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So Far from the Bamboo Grove #1
So Far from the Bamboo Grove
Prequel to My Brother, My Sister, and I.
Though Japanese, eleven-year-old Yoko has lived with her family in northern Korea near the border with China all her life. But when the Second World War comes to an end, Japanese on the Korean peninsula are suddenly in terrible danger; the Korean people want control of their homeland and they want to punish the Japanese, who have occupied their nation for many years. Yoko, her mother and sister are forced to flee from their beautiful house with its peaceful bamboo grove. Their journey is terrifying -- and remarkable. It's a true story of courage and survival.
183 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1986
137 people are currently reading
2096 people want to read
About the author
Yoko Kawashima Watkins
6 books36 followersYoko Kawashima Watkins was born in Japan in 1933. Her family lived in Manchuria, a region in northern china where her father was stationed as a Japanese government official. This region of China had been under Japanese control since 1931. The family later moved to Nanam in northern Korea, where her father was overseeing Japanese political interests. Japan had taken control of Korea in 1910. Although the family lived in Korea, they followed many Japanese traditions.
Yoko, her brother Hideyo, and her sister Ko practiced calligraphy, the art of serving and receiving tea, and classic Japanese dance. Yoko’s family lived very comfortably in Korea until July of 1945, when it became clear that Japan was losing WW2. Yoko, her sister, and her mother had to flee Korea to ensure their safety. Because Japan's presence in Korea was greatly resented, their comfortable life became a life on the run, as they made their way back to Japan.
Yoko survived the journey back to Japan where she finished her secondary schooling. She then attended Kyoto University where she was in an English-language based program. She graduated and worked at the US Air Force Base as a translator, where she met her future husband. She married Donald Watkins, an American pilot, in 1953. In 1955 her husband was transferred to the US, where they lived in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, and finally settled in Brewster, Massachusetts, where they still live. Together the couple had four children.
In 1976 Yoko began writing So Far From the Bamboo Grove. It was published in 1986, and has won many awards. In 1994 she published a second book, My Brother, My Sister, and I. In addition to writing, Yoko gives lectures, visits schools, answers questions, and gives advice to students.
Yoko, her brother Hideyo, and her sister Ko practiced calligraphy, the art of serving and receiving tea, and classic Japanese dance. Yoko’s family lived very comfortably in Korea until July of 1945, when it became clear that Japan was losing WW2. Yoko, her sister, and her mother had to flee Korea to ensure their safety. Because Japan's presence in Korea was greatly resented, their comfortable life became a life on the run, as they made their way back to Japan.
Yoko survived the journey back to Japan where she finished her secondary schooling. She then attended Kyoto University where she was in an English-language based program. She graduated and worked at the US Air Force Base as a translator, where she met her future husband. She married Donald Watkins, an American pilot, in 1953. In 1955 her husband was transferred to the US, where they lived in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, and finally settled in Brewster, Massachusetts, where they still live. Together the couple had four children.
In 1976 Yoko began writing So Far From the Bamboo Grove. It was published in 1986, and has won many awards. In 1994 she published a second book, My Brother, My Sister, and I. In addition to writing, Yoko gives lectures, visits schools, answers questions, and gives advice to students.
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February 10, 2010
Yoko Watkins gives us a fictionalized account of her family's escape from North Korea at the end of World War II. However, she narrowly limits the historical setting and plot and avoids the moral issues surrounding her family's presence in Korea in the first place. Her family was in Korea as part of the Japanese imperial drive to conquer of Korea, China, the Pacific and even the western US. They were driven by a race based state religion that saw the Japanese Emperor as being a god and the Japanese as being a superior race destined to rule the world. We may never know the exact extent of Yoko's family's direct or indirect involvement in Japanese war atrocities but this context of history and morality must not be ignored.
Living in North Korea, Yoko's father worked to enforce Japanese imperialist plans of carrying out cultural genocide (http://www.cgs.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/worksh...) through attempted eradication of Korean language, history, and forced adoption ofJapanese names, etc.. According to R.J. Rummel's “Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1990”, 5.4 million Koreans were conscripted into forced labor and shipped all over Russia, China, Japan. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, died under murderous working conditions and untold millions were never repatriated. Their descendants still live in remote areas of Russia, China and constitute the largest minority population in Japan living through what the UN Human Rights Rapporteur described as "deep and profound racism" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacif...). The Japanese also conscripted an estimated 100,00 to 200,000 teenage girls and women into forced sexual slavery for its military (http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/06/new...).
