Plot[edit]

Amlie, a young Belgian woman who spent the first five years of her life in Japan, signs
a one-year contract as a translator at the prestigious company Yumimoto. Beginning at
the bottom of the corporate ladder, Amlie manages to descend even lower.

At her arrival to the Yumimoto company she is puzzled as she is apparently not assigned
any actual work to do, so she first kills the boredom by memorising the company's list of
employees and then she decides she could deliver company's mail, only to find herself
later scolded for taking initiative and "stealing someone else's job".

Later her departmental manager asks her to copy a thick pile of documents, which, as she
later realises, are the rules of his golf club. When she accomplishes the work, the
manager returns it to her saying the copies are off-centered and asks her to re-do the job
not using the feeder.

Copying the pages one by one, Amlie is approached by Mr. Tenshi, the manager of the
Dairy Products Department, who wants to use her knowledge and asks her to draft a
report about the new method of manufacturing reduced-fat butter developed in Belgium.

Next morning, when the manually-done copies are rejected by the manager again even
without looking, she does the third batch of copies using the feeder and sets out to write
the report for Mr. Tenshi. She researches the Japanese market, contacts the company in
Belgium and obtains documentation from them, and continues writing the report
overnight at home.

The report turns out to be a big success, but she asks Mr. Tenshi not to reveal who the
real author is. Her transfer to Mr. Tenshi's department is imminent as Mr. Tenshi plans to
present the report to the company's president.

However, Amlie's line manager, Fubuki Mori, feels offended as this constitutes a
violation of the company's hierarchy and she exposes everything to the vice-president,
who severely scolds Mr Tenshi and Amlie, and sees to it that Amlie writes no more
reports and strictly sticks to doing duties assigned by Ms Mori.

Although advised by Mr Tenshi not to do so, Amlie decides to confront Ms Mori and
talk to her personally. This encounter can be seen as the main juncture of the novel, as
both characters feel the other should apologise, but at the same time each of them fails to
recognise why she herself should do the same.

The main difference is that while Amlie feels her progress in her career from useless
work to the place where she actually can use her skills has been hindered for no other
reason than maliciousness, Ms Mori interprets Amlie's move as being against her as
Amlie was trying to pass her by, thus violating the correct hierarchy. Ms Mori had to
suffer and work hard for years to achieve her position and it was inconceivable to her to
imagine that Amlie might achieve the same level of hierarchy within only a couple of
weeks.

From that point on, the relationship between them changes from a fairly good one (which,
though, only Amlie would describe as 'friendship') to animosity, although still
accompanied by respect and admiration from Amlie's side, which Ms Mori either fails to
notice or chooses to ignore.

Amlie proves herself useless at the tasks she is subsequently asked to do in the Accounts
Department, as she apparently suffers from dyscalculia to some extent, while Ms Mori
thinks Amlie is making mistakes on purpose to sabotage the company and the manager
herself.

Another dialogue reveals the differences between the different concepts of responsibility
in Japanese and Western cultures. While for Ms Mori the manager is directly responsible
for the mistakes of their staff (You made the mistakes deliberately only to expose me to
the public ridicule), Amlie thinks everybody is responsible for their own mistakes (I
ridiculed only myself, not you).

The biggest mistake Amlie commits comes after Ms Mori has been severely abused by
the vice-president in front of all the department. When Ms Mori, not having shown tears
to her colleagues, goes to the bathroom to let her feelings out in private, Amlie follows
her to console her. While from Amlie's point of view Ms Mori is not in a shameful
position and offering a consolation like that is only a kind-hearted gesture, Ms Mori feels
utterly ashamed to be seen showing her feelings and misunderstands Amlie's following
her as vengefulness and hostility.

The next day Amlie is assigned the job of a bathroom cleaner by Ms Mori. With six
more months of her one-year contract to go, Amlie decides to endure until the end,
which might be shameful from the Western point of view, but from the Japanese point of
view means not losing face.

After her contract finishes in January 1991, she returns to Belgium and starts publishing:
her first novel Hygine de l'assassin appearing in 1992, she receives a brief
congratulation note from Ms Mori in 1993.

Explanation of title[edit]
According to the novel, in Japan, protocol states that in the presence of the Emperor, who
until 1947 had been considered a living god, a person must demonstrate his or her
reverence with fear and trembling, though most Japanese citizens today are unaware of
this injunction.

