The cover of the book works even though it's quite cliché for this topic. I don't really read this sort of genre but it's always good to get something educational and within a fictional background. What actually made the book seem potentially interesting was the author's bio. Even though he's not from Japan he's had so much exposure to the place and he's also extremely well travelled so it's more than likely that he'll know what he's talking (or, in this case, writing) about. The length of the book is also not too long to prevent you from wanting to give it a try. If it was longer I'd probably think twice about it given that it's not a topic I would proactively read