Almost halfway through. . . here we are on Day 6 already!

Let’s keep rockin’ this ditty.

The Sixth Day of Christmas

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my expat gave to me. . .
Six Travel Skill Sets
Five Writing Resources
Four Exclusive Clubs
Three Premium Blog Themes
Two Blogging Books
And a website for to earn some money

“What on earth is a travel skill set?” I hear you ask.

I’m glad you spoke up. It’s the only phrase I could think of that fit the song and came anywhere close to describing this category. Basically, this is a list of six programs that will help you earn money from your travels.

Who among us hasn’t dreamed of lounging in a hammock at a white-sand beach sipping an exotic, fruity drink and then getting paid for doing it? Ah, the glamour of the travel writer’s life. . .

And you can learn how to be a travel writer — the writing part and the business part — from the first two programs on today’s list.

#1. Ultimate Travel Writer’s Program

Learn more about it here.

#2. MatadorU Travel Writer’s Program

It’s a dynamic program for launching your travel writing career. Learn more about it here.

#3. MatadorU Travel Photography Course

Is photography your thing rather than writing? Learn how to support yourself overseas as a travel photographer.

Learn more about it here.

#4. Travel Writing Tips and Tricks

Can’t beat the price on this one (it’s free!). Click this link for information about 15 travel magazines you could sell your stuff to.

#5. Experience the beautiful city of San Francisco while learning how to travel the world for free.

It’s a three-day workshop in one of the most unique cities in the US and learn how to turn your future travels into a career that will support you overseas. All the good stuff from the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Program (above), live and in person.

Learn more about this exciting workshop here.

#6. Ecuador Travel Writing Experience

“Experience” is the only word that describes this very special program.

Spend seven fun-filled days in Ecuador. You’ll explore, you’ll study Spanish using a powerful immersion method, and you’ll learn to turn adventures like this into profitable writing assignments.

Learn more about the Experience here.

And on the Seventh Day. . .

Wow! Seven down and only five more to go.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, my expat gave to me. . .
Seven Expat Movies
Six Travel Skill Sets
Five Writing Resources
Four Exclusive Clubs
Three Premium Blog Themes
Two Blogging Books
And a website for to earn some money

#1. Flower Drum Song

Young girl from China and her father land in San Francisco where she’s been promised to a local nightclub owner as his mail-order bride. General misunderstandings and confusion reign until the right couples end up together.

Read a review here.

#2. The Holiday

Charming Christmas romantic comedy about an American movie-trailer maker and a British journalist who swap homes over Christmas. One of my faves.

Read a review here.

#3. Across the Universe

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I never thought I’d like a movie based on Beatles songs performed by non-Beatles, but it completely won me over. Young British lad visits the US during the 1960s. Lots of period highlights.

Read a review here.

#4. Victor Victoria

One of the late great Blake Edwards’ masterpieces. Young British opera singer finds herself penniless in Paris in the 1930s, hooks up with a nightclub singer and becomes a star. With a few twists and turns along the way, of course.

Read a review here.

#5. Chocolat

A perpetual traveler and her daughter wind up in a small French village where they meet lots of interesting people and transform the town.

Read a review here.

#6. Anna and the King

A remake of the classic Yul Brynner/Deborah Kerr version (which was a remake of the Rex Harrison/Irene Dunne version). This one stars Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat, and it’s the best. Based on the true story of an English lady who came to the court of the King of Siam to teach his children.

Read a review here.

#7. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Though not technically an expat movie (because the protagonist isn’t technically an expat) it shows cultures colliding and some of the characters are expats. Another one of my favorite films.

Read a review here.

Bonus Discs: Expats in Space

Firefly was a short-lived but wonderful TV series. Later, creator Joss Whedon turned it into a movie called Serenity. Where we go globe trotting, they go planet hopping — what can be more expat than that?

Read the review here.

“Earth to Bridget Sodding Jones!” yells Bridget’s boss.

