david rakoff
I've been reading David Rakoff's Fraud while on my trip to Tokyo last week. In some ways it seems an odd choice, the writings of a quintessential New Yorker (and proud of it!!) seem out of place in a city like Tokyo, where people avoid confrontation, never eat while walking on the streets, and generally avoid situations that might cause stress to themselves or others. Definitely not New York.
Rakoff's acerbic observations on America put the differences of Japan in a more stark relief. And maybe the fact that Rakoff himself lived in Japan for a few years allow him the distance to see America as clearly as he does.