Ishikawa writes a heartwarming account of his first coming to the America of his childhood dreams--land of plenty of everything--from buxom blondes to untold wealth for anyone who is willing to work for it. His difficulty with English finds him struggling to make friends as he eventually becomes a star athlete, and dates American girls, all the while maintaining the sense of Japanese culture which his peers seemed to have abandoned.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this Japanese bestseller, slated for film release in the U.S. and Japan later this year, the author recalls his adventures and misadventures as a teenager studying and working on his brother's California strawberry farm during four years of the turbulent '60s. An appealing, often humorous account, translated into sometimes halting "Japlish," it reflects Ishikawa's struggles to learn English and adapt to American customs as this astute observer vividly evokes the opportunities, dashed hopes and groping patriotism of immigrant would-be Americans. A gallery of exotic characters people the narrative--Haight-Ashbury hippies, illegal Mexican fruit pickers and prostitutes, Japanese issei and nisei still bitter about their WW II internments, and farmers and entrepreneurs who--like Ishikawa's brother--married American citizens to provide other Japanese family members green card entry to the U.S.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
It is 1965 and Japan has not yet achieved its "economic miracle" status. Yoshimi Ishikawa leaves home on the tiny island of Oshima to join his brother, who has emigrated to a farm in Southern California. In his memoirs, Ishikawa limns a unique slice of rural life during a time of rapid transition when Japanese "blanket men" still roamed the countryside in search of work; when Japanese bankers drove miles to collect meager deposits from their compatriots; when Cesar Chavez conducted his famous boycott and strike of 1966. Partly a coming-of-age tale, Ishikawa's narrative is lively and humorous--best in its descriptions of the poignant relations between different generations of Japanese in the United States; weakest in its social analysis (for example, he erroneously claims that it was the Japanese press--not the Japanese-Ameri cans--who began the public outcry against the U.S. detention camps). A best seller in Japan, this title belongs in immigrant collections and in libraries with Asian-American clientele.
- Kathleen Hirooka, Stanford Univ. Libs., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Kathleen Hirooka, Stanford Univ. Libs., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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