Manchuria, where Yoko's father worked, was the location of Unit 731 where innocent Korean and Chinese civilians were used to conduct medical experiments. Vivasections were performed on pregnant women and men without anesthesia. Biological weapons were tested on human subjects. These weapons were even used on the US (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/wor..., http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/18/opi...).
While Yoko herself may be a victim of history, a retelling of her story that sidesteps these historical and moral issues is a distortion of historical reality and morally irresponsible. We cannot be lulled into false naivety by being enamored by just the well-written narrative. This book is morally analogous to an escape story of a Nazi administrator's family living in Birkenow-Auschwitz trying to return to Germany while freed Jews and Poles exact cruel revenge on innocent Nazi families.
If a hypothetical book told this story from a Nazi family's perspective in a sympathetic and compelling way, should it be taught to middle school children? Such a proposal would only be imaginable if there were grave, serious deliberations about all relevant social, historical, moral issues surrounding the book and a clear driving educational purpose. The suggestion should be rejected outright if the historical and moral context of Nazi atrocities was simply ignored, poorly known or even whitewashed.
Similar considerations MUST be had with Yoko Watkins' book! Teaching such material to our children without proper awareness, let alone a deep and profound understanding, is a distortion of history and inexcusable moral irresponsibility. The fact that Yoko Watkins' book is being taught as a heroic escape narrative is born out of a lack of requisite understanding of East Asian history. Giving the author the honor of speaking to our children where this historical distortion and moral irresponsibility is perpetuated only furthers the travesty.
There are no bamboo groves in the region of Korea where Yoko Watkins lived. There were no communist soldiers in North Korea. Repatriation of Japanese families occurred under military protection (http://web.archive.org/web/2007021403...). If there's anything to be salvaged from the tragedies of wars is for humanity to learn its past mistakes. This book can only portray Yoko and her family in a protagonist light by side stepping the history and morality behind her story. These are very things that should not be ignored from history.
If the full truth and proper treatment of Yoko Watkins' real story cannot be properly conveyed to middle school children, teaching of her book should also be reconsidered. There are far richer and valuable books out there that can be taught in place of Yoko Watkins' book. There is no reason to tread on morally questionable grounds and create the possibility of hurting Korean-American families.
Living in North Korea, Yoko's father worked to enforce Japanese imperialist plans of carrying out cultural genocide (http://www.cgs.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/worksh...) through attempted eradication of Korean language, history, and forced adoption ofJapanese names, etc.. According to R.J. Rummel's “Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1990”, 5.4 million Koreans were conscripted into forced labor and shipped all over Russia, China, Japan. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, died under murderous working conditions and untold millions were never repatriated. Their descendants still live in remote areas of Russia, China and constitute the largest minority population in Japan living through what the UN Human Rights Rapporteur described as "deep and profound racism" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacif...). The Japanese also conscripted an estimated 100,00 to 200,000 teenage girls and women into forced sexual slavery for its military (http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/06/new...).
Manchuria, where Yoko's father worked, was the location of Unit 731 where innocent Korean and Chinese civilians were used to conduct medical experiments. Vivasections were performed on pregnant women and men without anesthesia. Biological weapons were tested on human subjects. These weapons were even used on the US (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/wor..., http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/18/opi...).
While Yoko herself may be a victim of history, a retelling of her story that sidesteps these historical and moral issues is a distortion of historical reality and morally irresponsible. We cannot be lulled into false naivety by being enamored by just the well-written narrative. This book is morally analogous to an escape story of a Nazi administrator's family living in Birkenow-Auschwitz trying to return to Germany while freed Jews and Poles exact cruel revenge on innocent Nazi families.
If a hypothetical book told this story from a Nazi family's perspective in a sympathetic and compelling way, should it be taught to middle school children? Such a proposal would only be imaginable if there were grave, serious deliberations about all relevant social, historical, moral issues surrounding the book and a clear driving educational purpose. The suggestion should be rejected outright if the historical and moral context of Nazi atrocities was simply ignored, poorly known or even whitewashed.
Similar considerations MUST be had with Yoko Watkins' book! Teaching such material to our children without proper awareness, let alone a deep and profound understanding, is a distortion of history and inexcusable moral irresponsibility. The fact that Yoko Watkins' book is being taught as a heroic escape narrative is born out of a lack of requisite understanding of East Asian history. Giving the author the honor of speaking to our children where this historical distortion and moral irresponsibility is perpetuated only furthers the travesty.
