Hi all, I am reading The Lady of the Decoration now and would recommend it despite its use of a few derogatory names and comments about nonwhites. It was published in 1907 and according to Wikipedia was the best selling novel that year. It is a semi-autobiographical account of a Kentucky woman's time in Japan teaching kindergarten. It is presented in correspondence form--using only the author's letters--which are apparently the edited versions of the letters she wrote while she was there. Frances Little is the pseudonym of Frannie Caldwell. It is a quick read and would probably do best with a solo reader, imho.
Here's a link
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7523
Kate O.