Emiko Jean > Quotes

“I don't have an American half and a Japanese half. I am a whole person. Nobody gets to tell me if I am Japanese enough or too American.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“I used to think the world belonged to me. But I was wrong. I belong to the world. And sometimes … I guess sometimes, our choices have to reflect that.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“Shout out to all the girls who apologize too much.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“I have snacks."
Ah, the real three words every girl longs to hear.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“Silence is the cousin of invisibility.”
― Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons

“Now I understand
How lonely the sun must be
The unending job
To rise again and again
Setting fire to all it sees”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“Do not let your fear decide your fate.”
― emiko jean, Empress of All Seasons

“Born a foreigner
I carry two halves with me
Loose skin I pull on
To go places and don't fit
Like apple pie and mochi”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“Feelings are a real son of a bitch.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“Grief is a powerful thing, and sometimes, if it's ignored, we can become lost in it.”
― Emiko Jean, We'll Never Be Apart

“The earth forgets but I will always remember

Karaoke bars

Pharmacies and cups of tea

And plates of dorayaki”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“But if I had know I had a daughter, I would have found a solution." He studies me, waiting until my eyes raise to meet his. "I would have swum across the oceans. I would have scaled mountains. I would have crossed deserts. I would have found a way.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“I'm still a work in progress."
"Aren't we all?”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“A heart divided cannot stand.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Dreaming

“You should want to be better for yourself, not for someone else.”
― Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons

“what is grief but the other side of love?”
― Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black

“People come undone all the time, Alice. We're all unraveling here. You've just done it in the most spectacular way. In fact, you could be our queen.”
― Emiko Jean, We'll Never Be Apart

“If you don't fly too high, you don't have too far to fall.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“Do I have a code name? II'm pretty sure I get a code name. I'd like to choose it."
His fingers fall from my elbow. A pity. "Yes," he says. "As a matter of fact, you do have a code name."
"I knew it!" My twirl is the glee-filled kind. "What is it? Sidewinder or Lightning or maybe Pegasus?"
"We were calling you Butterfly."
Huh. "That's nice, I guess." A little soft, but okay.
"Then, the tabloids gave you the moniker. The Lost Butterfly, so we had to change it."
I perk up.
"I suggested it," he baits.
"What did you suggest?" I look up at Akio with stars in my eyes. The possibilities are endless---Sunshine, Moonflower, Cherry Blossom. My thoughts are a runaway train. Maybe he likes me. Maybe he's not as mean as he seems. Maybe I've terribly misjudged him and this is just a rocky start to a friendship that turns to love that will last the ages. Our affair will inspire folksy campfire ballads.
It's the first time I see Akio smile. It's part evil, part satisfied, as if he's just won a bet with himself. "Radish.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“I am a lean tiger in winter. Come for me. I dare you.”
― Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons

“But often, Chelsey wondered if her father, if people in general, should spend less time protecting daughters and more time worrying about sons. The dangerous things boys do. How they might be raised differently.”
― Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black

“You are a world unto yourself. Build your own space. One meant uniquely for you.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“Originally I wanted to get to know my father. But it's bigger than that. I came to figure out who I am, where I'm from. Finding somewhere I belong.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Ever After

“This is true freedom, to love oneself enough not to care what others think.”
― Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons

“Our bodies are not ornaments, they are instruments.”
― Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons

“At one point, she’d thought Taro completed her. Now she realized that he didn’t. She was complete by herself.

Marriage and love, they aren’t achievements.”
― Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons

“Not every happily-ever-after includes a man.”
― Emiko Jean, Empress of All Seasons

“It’s the climb that makes you appreciate the view.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Dreaming

“There is also a waka poem Akio penned for me:


Now I understand
It is all so clear to me
August wind, rain, sleet
I stopped believing in love
Until I saw the leaves fall


Poetry is kind of our thing. Originally, we were mortal enemies. Akio drove me nuts with his schedules, his overall gothic-novel vibe, and his eight inches of height over me. But now, our couple dynamic is fun-loving princess and gruff former bodyguard turned promising pilot who only shows his soft side to those closest to him. It really works for me.”
― Emiko Jean, Tokyo Dreaming

“Did no one ever tell Lydia that the most dangerous thing in the world isn't natural disasters or wars or weapons? It is unremarkable men with beautiful smiles and even bigger promises.”
― Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black