Dear Miye: Letters Home from Japan, 1939-1946 (Asian America)

Rating:
Summary: More Novel Than History Source
Review: The book is a personal account of an American trapped in Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. One expecting lengthy details on life on the Japanese home front will be disappointed. Only a very small number pages give one much information on life in Japan during WWII. To be blunt, I thought the book was pretty boring.

Rating:
Summary: An Important Addition to the Field of Asian American History
Review: This tightly edited volume of Mary Tomita's letters is an important and very necessary addition to the field of Asian American Studies. Exploring the wartime experiences of Mary Kimoto, a young Nisei (second generation Japanese American) from rural California who travels to Japan and is subsequently trapped in that country during World War II, the letters in this book give tremendous voice to the experiences of this Kibei woman. Kibei were Japanese Americans partially educated in Japan before returning to the US to reside permanently. While the exact number of Kibei is unknown, they are estimated to have numbered into the thousands. While many Nisei went abroad for study tours (kengakudan) sponsored by local immigrant newspapers, an relatively smaller group went to Japan for long-term study or work. Full of warmth, humor, and pain, Tomita's letters to her best friend Miye betray the somber realities of being a minority among the Japanese. It adds a unique chapter to the history of American racism, the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, and Japanese history. All this, and so much more. This was a wonderfully crafted, expertly edited text that should be on the shelves of anyone interested in issues of biculturalism, racism, and Japanese American history. I cannot recommend this book enough, and will be sure to assign it in my university courses.