31 Months Goes Audio

I am currently in the process of creating the script for the audiobook of our memoir, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park.

I find it hard to believe how much I’ve forgotten!

We published the book in 2005 from lots of source material, collected during the construction of the Universal Studios Japan theme park.

I saved all the emails we sent home from Japan during our time there as well as other emails sent to and from the team. When we wrote the book, we used much of the material to present an accurate picture of our adventure.

Reliving those experiences fifteen years after park opening has been a great deal of fun. I’ve laughed and cried and been transported back to the actual events. I have also mourned the colleagues we’ve lost in the interim.

Although I remembered most of the events, I had forgotten the details. Reading them again transported me back to the great times in Osaka.

We wrote the book for ourselves, and also for the team (American and Japanese) who made the park a reality. Seeing it again, when we returned five years ago for the tenth anniversary of park opening, made me thankful to have been a part of its construction.

When we published the book, we thought only our fellow team members would be interested in it. However over the years, it has continued to sell.

People doing business with the Japanese and expatriates living in Japan discovered it. For a number of years, it was on the Forbes recommended reading list.

People going to Japan to teach English also found the book and recommended it to others. Interest spread through word-of-mouth, and books have sold in Australia, New Zealand, England, and Canada as well as in the US to these teachers.

Since it is the only book ever written about a Universal Studios theme park, junkies like us have been attracted to it. The title appears on several theme park aficionado sites.

We are excited about it appearing in yet another form. We are also considering doing a second edition with a chapter on our return to Japan ten years later.

This period in our lives is certainly a highlight, mostly because of the wonderful people we met who remain friends to this day.

Arigato gozaimasu, Universal and Japan, for giving us the sweet gift of wonderful memories.

31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park is available in paperback, hardback, and ebook through www.Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com), as well as other online books stores and through our website, www.lornalarry.com. The audio version should be available later this year through www.audible.com and Amazon.