Audrey Hepburn's Neck

By Alan Brown

Toshi was just a kid when his parents split up. The separation was amicable and Toshi got to spend time with both his parents. But he was never told why they separated.
Now a young man on his own, Toshi has moved away from the small Japanese fishing village where he grew up. He has a promising career, friends and lovers. But he still wonders about the silence between his parents that dominated his childhood. Why did his mother leave? Why is his father so sad? It isn't until his father has passed away that Toshi's mom reveals the shocking truth of their past.

I really enjoyed this story. As a boy, Toshi saw an Audrey Hepburn movie and was smitten by the beautiful actress. It inspired him to learn more about Westerners and to learn English. After he moves to Tokyo, he makes friends with several Americans, one of whom becomes his best friend after failing to seduce Toshi. But underneath it all, is the puzzle of his parents' failed marriage.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

American Fuji

By Sara Backer

Gaby used to be an English professor at Shizuyama University in Japan but she was suddenly and without explanation fired. Now she works for a Japanese fantasy funeral company, selling elaborate funerals to grieving families.
Alex, a psychologist, is in Japan on a book tour, but he is also there to investigate the death of his son in a motorcycle crash. He has a lot of questions about it but was unable to get any answers, especially to the question of why his son's body was missing its heart. He meets Gaby and talks her into helping him with his investigation, to be his interpreter and his liaison between himself and a culture that he is finding very difficult to understand and deal with.

This is a mystery novel and a romance novel, with the defensive and prickly Gaby gradually warming to the hurting and bewildered Alex. She helps him unravel the mystery of his son's death and he helps her unravel the mystery of her sudden firing from her position at the university.
I don't know if it is a fair depiction of the Japanese or not. I don't know anything about Japan. But I did enjoy this story very much. It grabbed me and held my interest from the very start.