I just finished the book last night, on a train in Tokyo, actually. Though I live in San Francisco now, I spent most of the 90s here and still have a strong connection to the country through work and more.

Anyway, several things bothered me about the Tokyo segment of the book that I didn't expect to find in a book by an author such as Gibson who I assumed was fairly familiar with Japan and/or had time to research while writing, and the reputation that should require carefulness.

I can't decide if the things I noticed were put there deliberately, by mistake, or simply nor considered to be important enough to get right since most readers wouldn't be familiar enough with Japan to even notice.

The lightest of such things is the phone being answered with "mushi mushi" which I guess is how it sounds to him, though it's actually "moshi moshi". I've heard many north americans make this same error before (for the record: "mushi mushi", if it means anything, is a term to describe very humid weather, from mushi atsui).

I assume the other details are not deliberate but this one I don't know if he's playing with us or if he too thinks it's "mushi mushi".

Comments? And any other overall impressions about the treatment of Tokyo in this novel?

quote:

Originally posted by slim:
I can't decide if the things I noticed were put there deliberately, by mistake, or simply nor considered to be important enough to get right since most readers wouldn't be familiar enough with Japan to even notice.

The lightest of such things is the phone being answered with "mushi mushi" which I guess is how it sounds to him, though it's actually "moshi moshi". I've heard many north americans make this same error before (for the record: "mushi mushi", if it means anything, is a term to describe very humid weather, from mushi atsui).

curious stuff, but being someone who has never travelled to Tokyo, I'm wondering what other elements about the city you found inconsistent?