“A fascinating female perspective of teaching English in Japan … entertaining, poignant and humorous.”
— Sam Baldwin, author of For Fukui’s Sake:
Two Years in Rural Japan
The Same Moon in a nutshell
Many of us experience a time in life where we’d like a do-over, and I sure felt that way about my early twenties.
After being briefly wed and quickly divorced by age twenty-four, all I wanted was a fresh start. I abandoned my Minnesota life for a job teaching English in Japan, planning to take a year to reflect, heal and figure out what to do next.
I ended up the lone English speaker in an isolated rural area, where I was drawn into serving tea to my male co-workers, performing with a koto (zither) group, advocating for female students and colleagues, and embarking on a controversial romance.
Of course I signed on for a second year — not because this was the Japan I was seeking, but because it turned out to be the Japan I needed.
The Same Moon offers a story of encouragement and hope … and a little escape — to 1990s Japan!
Purchase The Same Moon: A Young Woman’s Season of Entanglements in Rural Japan
April 1, 2026 — The third edition of The Same Moon is now available from Wild Geranium Press in eBook and paperback formats on Amazon — with brand-new prologue and afterword.
If you’d like to see Amazon customer reviews, they live here, with an earlier edition.
Please note: Some vendors are still selling earlier editions from previous publishers, both of which are inactive.
Has there been some publishing drama? Why, yes there has. If you’re curious, here’s: “A story of nearly losing my memoir — twice.”
Learn more about the Same Moon:
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People are saying …
Eloquently written … Perhaps the only book out there detailing the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program from a female point of view. Any prospective JET teacher coming to Japan to teach should read this book.
— Amy Chavez, host of Books on Asia podcast and author of The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island
With sensitivity and humility, exploring no one’s story but her own, Coomber addresses the question of this American hour: how to honor—even cherish—fellow humans regardless of divergent cultural, political or spiritual convictions. The Same Moon injects hope into the current American climate of intolerance.
— Natalie Kusz, award-winning memoirist and author of Road Song
Sarah Coomber has written an insightful story about her journey to Japan and a journey to find herself. Readers will enjoy an entertaining and honest account of a young woman’s self-discovery in a foreign land.
— Laura Kriska, author of The Accidental Office Lady: An American Woman in Corporate Japan, and cross-cultural consultant
Sarah captures in great detail many things unique to Japan in nature, daily life, and relationships.
— Yukari Sakamoto, author of Food Sake Tokyo
Charming … a journey through Japanese culture and a journey toward self-understanding, security, and faith.
— Scott Hewitt, the (Vancouver) Columbian
Newsletter
For current happenings focused on life in the sandwich generation … including re-releasing my Japan memoir, join me at:
Sandwich Season explores the burdens and blessings of life in the sandwich generation—juggling the needs of my parents and son, who has special needs—in the hopes of encouraging others in similar seasons.
Sarah Coomber 
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