Zakennayo!

I don't own this book so I can't really comment on it but I'd like to comment on one of the reviews below. "Zakennayo" is very much a real phrase known to anyone who has studied basic Japanese. It's a contraction of the phrase "Fuzakeru na yo" which means something along the lines of "Don't mess with me". If you are Japanese you most certainly have heard it by the age of 5.

It is a funny collection of stories about some foreigners in Japan, Kenny is an American English Teacher, Nigel is a British news writer, and Sharon is an Australian hostess. In Japan, they are simply gaijin. Taro is a Japanese-American who is gaijin as well, but he doesn't look like the others, so he is never called gaijin. I have lived in Japan for about 3 years, and I can say that there are many similar stories that happen in Japan every day. I have read this book twice, and these stories made me laugh too much. However, many of the terms used in this book are outdated and the dialect used is "adequate" only in Tokyo, and truly obscene. A Japanese friend who is from Hokkaido and lives in Nagoya doesn't understand some of the words used in this book. As I have said, this book actually doesn't improve your vocabulary, unless you want to be a Yakuza in Tokyo, but as other reviewer said maybe it encourage yourself to learn more Japanese because it presents many truly stories that happen even today. They are 12 stories: -Alien Invaders. -The ABC's of Japanese. -Street Jive. -Waiting at Hachiko. -Talking about people. -The gay life. -Hookers and Gangsters. -Disco City. -Foreign Drinking Holes. -After Hours. -Romance and Low life. -Talking about Sex. The dialogues are presented first in Romaji, followed by their English translations, and there is a vocabulary list at the end of each story. I gave it 4 stars because I consider it much better than "Japanese Street Slang", both are outdated, but "Zakennayo" is much more humorous and easier to read.

Zakennayo is a refreshing romp through Tokyo in the disguise of a book about slang. It's delightfully politically uncorrect and pokes fun at nearly everyone, from gaijin adventurers to the gatekeepers of Japan's insular culture. A fun read for a rainy day or any day in Japan.