There are no bamboo groves in the region of Korea where Yoko Watkins lived. There were no communist soldiers in North Korea. Repatriation of Japanese families occurred under military protection (http://web.archive.org/web/2007021403...). If there's anything to be salvaged from the tragedies of wars is for humanity to learn its past mistakes. This book can only portray Yoko and her family in a protagonist light by side stepping the history and morality behind her story. These are very things that should not be ignored from history.
If the full truth and proper treatment of Yoko Watkins' real story cannot be properly conveyed to middle school children, teaching of her book should also be reconsidered. There are far richer and valuable books out there that can be taught in place of Yoko Watkins' book. There is no reason to tread on morally questionable grounds and create the possibility of hurting Korean-American families.
December 9, 2020
A Refugee’s Story
What a heartwarming but harrowing true story of a Japanese family that lived in Korea during the time that the Japanese had occupied it. The history behind that occupancy is horrifying, but we never learn all that Yoko’s family knew as to what was all going on. Yoko’s father was a businessman, her brother worked in a factory, and her mother, it seems, stayed at home to take care of the two young girls, Yoko in grade school, and her sister in high school.
The Korean War had been raging, and when the Koreans finally got their country back, they came to Yoko’s home and confiscated their valuables. It was then that her parents knew that it was time to pack and try to escape to Japan or else be imprisoned or killed. They left in the night, leaving their father and brother to follow.
It had been planned earlier for them to take the medical train to Seoul, then to Pusan where they would take a boat to Japan. Once on the train they began seeing the horrors of the war. Japanese men, women, and children were dying from their injuries, the cold, or hunger. Yoko watched a woman give birth to a child and the mother was not able to feed it because her own milk had dried up. she also saw men, women, and children die and then be tossed from the moving train.
Then the train was attacked, and they had to walk the rest of the way to Seoul, which would take days. The war raged on, with Koreans were looking for and killing the Japanese who were fleeing, so this walk was dangerous as well. Then once in Japan, they had no help and had to survive on the streets, digging in the garbage for food and for whatever else they could find.
I did not wish the story to end, and when it did, I wanted to know what had happened. Did they ever find a place to live? Did they get clothing and food? Of course, they did, but I wanted to continue along with them because I liked the family, the way they related to each other, which made this story heartwarming, as I watched how they all looked out for each other.
I was glad when I learned that there was a sequel to this book, so I read it, but at the end of it, I l missed the family, for they had learned from their experiences, and as their father said, “Be kind to all.”
Note: Sme readers had politicized this book when the author may not have wished it to be politicized but wisit from her perspective as a child. And I could be wrong, but don’t the Japanese people believe in honoring their parents not matter what?
Other authors have written about their own wartime experiences and have never been called out but have been praised for what some would call criminal. The Japanese, as well as the Nazis, are not the only ones who have committed crimes against humanity. I could list many books that speak of war without condemning the men who fought in those wars.
If any reader of this book or any book on war wishes to know more, then he/she can ask or do research. And while I appreciate the research that some reviewer had done on the Japan’s occupation of Korea, I feel it should not have included condemnation of this author.
What a heartwarming but harrowing true story of a Japanese family that lived in Korea during the time that the Japanese had occupied it. The history behind that occupancy is horrifying, but we never learn all that Yoko’s family knew as to what was all going on. Yoko’s father was a businessman, her brother worked in a factory, and her mother, it seems, stayed at home to take care of the two young girls, Yoko in grade school, and her sister in high school.
The Korean War had been raging, and when the Koreans finally got their country back, they came to Yoko’s home and confiscated their valuables. It was then that her parents knew that it was time to pack and try to escape to Japan or else be imprisoned or killed. They left in the night, leaving their father and brother to follow.
It had been planned earlier for them to take the medical train to Seoul, then to Pusan where they would take a boat to Japan. Once on the train they began seeing the horrors of the war. Japanese men, women, and children were dying from their injuries, the cold, or hunger. Yoko watched a woman give birth to a child and the mother was not able to feed it because her own milk had dried up. she also saw men, women, and children die and then be tossed from the moving train.
Then the train was attacked, and they had to walk the rest of the way to Seoul, which would take days. The war raged on, with Koreans were looking for and killing the Japanese who were fleeing, so this walk was dangerous as well. Then once in Japan, they had no help and had to survive on the streets, digging in the garbage for food and for whatever else they could find.
