Publications
Japan Guide from Renting to Rice Cooking
⭐ 💫 ✨ Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards FINALIST ✨ 💫 ⭐
🇯🇵 👋 Are you new to Japan? I’ve lived in Japan for 14 years, and for sure, it’s an amazing place. But, like any big adventure, there can be bumps along the way. 😅
The truth is, many foreigners in Japan miss out on incredible opportunities because they’re simply unaware of their rights and options. Life here can be fantastic, but also… well, a bit complicated! 🤯 Not to worry. I compiled all the information you need in a simple well-organized book, so you can have a happy life in Japan, while also saving you time, money, and stress! 💰✨
Why a guidebook? Can’t I just Google it? 🤔
You might be thinking, “Why do I need a guidebook when I have the internet?” Great question! Here’s the thing:
- You can’t search for what you don’t know exists. 🤷♀️
- Many essential Japanese websites are… well, in Japanese! 💻➡️🇯🇵
- Online info is not always complete or accurate.
That’s where “The Japan Guide: From Renting to Rice Cooking” comes in! 🍚🏠 This isn’t just another guidebook; it’s your friendly, organized companion to navigating daily life in Japan. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to:
- Find and settle comfortably into their Japanese home. 🏡
- Understand the everyday realities of life in Japan. 🚶♀️🚶♂️
- Learn useful Japanese terms and pronunciation. 🗣️
- Decode your rice cooker, washing machine, and AC remote. ⚙️❄️
This guide is accessible to people of an intermediate reading level in English (no Japanese needed). It’s practical, easy to follow, and packed with insider tips! 🤩
Ready to start your amazing Japanese adventure? Grab your copy today! 👉 [See direct links to popular stores below]
Book trailer
eBook available on:
24symbols (worldwide)
Amazon (worldwide)
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Barnes & Noble (U.S.)
Beam (Germany)
Bibliotheca
Bookmate (worldwide)
Booktopia (Australia)
Bücher.de (Germany)
eBook (Germany)
e-Sentral (Malaysia)
Gardners
Google Play (worldwide)
Hugendubel (Germany)
Indigo (Canada)
Kobo (worldwide)
Kobo Plus (worldwide)
Lehmanns media (Germany)
Morawa.at (Austria)
Nextory (Germany)
PChome 24h Shopping (Taiwan)
Scribd (Everand)
Storytel (Sweden)
Thalia (Germany)
Virtualo/Empik (Poland)
… and also coming soon on:
Baker & Taylor
CEPIEC (waiting approval)
DangDang (waiting approval)
and others
Paperback available on:
Amazon (Canada)
Amazon (France)
Amazon (Germany)
Amazon (India)
Amazon (Italy)
Amazon (Netherlands)
Amazon (Poland)
Amazon (Spain)
Amazon (Sweden)
Amazon (UK)
Amazon (US)
Indigo (Canada)
Libris (Romania)
Barnes & Noble (U.S.)
… and also coming soon on:
Booktopia (Australia)
Fishpond (New Zealand)
Hugendubel (Germany)
Ibs (Italy)
Morawa.at (Austria)
And thousands of libraries and bookstores worldwide
Why I wrote the "Japan Guide"?
In a world of globalization, people relocate for different reasons, but always in the belief that it will improve their life or that of their family. They are often sadly ill-prepared with unrealistic expectations leading to severe culture-shock, mental distress and detachment.
The truth is that migrants (whether expats, immigrants or refugees) face unique challenges and are at a social disadvantage due to a lack of knowledge and information regarding cultural expectations, laws and regulations. Their challenges are often further exacerbated by a lack of fluency in the local language–which is not acquired automatically by living in the new culture. Unfortunately, migrants are too often viewed and treated as “visitors” rather than capable residents with equal rights to make their own choices, to feel safe, respected and, crucially, to be imperfect.
I decided to write the series Far Away Home in Japan–a planned series of 7 practical guides to daily life in Japan–not only to provide foreign residents living in Japan with all the information they need to build a comfortable and satisfying life in the country, but also to deepen our awareness of the multi-faceted challenges encountered by migrants in general.
I strongly believe that providing extensive and honest information delivered with an open-mind and respect towards other cultures can contribute to counter racial and ethnic inequalities. It is a crucial milestone for fostering positive multi-cultural relations, which in turn can increase social stability, public safety and lead to happier societies.
If you believe in this approach and want to know more, please join my mailing list, subscribe to my YouTube channels and find me on Facebook and LinkedIn (all links provided at bottom of this website)!
Academic Publications by Dr. Grenon
Grenon, Izabelle, Kubota, Mikio, Sheppard, Chris (2019). The creation of a new vowel category by adult learners after adaptive phonetic training. Journal of Phonetics, 72, 17-34.
