Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher of Simon & Schuster, and the author MariNaomi for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I didn't know the differences between the original and expanded version, besides the author saying there was an additional epilogue. There could be some other technical differences such as the inking and coloring being updated or some scenes re-drawn. Besides those details, the graphic novel was a fun and compressed travelogue journey as the author travels throughout Japan and works as a hostess. Their struggles to relearn their native/mother tongue are quite relatable. While, I didn't particularly enjoy the presence of their boyfriend, Giussipe, I understand why he was included. I'm surprised there wasn't much interaction between their parents as they traveled in Japan. Including those elements would have been interesting or brought some insights about the author's life and their themes. ( )

graphic memoir - mixed race Japanese-American's experiences working in a Japanese-style hostess bar in San Jose, then later traveling to Tokyo (with their boyfriend) and working as a hostess there, and struggling with the language barrier all the time. (author currently identifies as nonbinary)

a quick read and an interesting story :) ( )

I'm not quite sure what I expected - maybe a more in-depth examination of the author's alienation from her culture, or less focus on the romantic aspect of her life, but either way I didn't get it. I understand that romance and who you date and love really impact your life and how you live it, but Mari didn't really seem to like Guiseppe very much, and their relationship wasn't really explored in depth (which was disappointing, since it seemed she eschewed examining her cultural alienation to focus on that relationship).

The little vignettes (of her time as a hostess, of her mom's reluctance to talk about her past) were well-done and reminiscent of how memory works - sometimes things flit in and out with the barest of connections to what you were talking about before, but made the whole narrative feel disjointed and choppy. ( )

This was an okay graphic memoir. I was a little disappointed because I expected to get a little more culture and story but what I got was an overview of her trip to Japan. There was a bit of interesting culture surrounding hostess bars and how American and Japanese morals differ, but not enough to merit a high rating in my opinion. ( )