As the sequel to Bridget Jones’s Diary opens, lucky Bridget has been chosen to try skydiving — on camera — to see if it’s great fun or a terrifying risk. After being forced out of the plane, forgetting to pull the ripcord (prompting the above exclamation from boss) and finally drifting along, chute open, Bridget starts daydreaming about her boyfriend.

To come to earth with a bump — literally — facedown in a large pigpen.

Daydreaming while skydiving is not a fun combination!

Future expats, if you don’t want to come to your senses, as Bridget did, in a large vat of metaphoric excrement, you need to do some planning.

Here are seven lessons Bridget can teach you about planning your expat experience to give you the best possible quality of life.

#1 Write it Down

Bridget starts her diary after a lousy New Year’s Day social event. She realizes she’s just been drifting along. She’s 32, single, slightly overweight, smokes and drinks too much, and wants a romantic relationship with a good man.

She begins by taking stock: age, weight, number of cigarettes smoked, ounces of alcohol drunk, and the qualities she wants in a man. This gives her a baseline to measure progress against.

As a future expat, your baseline should include at least the following:

• Financial matters like how much income will you have, what kinds of cash reserves and investments you own. Will you be carrying debt with you after you move, and how will you pay for it
• What’s important to you in terms of climate, size and type of city you live in, access to cultural events, shopping and other leisure activities
• Do you speak a second language, or are you willing to learn
• How willing are you to try new foods
• If you’re moving with children, what sort of school experience do you want for them
• Do you want to settle down in one place
• Do you want to become a full-time expat, or will you spend part of the year “back home”
• Will you need to generate income while you’re abroad

As you answer these questions, you’ll get a clear picture of the type of life you’re looking for, which in turn will help you narrow down your top expat destinations.

#2 Set Goals and Monitor Your Progress

Bridget set goals for all the items she was monitoring, and she kept track. So should you.

If you need to save more, pay down some debt or sell household furnishings before you move, set goals and a timetable. You may need to make corrections and adjustments along the way, but you’ll get there sooner than if you try to do everything at the last minute.

#3 Invest in Yourself

After Bridget’s romance with her boss, Daniel, unraveled she started working out at the gym and replaced her shelf of “how to please a man” books with self-help titles.

Perhaps you want to start language lessons before you move, or lay the groundwork for a job or business in your overseas location. Investing in yourself while still in your home country will help smooth your transition and improve your international lifestyle.

#4 Verify Information

Bridget could have saved herself some heartbreak if she’d verified Daniel’s account of why he and Darcy weren’t friends any longer. By the time she heard the real facts, it was almost too late.

If you’re relying on specific information, always verify it from several sources. Don’t just consult one source to find out whether an area is safe, or affordable, or meets some other criteria — they may have an agenda you know nothing about.

The internet is loaded with information — some of it garbage, I admit — but by talking to enough people on enough forums you can get a much fuller picture.

I’m focused on Panama right now, and I’m a member of six different online Panama forums where residents and wannabe residents hang out. People ask questions about everything from where to source a particular grocery item to the weather to real estate to crime to you name it, and get lots of responses.

Similar forums exist for almost any country you might want to move to — somebody sent me a link earlier today to a forum for expats in Turkey — so find them, and participate.

#5 Listen to Your Friends — But Not Too Much

Bridget’s three closest friends love to give advice. And, typical of advice from friends, they usually don’t agree with one another.

Listen to what your friends have to say, if you want to, but realize that it’s your life and you need to make the decisions.

#6 Take a Different Route

Bridget didn’t start out the year with any career-related changes in mind. She started as “someone who fannies about with the press releases” for a publishing firm, but ended up as a TV reporter.

In order to meet her primary objective, finding a good man, she had to remove herself from Daniel’s orbit. In the process, she took a big step up the career ladder.

#7 Start Fresh

After Bridget and Darcy finally get together, he buys her a new diary so she can make a fresh start.

Setbacks happen, changes occur, and sometimes you just need to take a deep breath, regroup and start fresh.

