A true story of two young people of different races and cultures who meet in Japan, fall in love and, despite the hatred of four years of brutal warfare between their nations, marry. The opposition of Keiko's samurai family, Dick's Methodist parents, and the Navy bureaucracy is nearly overwhelming.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Dick and Keiko (Yano) Mumford were raised 10,000 miles apart-Dick in a small town in Delaware, Keiko in southern Japan where she endured the suffering of wartime Japan. In 1956 they fell in love and married. As an interracial couple they moved to America and Keiko struggled to adjust to a new culture.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Shotoku Teahouse - A Fascinating Trip,
By Earl Fike, Jr. (Bridgewater, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Shotoku Teahouse (Paperback)
I just finished "The Shotoku Teahouse" yesterday evening. What a lovely and fascinating trip through the cultures and lives of two special people. I learned much that I didn't know. And I learned that the two special people I did know are even more special. I particularly liked the interweaving of the contributions of each of you. The insight into the mind and emotions of each of you as you began your relationship, and then found ways to continue it in spite of "overwhelming odds" was a treat. Since my World War II memories were very similar to Dick's, and the community in which I lived had the same kind of mores as Delaware, I found the descriptive phrases to be very familiar. My own experience of the way blacks were treated; the way German prisoners of war were treated and spoken about; spending time in the Aircraft Warning Service tower watching for airplanes; playing with bubble gum cards with cruel pictures of Japanese "atrocities", and to set those experiences over against Keiko's experiences from a Japanese perspective was thought provoking... This wonderful trip into the Japanes customs and the comparison that you both described as you came to understand one another were wonderful. All in all, very worth the read. And more than that, it was a refreshment of my experience of each of you in our time together since our meeting in E-town. I laughed where many others will not because they have never seen Keiko try to tell a joke or try to make sense of our idioms. They have never seen her sparkle, not the way she bursts with fun. I rejoiced in the eating and meal descriptions more than some, because I've had the real pleasure of being at a table spread with Keiko's delights. I traveled more knowingly with Dick's introspections, because I know how investigation and searching for meaning and understanding are so much a part of who you are. And because I know the careful student and teacher that you are, I did not have to raise questions about your interpretations and understanding of history and culture. And I vibrated with common feelings of both of you about the necessity of seeing past our outer features and rejoicing in the variety of experiences which are available when cultures and people interact and enjoy one another. Enough already. As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks for letting me know about the book. I'll be glad to recommend it to friends. It would make a great story for a movie or a TV special if they wouldn't butcher it up with normal media goodies. The experience of melding two cultures in such a volitile time is very informative and inspiring.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Two loving people, two vanishing cultures,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Shotoku Teahouse (Paperback)
One of the best things about this book is that it provides firsthand accounts, sliced two different ways, of old Japan and rural Delmarva America, two isolated cultures that, sadly, may be rapidly vanishing in this modern globalized age.The first part of the story is set in Japan in 1956. The narrative is organized into chapter sections voiced alternatively by Dick then Keiko. We see Keiko's musings on Japanese life, her upbringing, and her encounters with Americans, including the one that was persistently courting her. Interwoven with this are Dick's impressions of America, his rural childhood, his naval service, and his encounters with Japan, Keiko and her family, grappling with the complex social protocols and deciphering things meant but unsaid. After they marry and move to America, the tables are turned somewhat and Keiko struggles with isolation and American peculiarities as they start a family and settle into a hectic suburban lifestyle. The cross-cultural impressions are fascinating and often bewildered and funny, but the native viewpoints are candid and valuable as well. Along the way Dick and Keiko are both tempted by alternative life paths of wealth and security that would only be possible without the other--a Japanese doctor wants to marry Keiko; people speak of Dick as Senate material and he has ground-floor opportunities in local beachfront real estate and insurance businesses. But they remain true to their hearts and to each other. Throughout the story, xenophobic or racist reactions from others are anticipated and dreaded, but in the end, thankfully, families and friends mostly express only acceptance and love. This is a valuable work, both for the present day and for preserving a record of these two loving people and their two wonderful cultures, for our grandchildren's grandchildren! -Steve Grubb
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautiful Love Story!,
By
This review is from: The Shotoku Teahouse (Paperback)
Reading "The Shotoku Teahouse" is a wonderful adventure into a different world and a different culture...Japan in the 1930's- 1950's. The story is told from two different viewpoints...Dick, the American Navy Man; Keiko, the Young Japanese Lady. I especially enjoyed seeing how American life...(eating habits, language idioms, manners, and religious beliefs)....looks to someone raised in the older Japanese culture.I wish the story would have continued, telling about the rest of their life together. I wanted to know how they came to Elizabethtown, and about the next 3 children. It would have been interesting to know how their children felt about their interracial background. Perhaps they will write a sequel? I gave the book 4 stars. BR> But I highly recommend the book!
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