I did not wish the story to end, and when it did, I wanted to know what had happened. Did they ever find a place to live? Did they get clothing and food? Of course, they did, but I wanted to continue along with them because I liked the family, the way they related to each other, which made this story heartwarming, as I watched how they all looked out for each other.
I was glad when I learned that there was a sequel to this book, so I read it, but at the end of it, I l missed the family, for they had learned from their experiences, and as their father said, “Be kind to all.”
Note: Sme readers had politicized this book when the author may not have wished it to be politicized but wisit from her perspective as a child. And I could be wrong, but don’t the Japanese people believe in honoring their parents not matter what?
Other authors have written about their own wartime experiences and have never been called out but have been praised for what some would call criminal. The Japanese, as well as the Nazis, are not the only ones who have committed crimes against humanity. I could list many books that speak of war without condemning the men who fought in those wars.
If any reader of this book or any book on war wishes to know more, then he/she can ask or do research. And while I appreciate the research that some reviewer had done on the Japan’s occupation of Korea, I feel it should not have included condemnation of this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2012
I would like to give zero stars if possible. This book is full of lies but Yoko Kawashima writes it like it's her autobiography. I can't believe that this was once recommended to American students. Japanese soldiers were the ones who abused Korean women, not the reverse. During the time period she stayed in North Korea, there were no communist soldiers yet. America had ordered Japanese soldiers to stay and keep the country in order (although they had already surrendered to them) until American soldiers could come into Korea. Yoko Kawashima left Korea before the Japanese soldiers were removed. There were no airborn attacks from American planes in Korea. And the wierdest thing in this story is the title. There are no bamboo groves in North Korea or South Korea. Not to this day. North Korea has a very cold climate. Bamboo groves cannot grow there. This story is lies from the title.
September 14, 2018
100% curious - would this book be so lauded in America today if it was written by a 2nd gen German-American immigrant who was the child of a German official fleeing Nazi-occupied France in the aftermath of WWII? Would the writer's description of scary US soldiers and angry French mobs attacking her family for no reason seem a little short-sighted and forgetful of history? I'm genuinely intrigued by the people who would denounce this book if it was written from a European perspective but sing praises of it because it is Japanese.
Obviously Ms. Watkins has been through a lot. I do not approve of war or rape nor am I trying to say that she never faced hardships. But she clearly grew up in a position of power and privilege before the end of WWII. I'm not trying to directly accuse her of war crimes. She was only a child then. But her family's well-being was built on the countless murder, forced labor, and rape of Koreans. I've seen reviews that compare her to Anne Frank which are either born out of ignorance or historical revisionism - perhaps a bit of both. Anne Frank never belonged to an occupying imperial force. Her family did not willingly facilitate the annexation and subjugation of other sovereign nations. Anne Frank was a victim of systemic genocide and war crimes. Why are we comparing her to the child of an imperialist? The historical equivalent here would not be Anne Frank, but rather a Goebbels.
I remember reading this book in middle school as a part of a mandatory class curriculum. It was incredibly belittling to me even then. As someone with multiple history degrees now, I honestly cannot believe that this is still required reading in 2018.
Obviously Ms. Watkins has been through a lot. I do not approve of war or rape nor am I trying to say that she never faced hardships. But she clearly grew up in a position of power and privilege before the end of WWII. I'm not trying to directly accuse her of war crimes. She was only a child then. But her family's well-being was built on the countless murder, forced labor, and rape of Koreans. I've seen reviews that compare her to Anne Frank which are either born out of ignorance or historical revisionism - perhaps a bit of both. Anne Frank never belonged to an occupying imperial force. Her family did not willingly facilitate the annexation and subjugation of other sovereign nations. Anne Frank was a victim of systemic genocide and war crimes. Why are we comparing her to the child of an imperialist? The historical equivalent here would not be Anne Frank, but rather a Goebbels.
I remember reading this book in middle school as a part of a mandatory class curriculum. It was incredibly belittling to me even then. As someone with multiple history degrees now, I honestly cannot believe that this is still required reading in 2018.
July 30, 2017
Downgrading my rating from 3.5 stars to 1 star. Upon reading, I thought this was historical fiction. But alas, it is just fiction. The military actions mentioned never took place. I feel misled by this book. If you want a researched historical fiction account of this time, When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park would be my recommendation.
May 20, 2019
اثرگذارترین کتاب دوران نوجوانی من... یادمه توی اون سن با تک تک شخصیتاش زندگی کردم و گریه کردم... هنوزم وقتی به این سوال که بهترین کتاب که خوندی چی بوده بر میخورم یکی از کتابا که میاد تو ذهنم این کتابه.
