Riding the East Wind: A Novel of War and Peace

by the circumstances of his birth.This book isn't so much about how a family in Japan survived through WW2 as it is the story of a young man (Ken), half Japanese/half American during WW2. Ken fights battles throughout the novel--with himself, with fellow officers in the Japanese Army Air Corps, with ordinary citizens as a victim of mistaken identity. Ken, although he has been raised in Japan for the majority of his life has Caucasian facial features. The book is extremely well written. I found the relationships within the family to be extremely diverse. There was a focus on the father and mother, but not so much on the children (except for Ken). The diferent personalities of Ken's friends were each part of a larger picture--there were the fanatics, the artists and the ones who just wanted to survive. It was a good presentation of what makes up a nation during war.The first part of the book is about Saburo (the father) and his diplomatic efforts in the United States right before Pearl Harbor. I found this part to be particualary interesting, as it has been a matter of debate for the last several years. The issue of how much Roosevelt knew before December 7 rings especially true now. I would recommend this book to anyone. It will hold your attention for days...

"Riding The East Wind", is not only a great story, it is also great History. From the photographs of Mother and Son on the cover, to the notes at the book’s end recording what happened to the Family and their friends after the War, this work is excellent. The translator is the award winning Mr. Ian Hideo Levy, and he has created a wonderfully readable version of Mr. Otohiko Kaga’s first book presented in English. This is a fascinating story of the days leading to the bombing of Pearl Harbor through the end of World War II. The only aspect I found very puzzling was the total lack of comment on either Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The fire bombing of the B-29 Bombers was discussed at length, and perhaps the Author felt this was enough, for the firestorms these raids often brought about literally erased cities. .... The book is a sweeping view of Japanese Culture, how they viewed themselves, their allies, and their enemies. While never mentioning the actions of the US, great irony is demonstrated as the woman on the cover was American, and while despised was not interred in a camp as Japanese were in this Country. The book speaks in depth of the actions of the Kamikaze Pilots and Submariners that many found impossible to understand. ....The Author explores citizenship based on blood, birth, and personal beliefs, together with the complexities they give rise to. Relations between Family, and romance between others is never maudlin, rather they illustrate the ability of the individual to stand alone with his or her own morality, when humanity at large has forgotten what the word means.This is a great reading experience, and I recommend it without qualification.

When I visited the Yasukuni Jinja, the shrine for Japan's fallen war heroes, in Tokyo, I was immediately drawn to the picture of the pilot with the Caucasian face among the hundreds of Japanese faces. I was saddened to read his story at the shrine of how he came to be in the Japanese army, despite his mixed blood, and how he died in service of one country that represented only half of himself while fighting against the country of his other half. I could not imagine how he must have been torn apart each day.Then I saw the same haunting picture on the cover of Riding the East Wind by Otohiko Kaga and I immediately grabbed it up. I enjoyed this book thoroughly as I was transported into the world of the man in the picture. This is an excellent book that describes the desperate situation in Japan during the war that the Japanese military caused to be inflicted on the Japanese people and the individual story of the Japanese diplomat married to an American woman and the fate of their mixed-race children. Even though I knew the eventual outcome of the war and the fate of the man in the picture, I was totally absorbed into this book.

This totally absorbing novel was written originally in 1982 as a pop novel for Japanese consumption. Now translated into English, it is the very personal, emotional story of the effects of political forces in both the U.S. and Japan on a bi-cultural family in the days leading up to World War II and its immediate aftermath. In its honest, straightforward, and completely unashamed evocation of the heartfelt feelings and conflicts of Japanese family members, people we truly come to care about, the book may be unique--we are so rarely allowed to see inside such a family and to share its joys and heartbreak. And this is truly the book's strength. The Japanese father, American mother, and their children have always been able to straddle the cultural divide, comfortable in both countries, as the father engages in his diplomatic duties. Betrayed by the Japanese hierarchy and naive to the fact that Japan has planned to attack Pearl Harbor even while his attempts to avert war are continuing with President Roosevelt, Saburo Kurushima, his American wife, and his family suddenly find themselves without an identity. Unable to accept the Japanese betrayal but obviously unable to live in the U.S., they return to Japan to try to put together some semblance of a life, additional and unlikely victims of the Pearl Harbor catastrophe. Although a book written for Japanese domestic consumption might have sugarcoated the issues which still make Pearl Harbor a living sore for Americans, Kaga's integrity and honesty are admirable here. Anyone who has enjoyed Wouk's War and Remembrance or Piercy's Gone to Soldiers will find this book a fascinating and unusual companion to those.

This book really gives the reader an understanding of Japan leading up to WW II and during the war. It makes for interesting reading and the family story is very compelling.By reading this story you can understand the Japanese mentality and their weakness of following blindly. A must read for people interested in Japan.