Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Abroad in Japan

  • By: Chris Broad
  • Narrated by: Chris Broad
  • Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (613 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Abroad in Japan cover art

Abroad in Japan

By: Chris Broad
Narrated by: Chris Broad
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Rambling Man cover art
The Conspiracy Tourist cover art
Learn Japanese - Level 1: Introduction to Japanese, Volume 1: Lessons 1-25 cover art
The Dark Tourist cover art
Don’t Go There cover art
Around the World in 80 Trains cover art
Travel Seekness cover art
Learn Japanese in Your Sleep cover art
The Foundations of Western Civilization cover art
Pardon My French cover art
Three Tigers, One Mountain cover art
Pimsleur Japanese Level 1 Lessons 21-25 cover art
How to American cover art
No Shame cover art
Nothing Like a Dane cover art
Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterline cover art

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he was about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history?

Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that comes with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world's most mysterious and impenetrable cultures.

Spanning 10 years and 47 prefectures, Chris takes us from the chilling summit of Mount Fuji to the chaotic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a Japanese national TV experience gone horribly wrong and a week spent with Japan's biggest movie star, Ken Watanabe, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.

©2023 Chris Broad (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

From wide-eyed exchange teacher to seasoned youtuber, Chris Broad explores Japan in all its quirky glory, surviving earthquakes, North Korean missile alerts, cat cafe allergies and Love Hotel evictions. Endlessly fascinating! (Will Ferguson, author of Hokkaido Highway Blues)
Fascinating, fact-packed and very funny. Broad's wry humour, in-depth knowledge and adept storytelling make him an engaging guide to the bewildering Japanese experience. Accurately captures the excitement and dream-like disorientation of a foreigner discovering Japan. An excellent and enjoyable read for the Japan-curious. I loved it and learned a lot. (Sam Baldwin, author of For Fukui's Sake: Two years in rural Japan)
Chris Broad's wry, self-deprecating memoir carves a unique path across Japan bringing him into contact with far too many cats, heartening renewal in Tohoku, and even pizza with Ken Watanabe. This is a thoroughly contemporary book, a memoir of life in Japan that couldn't have been written at any other point in history. (Iain Maloney, author of The Only Gaijin in the Village)

What listeners say about Abroad in Japan

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    500
  • 4 Stars
    91
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    484
  • 4 Stars
    71
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    460
  • 4 Stars
    85
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great stuff

Loved it, made me laugh, made me cry, if I could give it more stars I would.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Jd
  • 17-10-23

Amazing!

I love Chris and hearing all about his start in Japan was really interesting and his wit and how he tells the story was good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent & Informative

Excellent! I learnt so much from Chris’ experience abroad in Japan. Very interesting, revealing Japanese culture from a different lived perspective.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Chris can do nothing wrong!

Even though my expectations for this book were pretty high knowing Chris’ work for years, I must say I’m highly surprised by the way the story is presented and explained. Chris doesn’t know it but he has a certain charm and calm in his voice. The book was highly enjoyable and kept me on the edge of my chair all throughout. It was Chris’ heroics which gave the confidence me to leave India for the UK. This book is as personal and as meticulous as you’d expect a well renowned author to write, which is quite surprising for a person writing his first book. All in all, Chris should keep us posted with his present and future in Japan or anywhere else in the world with a sequel of this book!
Cheers Chris for a job well done!
Arigato Hozaimasu and take care!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting, funny and heartwarming

Been a viewer of Abroad in Japan for roughly eight or nine years now. Hearing Chris' accounts of his early and ongoing life in the land of the rising sun from his own viewpoint is interesting, funny and heartwarming.

The fact that Chris himself narrates the book adds much to the experience. it also allows his dry and witty sense of humour to shine through.

Great listen for fans or people interested in what life in Japan is like from the viewpoint of a Brit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent summary of a wonderful decade

What an absolute treat to experience such a concise timeline of a decade, finding your feet in a new country. I listened to the whole book in a matter of days as it was read so earnestly and I hope to listen to it yet more times. For now, I'll go back and take another look at his YouTube videos.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Honesty

Chris has an amazing narrative voice. Sharing his experience of life so in Japan has been an amazing tale to listen to. I certainly will be recommending it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best audio book?

Yes! The absolute best narration on any audiobook ever! Absolutely gripped. Well done Chris! First audible review out of hundreds of listens… it’s THAT GOOD!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Barry Chopsticks never misses.

Long time fan due to being Dyslexic. I have been looking forward to this coming out. chirs was amazing, and stories were captivating as always.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Chris is hands down an accomplished storyteller

While many authors crumble when narrating their own books, Chris Broad brings it to a whole new level. He brings his trademark style with such a confidence it feels like listening to his YouTube videos. But different to those he is revealing here a more intimate and thoughtful side which is really endearing. And of course there are those hilarious moments where his wry sense of humour brings a big grin onto my face.
It was an absolute delight listening. Too bad it was way too short.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!