My husband and I had planned to sell our Central Florida house before we move. However, with property prices still in free fall here, we’ve decided to rent it out instead. Some of the improvements we’d planned to make for a sale are off the list, and a few things we didn’t plan on updating we’ll now replace.

Moving without the cash reserves from the sale will be more difficult, so we’re having to restart some of our planning. But we’re still moving forward — just because now is a bad time to sell doesn’t make it a bad time to move abroad!

Do you have planning tips you’d like to share? Leave a comment below, or visit our Facebook page.

Chances are, if you’re reading this article, you’re not a “traditional” expat, meaning someone who moves abroad because their employer (or spouse’s employer) sends them on assignment overseas. More likely, like me, you’re living or planning to move abroad on your own.

Expat Women: Confessions — 50 Answers to Your Real-Life Questions about Living Abroad addresses 50 of the most pressing issues facing traditional expat women. But while the background and situations may be different, the issues we wrestle with are pretty much the same. Culture shock and feelings of isolation happen to all of us.

The book covers topics like:

• leaving family behind
• parenting bilingual children
• work/life balance
• transitioning quickly
• intercultural relationships

Authors Andrea Martins and Victoria Hepworth aren’t afraid to look at some of the toughest issues facing expats: infidelity and divorce and alcoholism.

The Authors

Andrea is an Australian, married to a French-born husband of Portuguese and Australian parents, and she’s lived as an expat in Malaysia, Mexico and Indonesia. She’s also the director of the Expat women website.

Victoria Hepworth is a psychologist. Born in New Zealand, she’s lived in Japan, China, Russia, Sweden, India and Dubai, UAE.

The Goodies

Buy the book by May 31, email the receipt to sales@expatwomen.com by 11:59 PM (New York time) on May 31, and you’ll be entered to win one of the following:

First Prize: Career, Recruitment and/or Personal Branding Coaching provided by Lois Freeke.

Second Prize: Personal Branding, Career or Executive Coaching provided by Megan Fitzgerald

Third Prize: Career and/or Executive Coaching provided by Rebecca Wells.

Fourth Prize: Career Coaching provided by my friend Anne Egros.

Fifth Prize: Blogging Consultation and Free eBook, Audio Book and More provided by Annabel Candy.

Sixth Prize: Writing Coaching provided by Jo Parfitt, author of 28 books.

Seventh Prize: Passport Career Database Access for 3 months, provided by Passport Career.

Eighth Prize: Expatriate Life Coaching, provided by Nicola McCall.

Ninth Prize: Amazon Kindle (WiFi), provided by Kindle, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6″ Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology.

Tenth Prize: Amazon Gift Voucher for $100 provided by Amazon.

For more information and complete contest rules, go here.

Buy the Book Now

By the end of 2010 there were over 213 million expats worldwide — up from 177 million in 2005. And, according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, there will be a 50% increase in the number of international assignments by 2020.

Some, the traditional expats, are sent abroad by an employer while others chose to go abroad and find ways to support themselves.

The Practical Guide to a Successful Expat Assignment is a slender volume that will produce big dividends in the quality of your expat life.

Written both for both the “traditional” expat and the expat by choice, it includes information and advice about how expat life affects the family — especially the kids and the non-working spouse. The difficulties of repatriation are also discussed.

Regardless of what type of expat you are, the book’s emphasis is on the family. Subtitled “A handbook to help families prepare and enjoy the adventure of an overseas posting,” you don’t need this book if you’re going abroad on your own.

But if you’re considering expatriating with your family, get it and read it together. It could make the difference between a successful expat experience with strengthened family ties, or a family implosion.

There are chapters on preparing ahead of time, making your daily expat life work and what to expect when you return to your home country. There’s a chapter on finding a work-life balance as an expat and on establishing a support network even before you arrive. There’s even a chapter titled, “Is Expat Life Right for My Family?”

