Here and There Japan

A. Donwerth-Chikamatsu

Summer Reading: SOMEWHERE AMONG

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Spring 2016

If you are interested in Japan, you may like to read my new book Somewhere Among.

The story takes place in Japan 2001. It is about Ema, an 11-year-old American-Japanese girl. She has a white American mom and a Japanese father like my children. She lives in Japan but visits America. Like my children (when they were younger.)

Unlike my children, Ema and her mom have to move in with her Japanese grandparents. Her mom has a difficult pregnancy and needs help. They will stay there until after the baby is born. Ema has to finish the summer semester of fifth grade at the dining table in front of the TV. She will enter the fall semester at a neighborhood school.

Obaachan, her Japanese grandmother, thinks Ema needs extra instruction in Japanese culture and manners. She controls everything in the household and stresses everyone out. Ema misses her August trip to visit her American grandparents. She misses her school friends and dreads going to a different school even for a few months. A bully at that school makes things even worse.

The story weaves many aspects of home life and school life in Japan. It is not the story of our family life. Our obaachan was sweet like our jiichan. And my children never had any problem with their studies.

History and anniversaries that Japan and America share are also woven into the story. They were enemies in the past but have been friends for many decades.

If you want to know more, check out my author’s website www.anniedonwerth-chikamatsu.com for the resources I used as research.

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