Grenon, Izabelle, Sheppard, Chris, Archibald, John (2019). Learning to perceive a non-native vowel contrast without listening: A first report. In Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 2223-2227.
Law, Iris Lok Gi, Grenon, Izabelle, Sheppard, Chris, Archibald, John (2019). Which is better: Identification or discrimination training for the acquisition of an English coda contrast. In Sasha Calhoun, Paola Escudero, Marija Tabain & Paul Warren (eds.) Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019 (pp. 919-923). Canberra, Australia: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.
Wee, Daniel T. J., Grenon, Izabelle, Sheppard, Chris, Archibald, John (2019). Identification and discrimination training yield comparable results for contrasting vowels. In Sasha Calhoun, Paola Escudero, Marija Tabain & Paul Warren (eds.) Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019 (pp. 939-943). Canberra, Australia: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.
Tada, Haruka, Grenon, Izabelle (2019). Can Japanese listeners perceive a difference between an underlying glide and an epenthetic glide? In Sasha Calhoun, Paola Escudero, Marija Tabain & Paul Warren (eds.) Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019 (pp. 2767-2771). Canberra, Australia: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.
Matsubara, Risa, Grenon, Izabelle (2019). Sensitivity to palatalized sequences does not transfer to non-native palatalized contrasts. In Sasha Calhoun, Paola Escudero, Marija Tabain & Paul Warren (eds.) Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Melbourne, Australia 2019 (pp. 3636-3640). Canberra, Australia: Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association Inc.
Grenon, Izabelle, Sheppard, Chris, Archibald, John (2018) Discrimination training for learning sound contrasts. Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Applied Phonetics (pp. 51-56), Aizuwakamatsu, Japan.
Grenon, Izabelle. (2015) L1 allophones and L2 sound perception. Proceedings of the 18th Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Glasgow, Scotland, document #0009.
Karpinska, Marzena, Uchida, Shodai, Grenon, Izabelle (2015) Vowel perception by listeners from different English dialects. Proceedings of the 18th Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Glasgow, Scotland, document #0264.
Ikawa, Shiori, Takimoto, Kumi, Grenon, Izabelle (2015) Can acoustic cues used in L1 be used to perceive novel sound contrasts? Proceedings of the 18th Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Glasgow, Scotland, document #0159.
Grenon, Izabelle (2011). Dissociable levels of speech processing in second language perception. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) (pp. 771-774), Hong Kong.
Benner, Allison, Grenon, Izabelle (2011). The relationship between laryngeal constriction and vowel quality in infants learning English and Bai. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) (pp. 308-311), Hong Kong.
Shrosbree, Miki, Narita, Tetsu, Grenon, Izabelle, Kubota, Mikio (2011). Effect of speech rate on a vowel contrast and implications for second language training. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) (pp. 1842-1845), Hong Kong.
Wiget, Lukas, White, Laurence, Schuppler, Barbara, Grenon, Izabelle, Rauch, Olesya, & Mattys, Sven (2010). How stable are acoustic metrics of contrastive speech rhythm? Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 127(3), 1559-1569.
Grenon, Izabelle, & White, Laurence (2008). Acquiring rhythm: A comparison of L1 and L2 speakers of Canadian English and Japanese. In Proceedings of the 32nd Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 2007), Boston, USA, 155-166.
Grenon, Izabelle (2008). The Acquisition of English Soun[dz] by Native Japanese Speakers: A Perceptual Study. VDM Publishing.
Grenon, Izabelle, Benner, Allison, & Esling, John (2007). Language-specific phonetic production patterns in the first year of life. In Proceedings of the XVIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Saarbrücken, Germany, 1561-1564.
Benner, Allison, Grenon, Izabelle, Esling, John (2007). Infants’ phonetic acquisition of voice quality parameters in the first year of life. In Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) (pp. 2073-2076), Saarbrücken, Germany.
Grenon, Izabelle (2006). Adults still have direct access to UG: Evidence from the perception of a non-native feature contrast. In Proceedings of the 8th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA), ed. Mary Grantham O’Brien, Christina Shea, and John Archibald (pp. 51-62), Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. www.lingref.com, document #1487.
Grenon, Izabelle (2005). The status of the sound [z] in Japanese. Revue Langues et Linguistique 31, 64-90.
Grenon, Izabelle (2004). L’Adaptation phonologique de la syllabe accentuée: le cas des emprunts lexicaux anglais en japonais. Actes des XVIIIes Journées de Linguistique, Québec, Canada.
Grenon, Izabelle and LaCharité, Darlene (2004). The adaptation of stress in English compound loanwords in Japanese: Another argument for phonological adaptation. Revue Langues et Linguistique 30, 1-33.