According to author Marcia DeWolf, five qualities are crucial to a successful expat experience:

1. adaptability and flexibility
2. ability to listen and communicate well
3. skill at building teams and relationships
4. patience and persistence
5. curiosity and open-mindedness

If the family, or any of its members, lack these skills, your chances of a successful expatriation are lessened. Better to know before you go.

Expat Kids and Education

The author is Director of Community Affairs at an International School in Belgium, so it’s not surprising the book deals extensively with education.

She talks about the educational options available for expat kids in most countries. More importantly, she looks at how expatriation affects children in their social and cultural development. She notes that:

“Expat children tend to have more in common with one another, regardless of nationality, than they do with non‐expat children from their own country.”

On language learning:

“Children who have studied a language at the elementary level score higher on tests in reading, language arts, and math. People who have learned foreign languages show greater cognitive development in areas such as mental flexibility, creativity, and higher order thinking skills, such as problem‐solving, conceptualizing, and reasoning.”

The “Trailing Spouse”

Many companies provide information and support for the expat employee and the children, but there’s typically little help available for the spouse (most often a wife). DeWolf cites three elements that make it easier for the non-working spouse:

1. Skills in the local language
2. Having young children at home (not school-age children)
3. A strong bond with the working spouse

“Given the role of family problems in expat failures, it is essential that the employer understands just how unhappy and cut off the expat manager’s spouse can feel in a foreign environment,” DeWolf suggests.

It’s important to have all the information you’ll need about the location before you go. If you don’t, you’ll face some unpleasant surprises.

Back to the Future

“The millennial generation will view overseas assignments as a rite of passage, an outlook that will change the way workers and organizations approach overseas opportunities in the future.”

According to DeWolf, the millennials will increasingly see a world without boundaries, and they’ll comprise the bulk of overseas workers by 2020.

If your family is considering an overseas move, or if you’ve decided to move and want to greatly improve your chances for a happy and successful experience, I recommend the Practical guide to a successful expat assignment.

The book is aimed at the expat who works for a company that sends him on an overseas assignment, but there are lessons which expats by choice can learn to become more effective entrepeneurs overseas as well.

The authors point out in the introduction that:

“Even if you want to work for a “national” company, that option is rapidly disappearing. You are part of the global economy, and most probably a multi-cultural working experience, whether that was your career plan or not.”

The authors provide a ten-step plan for becoming more globally aware and better able to work with people of other beliefs, customs and languages. These steps include:

1. Think global
2. Learn to work multiculturally
3. Travel
4. Learn a language
5. Learn how to learn when you’re outside the classroom
6. Go virtual but stay “real”
7. Treat multicultural teamwork as a core skill
8. Build your network
9. Raise your global profile
10. Manage your time when dealing with friends, family and colleagues in different time zones

Each chapter contains real-life examples from global workers’ lives, suggestions and exercises.

In the chapter about learning, the authors point out that in the global workplace, it’s not so much what you know as how you can apply it in varying mileu:

“Conceptual and theoretical learning. . . will becomes less and less relevant. New concepts and new ways of thinking will be needed — but what you learn will need to be applicable to a variety of different job situations. Remember, you are . . . likely to work in a variety of locations, with many different people from a variety of different backgrounds.”

One of the discussions I found most interesting cropped up in the chapter on multicultural teamwork. “What happens when we disagree?” the authors asked.

While disagreement can be a healthy and productive way to weigh the pros and cons of a particular action or strategy, some cultures perceive disagreement as downright disagreeable. How does a Japanese worker tell his boss his idea is lousy, when it’s considered inappropriate to disagree with a boss at all?

Global team leaders must become adept at helping team members work through these and similar shark-infested waters.

On the whole, The Global You presents a strong case for becoming a global worker, and shows you how to transform yourself into one.

If you’re considering an expat assignment for your employer, or if you plan to start a business overseas, I recommend reading it.

I’m Giving Away a Copy of the Book

I was given a copy of the book for review, and as you know, I’ve been getting rid of books in preparation for my own move abroad. Therefore, I’ll give this copy to one of my readers!

