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Quotes from reviews of The Blue-Eyed Salaryman

"His book is refreshingly different from most books written by Western men on Japan. There are no mysterious Japanese women, temples (except the small company shrine squashed between the factory and a new office block) or sinister men who practise martial arts. In simple, straightforward language Murtagh tells how it is. This is not a romanticised version of Japan, but a Japan instantly recognisable to the majority of Japanese - the life of the traditional salaryman." -- Harriet Sergeant, in The Spectator, UK

"His account, which has been doctored to protect his sources, is a fascinating insiders look at a business culture that stacks up with the best studies of Japanese business practices." -- Unlimited Magazine, New Zealand.

"Murtagh makes us laugh at the oddities of Japanese working life without being condescending. There is affection in his writing for the baffling pettiness of Mitsubishi company culture." -- Jonathan Head, the BBC's Tokyo correspondent, in Business Today.

"This is a book about what it feels like to work in a culture you don't quite understand - and it is full of lovely anecdotes." -- William Leith, in The New Statesman, UK

"a fascinating and engaging book" -- Matthew Lynn, Bloomberg News

"a very entertaining review of his years in Mitsubishi" -- Donald Clark, in The Irish Times

"This book is intriguing and fascinating to western eyes" -- The Yorkshire Post, UK

"Murtagh gives a fascinating account of a system that is misunderstood, even satirised, in the West" -- Iain Finlayson, in Saga Magazine, UK

"This book is an enjoyable read, with humour and a sort of jauntiness smeared across the pages... Murtagh has a clean unaffected prose style and conveys his wide-eyed and blue-eyed wonder skilfully." -- The Dubliner Magazine, Ireland

"This is a fascinating book; it will make you look at the logos of Japanese products and feel full of wonder." -- The New Statesman, UK

"The Mitsubishi Shogun ... the story of Niall Murtagh, a free-spirited backpacker who ended up as the first [permanent] westerner to work for Mitsubishi Electric." -- Tony Cockerell in Business Strategy Review (UK)

Copyright © N Murtagh 2005