The novel ‘OAHS’ should appeal to casual backpackers in Asia, in particular, Southeast Asia, but long-term expats would more likely be interested in the novel, especially expat English teachers who have taught in Southeast Asia. Expat foreign language teachers in other parts of the world who have taught English or other languages, and perhaps teachers in general, might also find my story amusing.

The novel should also appeal to the Japanese communities in Asia, including Japanese salarymen, because without them, more specifically, the presence of the Japanese business communities in Asia, this story would not have taken place. Though not a story of epic adventure, my story is a larger-than-life story of an ordinary man, I dare proclaim. It is still a story of an accessible adventure, that is to say, the kind of adventure that Japanese salarymen can envision themselves experiencing.

I wrote the novel in such a way that it evokes Japanese manga culture as well. Japanese mangas have a worldwide audience. Mangas use both words and illustrations while novels only use words, but my hope is that some Japanese manga fans would also find this novel interesting and an experiment that works. Over the years, while teaching Japanese, I was surprised to find that there is a large number of Westerners who study Japanese. This novel should also appeal to those Westerners who have more than a passive interest in Japanese culture.

Age, Sex, Education

As far as the age group is concerned, anyone over the age of 18 can enjoy reading the story, but I believe the novel should appeal more to those who are over the age of 30 because the majority of the key characters are over the age of 30 and most of the other characters are far older.

The novel, though probably more to men than women, should appeal to both genders. One or two characters are persons of transgender, but I did not intend to write for or against transgender people.

The novel should appeal more to those who received a university education or equivalent.