5 comments about Cherry Blossoms in Twilight: Memories of a Japanese Girl.

1. Since many of my Japanese friends married American servicemen, I looked forward to reading Cherry Blossoms in Twilight: Memories of a Japanese Girl by Yaeko Sugama Weldon and her daughter, Linda E. Austin. To my delight, it reminded me of the "Little House" books except that rather than being written about nineteenth century rural America, this book was written about twentieth century Japan, set in a small town near Tokyo with Mt. Fuji in the distance.
   
   This gentle book shows how children entertained themselves before the advent of mass media--playing outside, catching snails and tadpoles, using flowers and seeds for pretend play, daring each other to take scary adventures such as fetching something from the graveyard or icehouse where others hid in order to scare them. Illustrations and photographs by the authors add to the interest, as Weldon and Austin describe holidays and festivals such as Boys' Day, Girls' Day and Tsukimi (Full Moon Viewing in September).
   
   Not all of Yaeko's life was happy. She describes sibling rivalry, hunger during the Depression, and hiding in air-raid shelters during the war, although these events inspire the reader by showing how these struggles helped Yaeko become stronger. After reading this book, I now understand why many Japanese women married American men during the U.S. occupation, since many of the Japanese men had died in the war.
   
   Children studying other cultures could identify with Yaeko as they read about her life and adventures, while the glossary of Japanese terms might motivate them to learn some Japanese conversational language. Also in the appendices are some delightful children's songs in both Japanese and English and photographs of Japan during the 1950s. This is a well-designed and edited little book that will educate and entertain both elementary and middle school students.
   
   by Susan M. Andrus
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. Now in a new edition edited for young readers in elementary grades and older, Cherry Blossoms in Twilight: Memories of a Japanese Girl is the true-life autobiography of a Japanese girl's life during the Depression, World War II, and the Occupation. Young Yaeko Sugama Weldon's memories of a poor but content childhood were torn apart by the crushing impact of war. "At noon time on August 15, Emperor Hirohito spoke to the people. For the first time in history a Japanese emperor spoke to his people!... He announced on the radio that the war was over - not whether we won or lost, just that the war was over and an agreement was made. I was so happy! Most people in our town were excited and relieved. They cheered and hugged each other. Many people were just glad the war was over. We were all tired of the war." Cherry Blossoms in Twilight tells of the jobs she took to earn a living after the war, her marriage to an American serviceman and move to America, motherhood, and the difficulties involved in adjusting to American culture. A handful of black-and-white photographs, a glossary of Japanese terms, and a couple of Japanese children's songs round out this memoir, highly recommended for children's library collections and personal reading shelves.



3. Cherry Blossoms in Twilight was a delightful read and I recommend everyone to purchase a copy. I am 60 and read it in the first sitting, but it is very appropriate for a school age child. This book tells a true story, includes an index of Japanese words, several songs and the illustrations - drawn by Yaeko - add visual images for the story.
   
   Who wanted war anyway ? is a message we can share with children (and adults) throughout the world. Purchase several copies to give as Holiday gifts, full of memories from Japan, for everyone, no matter what age on your list. You will not be disappointed...



4. "Cherry Blossons in Twilight: Memories of a Japanese Girl," by Yaeko Sugama Weldon, with her daughter, Linda E. Austin, is the charming life story of a Japanese-born senior citizen. It is a book for readers of all ages, from young people learning about history and other cultures to older people who lived through World War II.
   
   Yaeko Sugama was born in 1925 in the small town of Tokorozawa, Japan, where she could see Mt. Fuji and the Chichibu mountain range in the distance. The family was poor, and lived in a typical one-story wooden house with a tin roof. Her father's shoemaking shop was in the front. Yaeko adored her father, but somewhat resented her mother's preference for her brother. "Girls are not so good to have because they marry and leave home, but when a son gets married, he stays to take care of his parents." That was the Japanese custom.
   