Just leave a comment on this post before March 15 telling me how you think the book can help you achieve your expat goals. I’ll choose the person I think most deserving of the freebie, based on the answers submitted. This will be a totally subjective decision on my part.

Just make sure, when you leave your comment, that you provide an email address where I can contact you to get your mailing address!

(If you’re not fortunate enough to get the free copy, you can buy one here.)

So, once again, to win a copy of the book, leave your comment (if you’re reading this in an email, you’ll have to click the link to go to the website to do so). Persuade me that The Global You will help you achieve your expat goals, and you’ll be in contention.

80% of you have told me you’ll need to earn a living overseas, and none of you expect to do it in a traditional job. So what’s an expat to do?

Lots of you turn to hospitality and tourism-based businesses — Bed and Breakfasts, restaurants, bars, dive shops and the like. This is great for those with capital to invest and the existing skills to develop and run these kinds of businesses.

But what about the rest of us, who maybe don’t have the industry background or the finances to embark on a bricks and mortar type of venture?

Untether Yourself outlines five portable careers, work you can do from almost anywhere in the world, with some basic intelligence, training, and willingness to apply what you’ve learned. Best of all, you can start your training right away — before you move — and develop some business to take with you to your new overseas home.

Please accept this book, as my gift to you. Just fill in the form below, and it will wing its digital way to you.

Paul Allen is a British expat journalist living in Spain. I was fascinated by his book, The Truth About Moving Abroad and Whether It’s Right for You: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
because it’s the first I’ve read about expatriation from a non-US-centric perspective.

Allen provides information and insight to help would-be expats make a decision about whether expatriation is right for them. He asks:

“The question is, will you be among the millions of people around the world who are uprooting their lives in search of a better one elsewhere? Are you going to be one of those who make their pool-side fantasy a reality?

“It is certainly not as hard as it might seem to the many people who feel trapped by their jobs, finances, family, or whatever other reasons you care to name. What it does take, though, is a concrete decision followed by decisive action.

“Which is where most people’s dreams fade into nothing. For whereas the various survey results suggest there are millions of Americans, Brits, Kiwis, Canadians and whoever else saying they are keen to move overseas, a relatively small percent do make the jump every year.”

For all you numbers people, Allen provides lots of data. The book is chock full of statistics and country rankings in several categories such as happiness, quality of life, healthcare, environment, climate and cost of living.

For those of us whose eyes glaze over at the sight of tables and charts, he gives us stories about individual expat experiences.

He focuses on the countries which are among the top expat destinations worldwide, and discusses their pluses and minuses.

And he poses lots of questions for us to answer. Some are predictable, others less so. Almost all require some real thought.

“So consider. Does improving your quality of life mean you absolutely must move elsewhere? Or is it more about re-prioritising your lifestyle where you are now to make room for your dreams?

“Sometimes change is a great thing. Other times it can merely turn out to be a switch of scenery.”

Allen presents information about language, culture, earning a living, schooling for the kids and asks questions about all of them. Then he arrives at families.

“The most important factor preventing [survey] respondents from emigrating overseas was that their family and friends remained in the UK — a consideration cited by 43% of the survey’s participants.

“In the final analysis, though, you must ask yourself — and I really mean search your heart — how much of a wrench will it be to put distance between yourself and your existing social network?

“Do not gloss over these questions. The answers are likely to be the biggest single factor in the success of your venture.”

Allen asks us to consider one final questions: what will we think about our lives when, at the age of 90, we look back. Will we have regrets? Wonderful memories? Will we feel unfulfilled, dull, or lifeless?

Different Perspectives on Distance

As someone who has moved across the US, some of the issues he raises seem rather ho-hum. I currently live 1,200-1,400 miles away from my mother and three of my kids, and 2,500 away from a fourth. The last one will be joining the 1,200-mile club in a couple of weeks.

Since we’re already a plane ride away, it doesn’t matter a whole lot to me whether the plane takes off from Florida or Panama. For a European, though, 1,200 miles is almost the distance from Paris to Moscow (1,500 miles, actually).

