life.
At this event, American author Michael Howard will detail his romp through four Japanese companies during nearly a decade as an immigrant turned salaryman in Tokyo. Members and guests will hear the painfully funny and insightful truths Howard discovered about modern salaryman life—and all it reveals about the US–Japan culture gap. He will also discuss how he created his fun illustrated journey through Tokyo middle-class life, his partnership with a professional Japanese manga artist, and the use of Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform to self-publish the book.
The event will feature an illustrated presentation, with audience questions taken throughout. Don’t miss this street-level study of Japanese culture that both long-time and newer residents in Japan will guzzle down faster than a salaryman does his first beer after work.
Read the Japan Times book review.
About the Speaker
Michael Howard hails from Chicago and was a journalist-turned-businessman in Los Angeles before he moved to Tokyo and joined the Tokyo salaryman brotherhood in 2008. He now works full time as a product manager at a US technology company. His first book, The Salaryman, was published in July 2019 and has been hailed by The Japan Times as“thoroughly entertaining.”
ACCJ-Chubu External Affairs Committee
Yuji Suzuki and Erik Olson-Kikuchi, Co-Chairs
Julian Bashore, Vice-Chair
ACCJ-Chubu Programs Committee
Bryce Conlan and Mark Hosang, Co-Chairs
Andy Boone, Ben Eichhorn, and Bruce McCaughan, Vice-Chairs
Erin Sakakibara, Secretary
NOTE 1: This event is OFF THE RECORD.
NOTE 2: Please note that as with all guest presentations, the content and comments of the speakers reflect their own opinions and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the ACCJ.