a mixed plate of Japanese American news and culture
MAKING HOME FROM WAR: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement Edited by Brian Komei Dempster (Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books, 2010, 224 pp., $18.95, paperback) “Making Home From War” captures the “odyssey of Japanese American resettlement” through the stories of 13 writers exploring their personal and collective experiences returning and recreating home in the aftermath [...]
DRAWING FROM MEMORY By Allen Say (New York: Scholastic Press, 2011, 64 pp., $17.99, hardcover) Here is the personal story of acclaimed artist/storyteller Allen Say. In this memoir he tells us how he found his way to become an artist. He includes photos, sketches and drawings. Born in 1937 near a fishing village near Yokohama, [...]
J-BOYS: KAZUO’S WORLD, TOKYO, 1965 By Shogo Oketani and translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa (Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2011, 212 pp., $9.95, paperback) A wonderful and poignant story told through the eyes of 9-year-old Kazuo Nakamoto, who comes of age in Tokyo. Shigeko Oketani manages to entice the reader, through simple everyday images and [...]
THE MANGROVE TREE: PLANTING TREES TO FEED FAMILIES By Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore (New York: Lee and Low Books Inc., 2011, 36 pp., $19.95, hardcover) Dr. Gordon Sato, a scientist, wanted to help villagers in Eritrea on the African coast. His efforts to ease hunger and poverty involve planting mangrove trees by the [...]
CINDERELLA ATE MY DAUGHTER: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture By Peggy Orenstein (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011, 256 pp., $25.99, hardcover) While true gender equity has yet to be achieved in this country — women are still underrepresented at top levels of government and industry — we’re at least at [...]
FLOUR: SPECTACULAR RECIPES FROM BOSTON’S FLOUR BAKERY + CAFE By Joanne Chang with Christie Matheson (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2010, 340 pp., $35 hardcover) The new cookbook by pastry chef and owner of Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe begins with an unlikely analogy to theoretical math. Says author Joanne Chang “theoretical math class … taught [...]
SIGNS OF HOME: The Paintings and Wartime Diary of Kamekichi Tokita By Barbara Johns (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011, 272 pp., $50, hardcover) The new book “Signs of Home,” edited by Barbara Johns, brings the life and art work of Issei painter Kamekichi Tokita (1897-1948) back into public view. In a sense, it is [...]
AIRBORNE DREAMS: “NISEI” STEWARDESSES AND PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS By Christine R. Yano (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2011, 248 pp., $22.95, paperback) In September of 2011, ABC debuted “Pan Am,” ostensibly, to tell the story of the once groundbreaking and legendary airline from the point of view “real stewardesses.” As Hollywood would have it, [...]
DREAM BIG, LITTLE PIG By Kristi Yamaguchi, illustrated by Tim Bowers (Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Inc. 2011, 32 pp., $16.99, hardcover) Nikkei figure skating icon Kristi Yamaguchi is now a children’s book author. Her first book is “Dream Big, Little Pig.” Young Poppy the pig aspires to be a ballerina, but soon discovers that she is [...]
ERIKA-SAN By Allen Say (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009, 32 pp., $17, hardcover) I wouldn’t intentionally miss a book by Caldecott medalist Allen Say. “Erika-san” was published in 2009, and I did not hear about it until now. It’s a sweet, sentimental but understated book that shows Say’s talent for both storytelling and art. As a [...]
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