1980s 21st-century a-wild-sheep-chase absurdism absurdist absurdity addiction adult-education adulthood adventure alternate-reality american-expat american-literature atmospheric autobiographical autobiography canada canadian-literature chase comedic-timing comedic-writing comedy comedy-writing coming-of-age communication computer-programming contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate-culture corporate-world counterculture coupland cult-classic cultural cultural-commentary cultural-differences cultural-misunderstandings culture culture-shock dark-comedy dark-humor destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story douglas douglas-coupland dream-like dreamlike dreams dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian eccentric-characters education enigmatic entertaining entertainment essay-collection essays existential existentialism expat-life family family-dynamics family-relationships fantasy fate fiction folklore foreign-language france french french-language friendship funny gaming geek-culture generation-x haruki-murakami humor humor-writing humorist humorous humorous-anecdotes identity identity-crisis immigrant-experience individuality internet internet-culture introspection introspective isolation japan japanese-culture japanese-literature journey jpod language language-acquisition language-barrier language-barriers language-classes language-humor language-learning learning life-experiences linguistics literary-fiction literature loneliness love love-story magic-realism magical-realism memoir metafiction metaphysical millennial-generation mind-bending misadventures miscommunication misfit misunderstandings modern-classic modern-fiction murakami mystery mythology nerd-culture nerds non-fiction nonfiction nostalgia novel observational-humor obsession office-culture office-life office-politics parallel-universe parallel-worlds paris personal-essays personal-growth personal-narrative personal-stories philosophical philosophy pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism psychological quest quirky quirky-characters relationships romance sarcasm sarcastic satire satirical self-deprecating self-deprecating-humor self-discovery self-referential self-reflection sheep sheep-man social-commentary speech-therapy storytelling subversion subversive supernatural surreal surrealism suspense symbolic symbolism teaching technology tokyo transformation travel unconventional urban urban-fantasy vancouver video-games wit witty workplace workplace-humor writing writing-style