   The author describes other customs of the time: the nature celebrations, the making of origami birds and kirigami from colorul paper, Yaeko's pet owl, stories from Japanese folklore. The author's charmingly drawn illustrations from a child's life in Japan are an added bonus.
   
   After "Childhood" comes a section on "School," and then "World War II," "After the War," and "A New Life." The book ends with an appendix of Japanese children's songs, photographs of Japan in the 1950's, and a useful glossary and index of Japanese terms.
   
   World War II disrupted peaceful life in Tokorozawa and brought air raids, bomb shelters, and rationing, leading the children to ask, "Who wants war anyway?" While the war took away the young Japanese men she might have married, it gave Yaeko a view of the outside world. She worked for American military families, eventually married an American soldier, and moved to the Chicago area.
   
   Yaeko Sugama Weldon now lives in St.Louis, Missouri, near her daughter Linda, who helped her put her stories together. This book is a good example of the family memories and experiences we all need to share. While Yaeko expresses her regret that she didn't learn English better, her simple, direct prose is charming. That, as well as the story itself, should make this book especially interesting to young readers. However, I couldn't put it down myself.
   
   Reprinted from "Write Your Life!" at http://www.seniormemoirs.blogspot.com



5. This book is a touching, engaging read. I read it from start to finish in one sitting, not wanting to put it down. It teaches us how important it is to have loved ones document their lives and share their experiences with others, not just family. You feel transported to another time, and laugh and cry with the authors. It gave me a greater understanding of another time and place, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! This would be great recommended reading for any age.

1 comments about The Last Kamikaze: The Story of Admiral Matome Ugaki.

1. "Last Kamikaze" is like a Reader's Digest abridged version of the book "Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945". It is easy to read and has some additional historical background and commentary thrown in by the author to help understand some of Ugaki's thought processes.
   
   After reading this book, I went and found "Fading Victory" in the library. I am still trying to slug through that book - it's pretty dense going by comparison and makes me appreciate Hoyt's version much more.
   
   The only problem with condensed versions, of course, is that some of the details get lost, glossed over, or are over-generalized. This is a generic problem with Hoyt's writings, I have found.
   
   Nevertheless, this book is a good read. It really gives you a good sense of the thinking behind the intensely macho military culture run amok in Japan during WWII.
   
   The most important concept that I got out of this book was that this military culture was basically just like "Beavis and Butthead" in terms of their pathetic determination to engage in high testosterone acts of male stupidity and aggression, safe in a complete ignorance of how well the intended victims might be able to fight back. The parallels to this sort of teenage impulsiveness and short-sightedness continue with the (well-documented in this book) inability of the Japanese military to plan for the future or to anticipate potential pitfalls, after their inital success had faded. The only result of all this was a lot of death and suffering for the ordinary soldiers and civilians of Japan.
   
   A good example was the Guadalcanal campaign - the book describes in some detail how the Japanese Army first completely underestimated the capabilities of the American forces on Guadalcanal and repeatedly landed, piecemeal, undersized contingents of soldiers to drive off the Americans. Then, when these soldiers failed in their initial assaults, it turned out that the Japanese Army had made almost no plans for supplying these soldiers long term so that they could re-group and continue to fight. Large numbers of the Japanese soldiers starved to death or died of disease as a result. An initially small and tenuous American foothold on Guadalcanal grew ever stronger until Japan had to admit defeat and withdraw from Guadalcanal, giving the US its first major vitory over Japan in a land conflict.
   
   Ugaki was among the contingent of hotheads who had sought to start the war with the US. After working with Admiral Yamamoto, (who was the only Japanese officer of any rank who had actually once lived in the US and so knew something about the country), he came to undertand how foolish that decision was. The level of American resources and economy was just far superior to Japan.
   
   Nevertheless, neither he nor the other militarists could bring themselves to admit that they had made a terrible mistake and give up the fight. Lots of foolish pride!!!
   
   At the moment of Japan's surrender, Ugaki's final act of desperation, which was to get into the back seat of a bomber and try to crash it into an American ship or installation on Okinawa, also failed miserably. His flight of last kamikazes was unceremoniously shot down by American night fighters on routine patrol.
   