And on the flip side, members of my family are more concerned about the possibility of our moving to Mexico (about 2,000 miles from where we are now) than they would be if we moved to California (2,500-plus miles).

Worth a Read

If you’ve been considering moving abroad but you’re not sure yet, Should I Stay or Should I Go? can provide lots of helpful information and help you to make the decision that’s right for you.

Have you wrestled with the question of whether you should stay or go? What did you decide? How has it worked out for you? You can comment below.

Kathleen is the publisher of Live and Invest Overseas, which publishes a free daily e-letter as well as a monthly magazine and other resources for expats and would-be expats.

Today, Live and Invest Overseas announced that the book is now the #1 international best seller. And when I took a look on Amazon, I found it is also the #1 bestseller in the retirement category (hardcover) and #3 as well (Kindle edition).

There’s a good reason for its success. How to Retire Overseas is a must-read for anyone considering making the leap to a new country.

Click here to read my review.

The book is available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle e-reader versions. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Expat TV Series/Movie Review: Firefly and Serenity

I’m not a big TV watcher. In fact, I almost never watch TV. But once in a while a show comes along that really catches my fancy.

My kids introduced me to Firefly, sadly after it had already been cancelled. (That’s common with shows I like, I might add.) However, Firefly still has an extremely active fan base, enough so that they convinced Universal Studios to release the movie Serenity.

I’ve just re-watched both the series and the movie on DVD, and a more inspiring group of expats, misfits and rebels would be hard to imagine. Which raises a question: are expats always misfits? I suppose it depends on what kind of expat.

The Crew

Captain Malcolm Reynolds grew up on a ranch, the son of a single mother. As a young man he joined the Independents to fight in the war against the Alliance. Unlike the Evil Empire of Star Wars, the Alliance was trying to take over the galaxy under the guise of “unification” “to make everyone better.”

After the war, won by the Alliance, Mal bought himself a spaceship, a Firefly class vessel which Mal names Serenity.

Zoe fought in Mal’s platoon during the war, and joins him as First Officer. Other crew include Wash, the pilot; Jayne, a very macho mercenary; and Kaylee, genius girl mechanic.

Inara Serra, glamorous registered companion (think latter-day courtesan), rents one of the ship’s two shuttles and uses it as her home and her place of business.

The crew takes on any work they can find — some of it even legal — to keep flying and stay out of the way of the Alliance. Times get tough, so they sell passage to a handful of paying passengers and that’s where the fun really starts.

Each of the characters comes from a different place. Inara grew up on a core planet heavily controlled by the Alliance and she supported Unification.

Wash became a pilot because it was the only way he could see the stars — pollution on his home planet made them invisible.

Kaylee’s father was a mechanic on an outer planet who struggled to find enough work.

Jayne’s background is never explained, and Zoe’s life before she joined the military and met Mal is a complete mystery.

Serenity becomes their true home. On board they are free (mostly) from the long arm of the Alliance and the restricting laws, rules and society it represents and they create their own culture.

The Passengers

Joined by the paying passengers, the Serenity crew find their home and their way of life threatened.

Shepherd Book is a preacher with a mysterious past who is welcome for himself, but whose religious beliefs are soundly rejected by Mal.

Simon and River Tam came from a very wealthy home and Simon had left a prestigious job as trauma surgeon at one of the top hospitals in the core. His little sister, River, had been part of a special Alliance school from which Simon had rescued her, making them both fugitives.

It’s a Western Space Opera

Throughout the Firefly series, which lasted only 14 episodes, creator Joss Whedon cleverly blends elements of traditional Westerns with “space opera,” a sub-niche of science fiction.

The characters are pioneers in every sense of the word, and with the exception of Inara they stick out like proverbial sore thumbs on the few occasions when we see them in a “civilized” setting.

