MY JOURNEY THROUGH FOUR WORLDS: GROWING UP IN THE JAPANESE, DEAF, HEARING, AND AMERICAN WORLDS By Ronald M. Hirano (Savory Words Publishing: 2021, 159 pp., $19.95, paperback) “Picture if you will, a nine-year-old Japanese American boy with downcast eyes standing beside a tall white lady at a boarding stop as hundreds of Japanese Americans were […]
Book Reviews
A ‘comprehensive treatment’ of the wartime incarceration of JAs
January 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
WHEN CAN WE GO BACK TO AMERICA? VOICES OF JAPANESE AMERICAN INCARCERATION DURING WWII By Susan H. Kamei (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021, 736 pp., $22.99, hardcover) During the 1980s, I was privileged to co-direct the Honorable Stephen K. Tamura Orange County Japanese American Oral History Project (OCJAOHP), jointly sponsored by the Japanese American […]
How Hawai‘i avoided incarcerating Japanese Americans en masse
January 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
INCLUSION: HOW HAWAI‘I PROTECTED JAPANESE AMERICANS FROM MASS INTERNMENT, TRANSFORMED ITSELF, AND CHANGED AMERICA By Tom Coffman (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2021, 384 pp., $24.99, paperback) Tom Coffman is a prolific scholar, journalist and filmmaker whose books “Nation Within” and “The Island Edge of America: A Political History of Hawai‘i” have shaped scholarly discourse […]
‘Composite history’ falls short
January 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
ENEMIES AMONG US: THE RELOCATION, INTERNMENT, AND REPATRIATION OF GERMAN, ITALIAN, AND JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR By John E. Schmitz (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2021, 430 pp., $65, hardcover) Author John Schmitz sets himself the daunting task of putting together a composite history of the wartime internment and incarceration of […]
Seeking happily ever after in Little Tokyo
July 22, 2021 by Leave a Comment
FROM LITTLE TOKYO WITH LOVE By Sarah Kuhn (Toronto, Ontario: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2021, 432 pp., $24.99, hard cover) A clever, funny, romp of a story that is “not a fairytale” begins: “Once upon a time, a beautiful princess lived in the magical kingdom of Los Angeles. Always alone, she belonged to no one — and no one belonged to her. She dreamed of one day finding someone who shared her passions, […]
A classic collection of Japanese folk tales
July 22, 2021 by Leave a Comment
FOLK TALES FROM JAPAN: FABLES, MYTHS, AND FAIRY TALES FOR CHILDREN By Florence Sakade, illustrated by Yoshio Hayashi (North Clarendon, Vt.: Tuttle Publishing, 2020, 80 pp., $14.99, hard cover) “Folk Tales From Japan,” compiled by Florence Sakade, is a delightful collection of stories that has been enchanting children for more than 60 years. Previously published as “More Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories,” it is part of a series “created to share the folktales and legends most beloved by children in the East with […]
Nisei murder mystery enthralls readers
July 22, 2021 by Leave a Comment
CLARK AND DIVISION By Naomi Hirahara (Westminster, Md.: Soho Press, 2021, 312 pp., $27.95, hard cover) From the first few pages of the new Naomi Hirahara historic mystery “Clark and Division,” I am immediately drawn into the story of the young Nisei woman, Aki Ito. The descriptive narrative with rich historic details and the strong […]
Groundbreaking biography of Nisei social justice advocate siblings
July 22, 2021 by Leave a Comment
NISEI RADICALS: THE FEMINIST POETICS AND TRANSFORMATIVE MINISTRY OF MITSUYE YAMADA AND MICHAEL YASUTAKE By Diane C. Fujino (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020, 272 pp., $29.95, paperback) In “Nisei Radicals: The Feminist Poetics and Transformative Ministry of Mitsuye Yamada and Michael Yasutake” Diane Fujino has set herself the formidable task of writing a joint […]
Mazie Hirono’s journey from underdog to advocate for underserved populations
July 22, 2021 by Leave a Comment
HEART OF FIRE: AN IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER’S STORY By Mazie K. Hirono (New York: Viking Books, 2021, 416 pp., $28, hardcover) Sen. Mazie K. Hirono is a badass. Hirono vaulted to national consciousness when she became an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, which she deemed a threat to democracy. She challenged such policies as family separation of asylum-seeking immigrants, the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, among […]
Graphic novel documents acts of resistance
July 22, 2021 by Leave a Comment
WE HEREBY REFUSE: JAPANESE AMERICAN RESISTANCE TO WARTIME INCARCERATION By Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura, illustrated by Ross Ishikawa and Matt Sasaki (Seattle: Chin Music Press/ Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, 2021, 160 pp., $19.95, paperback) The graphic novel, “We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration,” focuses on the real life experiences of Jim Akutsu, a Minidoka War Relocation Authority camp draft resister; Mitsuye Endo, a Topaz (Central Utah) WRA inmate who challenged the incarceration through a habeas corpus petition; and Hiroshi Kashiwagi, […]
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