   About all I can say is, good riddance. A lot of people died in this world because of militarists like Ugaki. Japan, and the whole world have benefited greatly from getting rid of them. Ugaki's own words reveal him and the entire military culture of WWII Japan to be nothing but a bunch of aggressively ignorant fools.

2 comments about The Hunt for "Tokyo Rose".

1. Six months ago I was traveling along the coast of Washington, when I woke up to the terrible TV scenes of fire and death and collapsing buildings. I wrote my first thoughts in my diary: "As events unfold, I worry of our response. Will internal security become Gestapo like? Will we isolate ourselves? What about our civil rights or the rights of dark guys with beards and robes?" To know what could happen, we only needed to look back to the internment of Japanese-Americans or the case of "Tokyo Rose" (Iva Toguri).

   If you are interested in World War II history or the excesses of patriotism, this is a book you should read and keep in your library. Mr. Howe has done a through job gathering the events and as a bonus describes the world of living in an enemy's country. I also value the picture Howe paints of life as a POW in Japan. It's nice that he has humanized some of the Japanese military, even to the point of letting us see that there were good and bad on both sides. Consider, for example, the support Iva received from the fighting GI's and compare it to the pettiness of the (mostly) non-combatant government agents.

   Howe's writing style could have been more readable and there were a few errors of fact. (p. 244 Doolittle's first raid was in 1942 and not two years later.) These did not detract excessively.

   Our challenge today as Americans is to avoid another case of "Tokyo Rose".




2. I had expected that the author would reveal a lot of what Tokyo Rose actually broadcast and, especially, the effect it had or was expected to have on our troops in the Pacific War. Plus, obviously, some followup on how she was eventually arrested in the U.S., etc. This text is a very good historical and legal account about Tokyo Rose (the one chosen for this book), her biography, her time in Japan, how she got involved, how she was arrested in the U.S. and so on, but the narrative is so detailed that it becomes boring and tends to lose the general reader's interest. On the other hand, if you are interested in Tokyo Rose's life and personal problems, and demand a lot of very detailed and specific biographical and prosecutorial information, this is the book for you. Sorry, not what I was looking for...

No comments about Samurai Purchasing: The secret of Japanese manufacturers success.

1 comments about Heirlooms: Letters from a Peach Farmer (Great Valley Books) (Great Valley Books).

1. Another from the heart group of writings from David Masumoto. If you've ever been on farm or in a small town, these "letters" will really hit home. If you've read his other books, you will want to get this one.

3 comments about Sanshiro: A Novel (Michigan Classics in Japanese Studies).

1. I rate this irony laden story on par with Soseki's most important novel, 'Kokoro.' Joseph Conrad's novels had to travel to Africa and the East Indies to establish the parameters within which the Japanese lived their daily lives as they grappled with the effects of Western Rationalism upon a nonindustrial society. Fortunately for world literature, Soseki Natsume was up to the task of documenting this transitional period with grace, wit, and sensitivity. Soseki's books generally are either serious ('Kokoro') or satiric ('Botchan,' 'I Am A Cat'), 'Sanshiro' is both and it is the better for it.
   After graduating from a provincial school Sanshiro enters Japan's greatest university and encounters a number of Tokyo sophisticates, among them westernized girls, famed artists and writers, jaded academicians, dedicated scientists and his best friend Yojiro a lovable, well-meaning scoundrel who constantly throws his shy and self-effacing compatriot into the thick of things. Because there are so many elements that make up this heady mix, the reader has the choice of processing the story on many different levels. At the very simplest level it is about first love and disappointment, but it is also a commentary upon the effects of the new on the old, East meets West, the city vs. the countryside, the traditional and untraditional, youthful idealism and middle-aged disappointment. This probably sounds as though it might be tedious or pedantic, but really Soseki's treatment of the themes is gentle and a delight to read. For instance, when one of Sanshiro's heroes is disgraced by a well-meaning plan that goes awry, Soseki blunts the pain by riffng on the inscrutability of the 'philosophical smoke' streaming through his victim-hero's nostrils as he puffs on his pipe. A stream of smoke by which Sanshiro's roguish friend claims to read emotions. Also, when Soseki lampoons the intellectual conceits of his characters, he does it in a way that the reader must seriously consider each proposition before the joke becomes apparent. As to the pain of disappointment in love, this is always sad and heartfelt yet Soseki is able to ameliorate it by leaving the subject and the object of the heartbreak ambiguous as if either side may have been responsible.
   This is imagined, but one begins to suspect that Haruki Murakami was influenced by this novel and even appropriates some of the themes found in it for his own: mysterious and alluring women who flit in and out of the story, odd scientific and philosophical theories as props, central character as passive witness. It is fun to imagine this and one begins to find other coincidences too. Anyway, it is just a thought, perhaps brought on by the coincidence that Jay Rubin, the translator who does an excellent job of bringing this text to life, also translates for Haruki Murakami.
   Readers, this is one of the finer Japanese novels that I have encountered. The author often had me smiling, laughing, cringing, sighing and rooting for the various characters in this well told story.