Mal is a paternalistic leader who expects a lot from his crew, and protects them fiercely. He lives by a strong code of ethics — criminal behavior notwithstanding — and is given to quixotic gestures that cause big problems. In the second episode, for example, he returns several cases of stolen goods after he learns they contain desperately needed medicine. In episode 10, the criminal master who had hired him for the aborted job extracts a hefty revenge.

The series and the movie take you into Mal’s world and into his family aboard Serenity. It’s a cultural microcosm, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

What kind of expat do you think Mal is? Missionary? Social? Economic Escapist? Adventurer? Weigh in by clicking the Comment link below.

Christmas in San Francisco – what an exciting holiday! But not for Japanese-American Rei Shimura, who grew up there.

Rei has lived in Japan for several years, the fruition of a lifelong dream. She eked out a living teaching English to business people when she first moved to Tokyo, but has since put her art history degree to work, becoming a dealer in Japanese antiques. A speaking engagement for a Washington, DC museum brought her back to the US for the first time in two years, after which she headed west to visit her parents.

Rei is doing research for an oral history project, interviewing her father some of her Japanese relatives to find out more about what everyday life was like for the Shimura family prior to her father’s emigration to the US.

On Christmas Eve, Rei is pleasantly surprised when her boyfriend arrives for an unexpected visit. Hugh Glendinning is a tall, handsome Scottish lawyer, and they’ve had a rocky relationship since meeting in Tokyo a few years previously. He’s flown in from Washington, DC, where he works for an international law firm, to interview some plaintiffs in a class action suit he’s working on with a lawyer from a San Francisco firm.



During the visit Hugh proposes (for the fifth time) and Rei accepts. His big case will take him to Japan, and she’s looking forward to being with him in Tokyo.

However, the case is messy and controversial. The plaintiffs are a group of elderly people who were used as slave labor by Japanese companies during WWII, and Hugh’s firm is suing the large companies that abused them. It causes discord within Rei’s own family, and in Japan.

Clashes of every imaginable sort ensue – past and present, culture and society, ideology and politics.

Following the suspicious death of one plaintiff and serious injury of another, Rei tries to find the responsible party. And, after a series of serious miscalculations and missteps on her part, Japan throws her out.

Rei unhappily returns to San Francisco where she wrestles with a few more demons – both internal and external – before finally solving the mysteries and acknowledging that the people you’re with are more important than where you’re located.

Thos of you who’ve been following this blog for a while know I’m a mystery fan, and that I like my books in series. Normally I would review the first book in a series, but The Samurai’s Daughter is the sixth Rei Shimura novel. I chose it because of its expatriation/repatriation theme.

I also chose it because it’s a surprisingly readable story – surprising, that is, given its subject matter of forced prostitution and slavery, war, atrocities, toxic political ideology, family and cultural history, guilt, innocence and warring personal beliefs.

In an early scene, Rei is examining an heirloom from her father’s family, a samurai sword from the 1500’s. She knows that the old Japanese religion Shinto taught that a sword contained the samurai’s soul, and therefore sword worship was practiced as part of the tradition of ancestor worship.

“I had an antipathy to weapons. In my opinion, a rice pot that had served the family through lean and lavish times was the kind of object worthy of family worship. I’d even revere a quilt patched together from old blue-and-white robes called yukata; my father had told me about such a quilt that he and his brother had slept under for many years, until it finally wore out. That was the problem, exactly: Crockery broke and fabric frayed. The delicate things that I cared about perished, while the hard things like swords survived.”

Ultimately Rei must accept her heritage – even the uncomfortable hard things passed down through her samurai grandfather.

This is a wonderful series, jam-packed with details about life in modern-day Japan. As a protagonist, Rei is unique: feisty and nosy, by Japanese standards, she has a passion for fairness and justice and a willingness to fight for the underdog that lead her into scrape after scrape. The first book in the series is The Salaryman’s Wife; the most recent and tenth in the series is Shimura Trouble. I highly recommend them.

Do you have a favorite expat-themed book or movie you’d like to share? Click the comment link below, or send an email.