Description
An American housewife living in Japan 50 years ago finds friendship and enjoyment in the heart of Japan. Her uneasy feeling about the war is immediately overcome by considerations offered by the Japanese at first encounter. Her vignettes reinforce the relaxed feeling as even the Emperor and his wife wave at the Americans as his train slowly goes by. The book presents a glimpse of the history of Japan and the Japanese.
In the words of the author:
Living in central Japan a little more than one hundred years after Commodore Perry “opened the door of Japan,” this memoir recounts the challenges of daily life as I was drawn into the heart of Japan and the Japanese. Through the years, I have taken two trips back to greet old Japanese friends. Suzy and Mr. Tanaka were foremost in my visits. From Tokyo to Nagoya, I have traveled by Bullet Train and at that speed the farmlands and villages were a passing blur. “Old Japan” appeared to be slipping away like the persimmons strung from the eaves of farmhouses, catching the dying sun, lighting up like lanterns and then going out one by one.