2. "Sanshiro" is a coming-of-age novel, Meiji Japan style. This is definitely not one of Soseki's better known novels, especially in the United States, but it still has an appeal and sharpness that transcends time and cultural barriers.

   "Sanshiro" is in many ways both different and yet similar to Soseki's most famous work, "Kokoro." Both include tales of heartbreak and tragedy, along with social commentary on Japanese society. For whatever reason, Sanshiro struck me as a much more "modern" book than Kokoro. Using the word modern on a book written 100 years ago may seem odd, but reading Soseki's comments on Japanese society at the time (end of the 19th/beginning of 20th century Japan), then considering the ultimate result of the Meiji cultural "revolution" (the emphasis on Western science and Eastern philosophy which led to militaristic ultranationalism), and then again the state of Japan today and it is clear that Soseki's comments are not outdated.

   Similarly, Sanshiro's Mineko is a much more modern, "Western" young lady than her counterpart in Kokoro. Unlike Kokoro's Ojosan, who didn't seem to have a thought of her own, Mineko is beautiful, intelligent, slightly haughty, and has a mysterious appeal about her. She is not some trophy to be captured, but a person to be respected in her own right. I found myself verbally assaulting the annoyingly clumsy Sanshiro when he missed opportunity after opportunity to get to know Mineko better. Of course, when he finally develops some guts it's too late. The blame for this unhappy end falls on Mineko as well, as she is one of Sanshiro and Yojiro's generation's "unconscious hypocrites" in the words of Soseki. Mineko knows that she has found a fellow stray sheep in Sanshiro, yet she ultimately abandons him.

   Soseki's writing is again a joy to read. Every time you encounter a passage that seems to start getting a little monotonous, he throws in a paragraph that seems absolutely brilliant. The characters are similarly memorable. I liked Kokoro a bit better, but Sanshiro is still an excellent book that has aged well.




3. Soseki's first attempt at a serious (as opposed to Botchan), full-length novel is a wonderful story of a country boy, Sanshiro, in his first year at Tokyo University studying literature. During the year he falls in love and unwittingly gets involved in university politics.
   Set in the early 1900's, the book examines Japanese society moving into the modern world. Sanshiro is trapped between the traditional Japan of his home, the modern world of Tokyo, and the academic world of the University. He falls in love with a modern woman, but has difficulty relating to her because he has little experience with woman and because of his traditional upbringing.
   My droll description by no means does the novel justice. As a coming-of-age story, it is superior to Western classics such as This Side of Paradise and The Catcher in the Rye. It is an utterly charming novel that shows Soseki's fine sense of humor as well as his skill and insight in critiquing Japanese society and man entering a modern world. Soseki's simple, elegant writing style survives even through translation. It serves well as an introduction to Soseki's works, which later are darker psychological analyses.

No comments about German Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation: 1280-1580 (Dictionary of Literary Biography).

