New Comic Strip Book Collection Proves that Livin' in Japan Ain't Easy But It Sure Can Be Funny!

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, November 04, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- When cartoonist, Khalid Birdsong, stepped off of the airplane in Osaka, Japan, he knew life would never be the same again. Being an African-American working as an assistant English language teacher at a junior high school in a small town was like an alien trying to fit in on a new planet. He was a true 'fish out of water.'

"I couldn't even speak Japanese," said Khalid "It was a challenge to figure out what was going on around me every day. There were so many rules of etiquette and behavior, I'm sure I broke every one. After two years of living and working in Japan, I had so many humorous stories and exciting adventures, I decided to draw a comic strip about them." Thus, Fried Chicken and Sushi the webcomic was born!

"My webcomic ran for four years online and new comics updated twice a week. I never thought anyone would read it but at its height, fifteen thousand readers a month enjoyed logging onto www.friedchickenandsushi.com to see what my characters were going through in Japan."

In his new book Livin' In Japan Ain't Easy -The First Fried Chicken and Sushi Collection, Khalid collects the two hundred comic strips that started the adventures of the main character, based on him, named Karl.

"You get to travel with him to Japan and enjoy the humor of his experiences as the only foreigner in his town by the mountains. Enjoy the awkward moments as Karl's students follow him around in the grocery store, he hits his head on door frames each day because he's too tall and of course trying to date when he barely speaks the language. Enjoy the humor of my mistakes without having to make them yourself."

Khalid moved back to the U.S. ten years ago but still goes back to Japan every summer to visit his wife's family. It also gives his daughter a chance to experience Japanese culture and spend time with her cousins.

"I feel lucky to keep a connection with Japan through my wife and visiting every year is always full of culture shock frustrations and lots of fun. Each time I visit I get a notebook packed with new ideas for comic strips!"

The original Fried Chicken and Sushi comic ended in 2014 but the new Little Fried Chicken and Sushi takes the main characters and turns them into fourth grade kids attending an international school in Osaka. The current version is syndicated online by Universal Uclick (formally Universal Press Syndicate) and updates every Monday in full color on their GoComics website along with big name strips like Garfield and Pearls Before Swine.

Little Fried Chicken and Sushi is also published every week in the Laugh-O-Gram comic strip newspaper. It is the only comic strip in the paper with a multi-cultural cast of characters.

Livin' In Japan Ain't Easy -The First Fried Chicken and Sushi Collection can be purchased on amazon.com here:

http://www.amazon.com/Livin-Japan-Aint-Easy-collection/dp/0985999810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446648594&sr=8-1&keywords=livin+in+japan+aint+easy

You can read his comics on www.friedchickenandsushi.com and the kid version, Little Fried Chicken and Sushi syndicated online at http://www.gocomics.com/little-fried-chicken-and-sushi every Monday.

Contact Khalid via email at [email protected] and cell 650-388-8943.

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