Nothomb's autobiographical novel recounts a year (1990) spent working for a typical
Japanese mega-firm, Yumimoto. Amlie-san, as the narrator is known, is distinctly on the
lowest rung, and that in a very hierarchical business. A foreigner, albeit one who is fairly
fluent in Japanese, her Western ways are at odds with the traditional Japanese system
under which Yumimoto operates. Stuck in a position of absolutely no power or influence
she nevertheless manages to unsettle her superiors.
Shifted around from one mindless and useless task to another, Amlie-san shines a
humorous light on the Japanese work ethic and Japanese work practices. Early on she is
assigned the task of getting everyone their tea and coffee, a routine she soon has down
pat. Asked to serve coffee for a visiting delegation from another company, she performs
this task with the proper humility and grace expected of a subservient Japanese employee,
pouring the twenty cups with Japanese refinement and care, and using the complex,
proper Japanese formulae in addressing the guests. Instead of proving her worth it turns
out to be a terrible loss of face for Yumimoto: the visiting delegation is suspicious of this
European who audaciously seems to speak their language. She is dressed down by her
bosses, who come up with the obvious solution to avoid similar faux pas in the future:
Amlie-san is no longer to understand Japanese. While she sensibly argues that she was
hired specifically because she does understand the language, and that she is of little use if
she cannot communicate with her co-workers the edict stands (more or less -- in fact, she
is apparently simply not to appear too Japanese to outsiders).
Amlie-san learns to go through the proper channels when taking on new duties -- since
she is reprimanded even for doing what is sensible and useful if she has not asked for
permission from her superiors first. But even when she goes about it correctly, as when
she assumes the harmless job of moving the little square that shows what day it is on all
the wall-calendars, she manages to draw too much attention to herself. Punishment is
swift and severe: in this instance she is assigned the Sisyphean task of photocopying a
thousand page document for Mr. Saito, one of her main antagonists. Putting it in the
automatic feed won't do -- Saito tosses aside the first set of copies, complaining that the
copies are slightly off-center -- she has to make copies one by one. Needless to say even
then the results don't please Saito, who has her repeat the exercise again and again.
A ray of hope comes when another worker asks for her assistance. Tenshi (a name,
significant like all the names in the book, that, the author reminds us, means "angel" in
Japanese) needs her help in finding out as much about a Belgian butter substitute as
possible. It is an urgent matter, and Amlie-san does all and more that is required. Instead
of success, however, she meets with more disgrace. Even though she has done something
useful for the company, by not doing it in the traditional manner she has caused more
harm than good. Not least to herself.
Mori Fubuki, a tall, stunning woman whom Amlie-san admires and sees as her friend
turns out to be as close an adherent to company policy as anyone. Their relationship,
which initially had been friendly, cools, and it is Fubuki that then directs what Amlie-
san is to do. The Belgian sinks lower and lower, until she literally gets the lowliest
position possible.
There is much description and reflection on differing Occidental and Oriental attitudes
and abilities, Amlie-san acknowledging her inferiority (at least in this place where
ability is not always of greatest importance). Her gaffes are not only cultural -- she is not
good with numbers, and is unfamiliar with the German abbreviation for "incorporated",
ignorance which makes for other minor catastrophes -- but mainly it is the clash of
cultures that is central to the book. Support and solidarity comes from unlikely sources,
as do flashes of enmity. For all her good intentions (and most of them are good) Amlie-
san is unable to adjust to the deferential, hidebound Japanese corporate culture, never
properly approaching authority with the quivering stupor of the title. ("Stupeur et
tremblements" is, readers are told late in the book, the humble (and scared) attitude -- the
"fear and trembling" -- with which one addresses the Japanese Emperor, the ultimate
figure of authority.)
Amlie-san writes practically nothing of her life outside the workplace, leaving most of
Japan unseen. This is a novel of corporate Japan, representative of Japan at large and yet
not a true mirror. Nothomb acknowledges as much; her gazes from the window of the
skyscraper housing the firm (and her thoughts of jumping) hint at a larger picture beyond.
But Nothomb is as concerned with human relationships and dynamics, and these she
conveys well. There is some exaggeration in these characters, and some simplification,
but it almost never comes across as mere caricature.
Nothomb writes fairly sparely, making for a short book. There are many amusing
episodes and conversations, and there is also always the suggestion of more behind it.
The book does, cleverly, provoke thought, moving from antic beginnings to a poignant
close.
Nothomb has a fine light style and wry voice that makes her books easily digestible. An
entertaining read, a somewhat different view of Japan (as much about Nothomb herself as
the country), it can certainly be recommended.