5 comments about Going for the Gold: Apolo Anton Ohno.

1. This Avon book is for young readers. A fantastic way to introduce the biographical genre to 4th-6th grade reading levels. Well written, inspiring book, interesting subject, easy to follow.



2. I have to say that the real star
   is really steven bradbury. if one
   saw the olympics in the 1000 meters
   , he was the 1 that one. i dont think
   i will buy this book. he came out on the
   jay leno show and the conan obrian show
   and he said absolutely "nothing" about
   the sport if it was growing. one has to actually
   check the websites to find information about
   speedskating, and the history of the sport.

   If you want some one positive in my view, Check
   out Gold Medalist Derek Parra. He was enthusiastic
   in his interviews. and trains at the utah olympic oval.

   i dont recommend this book. for the most part speedskaters
   stay hush hush about things. it is like they just want to
   be the only ones doing it.
   sooner or later, African Americans will dominate this sport.
   it is just a matter of time.




3. My friend ordered this book, as we are both obsessed Apolo fans. I was a bit dissapointed. It was stuff I already knew, and the way it explained things, it made it seem as if it were aimed at people younger than I am. But it had great photos, and overall it wasn't too bad.



4. I bought this book a few months ago, shortly after it was published, mostly because I was obsessed with Apolo. I was a bit disappointed with the author's interpretation of Apolo's life and events. He made Apolo's life sound too much like a story, and I didn't really like the kind of informal language he used. Plus, I could tell that the author didn't really get to know Apolo personally. There wasn't really anything in the book about Apolo that I didn't know. Someone could have very easily gotten all of the information from the internet, newspapers, and magazines.

   There are some great pictures in there, though. But overall, I wouldn't really recommend the book for die-hard Apolo fans (fans who know pretty much every thing about him that has been released to the public), because it's mostly redundant. The book is more well-suited to younger fans, around elementary or middle school age, since the language used by the author can be annoying to older, better educated fans (in high school, college, or beyond).




5. It's is a review of the story that his fans know well: however, it is a good book to read because it has a little bit of short track history as well as the biography on Apolo. It also has great pictures of Apolo.

2 comments about Nisei Memories: My Parents Talk About the War Years (The Scott and Laurie Oki Series in Asian American Studies).

1. Paul Howard Takemoto made a very moving account of his parents treatment during WWII. He used interviews of both parents to tell their story. Interesting to read as well as an excellent account of America's treatment of the Japanese Americans during the war. I hope we learn from it.



2. The forced movement of thousands of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast of the United States to camps inside the country is not one of America's better moments. At a political level the arguments are still raging. A group of activists have succeeded in getting not only an official apology but a cash payment. On the other side, there are reports that the recently declassified Magic intercepts confirm that there was an active spy ring operating in the West Coast Ports. I frankly don't know.
   
   This book, however, is not on the larger political aspects. It is on the personal issues of two people, the author's parents. They were stripped of their property, sent to camps, and generally deprived of the rights we expect as citizens. Their stories match those of several people I have known.
   
   The stories of his father in the 442 Regimental Combat Team have particular meaning to me as I have met several veterans of the 442. All had been wounded in action.

2 comments about The Butchers, the Baker: The World War II Memoir of a United States Army Air Corps Soldier Captured by the Japanese in the Philippines [LARGE PRINT].

1. This book told an incredible story of the treatment Vic Mapes received while a POW. It made me appreciate even more the people who serve and protect our country. I was fortunate enough to meet Vic while he was living at the Soldiers Home in DC. I also attended his funeral after he passed away. This memoir preserves the memory of a real life action hero. I would recommend it to everyone.



2. I have known Victor Mapes all my life. He is my Grandfathers brother. Until reading this book I had no idea of the events he had witnessed. It was very enlightening. Victor expired the evening of Tuesday August 12, 2003 at the Old Soldiers home in Washington, D.C. He was interred at Arlington Cemetery on September 3rd, 2003. We will all miss him very much.