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March 23, 2013This is the first time ever that I don't want to rate a book I have read - and this has nothing to do with the author's writing which I thought was very compelling. When I picked it up, I had no idea how controversial the novel had become over the years. For me it was just another book that caught my interest as I browsed our shelves. While reading, it didn't take long before I was in tears the first time - and decided then and there that the brutalities referred to in the book made it unsuitable for primary school students. The reader feels for young Yoko who has to flee and take on a horrifying journey with her family from Northern Korea to their home country Japan. Her courage and determination, the family's love for one another, are admirable. And yet, when I came to the end of the book, I felt somehow hanging, as if something had remained unresolved, not sure why. Maybe because there was little said about the father, a high-ranking Japanese government official, or about Korea's history. I am not sure - maybe it was because I had recently read a book that spoke about the Japanese presence in Korea at the end of World War II (When My Name was Keoko). Anyway, I began to read some reviews and realized how extreme the views about this book were. I haven't really figured out what to think about the novel and hope I will get a chance to discuss it with some of my friends. Therefore, at this point I can only suggest you read the book, read some of the reviews, and then decide for yourself what to think about the book.
April 2, 2009
i was looking at possible books for teachers to teach, and i came across this title, so i did what i always do when i'm unfamiliar with a title, i went to amazon.com and looked at it's summary. much to my surprise, there were great reviews along with some really negative ones with real specific beefs. i'm finding that the beefs are pretty well founded....
this book wasn't bad, but if it's taught without a little history, the koreans look like total barbarians. it's unfortunate that at the end of the book, there is a note saying that it's not important to know of the history of korea to understand the book. that's kinda true, but also very false. it's a little strange that this book has been accepted and is even compared to "night" (bad bad comparison) by some. i think that guilt about the atomic bombs may have something to do with this. that's just my personal opinion though.
this book wasn't bad, but if it's taught without a little history, the koreans look like total barbarians. it's unfortunate that at the end of the book, there is a note saying that it's not important to know of the history of korea to understand the book. that's kinda true, but also very false. it's a little strange that this book has been accepted and is even compared to "night" (bad bad comparison) by some. i think that guilt about the atomic bombs may have something to do with this. that's just my personal opinion though.
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October 8, 2024نویسنده ی کتاب؛ یوکو کاواشیما، در زمان جنگ جهانی دوم به همراه مادر، خواهر و برادر بزرگترش در شهری به نام نانام در خاک کره ی شمالی که اون زمان مستعمره ی ژاپن بود زندگی میکرد،
پدر یوکو هم در منچوری مشغول به کار بود..
وقتی که جنگ شدت گرفت اوضاع برای ژاپنی هایی که ساکن کره شمالی بودن سخت شد، چون گروه های کمونیست کره ای از استعمار و تبدیل شدن کشورشون به میدان جنگ ناراضی بودن و به همین دلیل دست به کشت و کشتار ژاپنی ها میزدن!
این اوضاع پس از تمام شدن جنگ و استقلال کره ی شمالی نه تنها پایان نگرفت بلکه شدیدتر هم شد و عده ی کثیری از ژاپنی هایی که در این کشور و اطرافش زندگی میکردن در دوران جنگ و پس از آتش بس، مجبور به فرار و رسوندن خودشون به ژاپن شدن!!
در این بین تعداد زیادی از پناهندگان یا توسط کره ای ها کشته شدن و یا به دلیل بیماری، سرما، گرسنگی و… جون خودشون رو از دست دادن..
خانواده ی کاواشیما جزو گروه های ژاپنی ای بودن که با سختی بسیار موفق به فرار از کره به ژاپن شدن
و یوکو؛ دختر کوچکشون، خاطرات و تجربیات اون دورانشون رو در این مجموعه ی دو جلدی(که گویا فقط همین یک جلدش به فارسی ترجمه شده) گرد آوری کرده و به چاپ رسونده…
من قبلا هم گفتم راجع به کتابهایی که خود زندگی نامه یا مجموعه ای از خاطرات نویسنده هستن و به مسائل خاص و حساسی مثل جنگ، اردوگاه های کار اجباری و.. میپردازن خیلی خوشبین نیستم چون بارها بهم ثابت شده که دروغهای زیادی توسط نویسنده، لا به لای حقایق گنجونده شده و من اعتماد چندانی به مطالب اینجور کتابها ندارم و معمولا امتیازی هم بهشون نمیدم…
پدر یوکو هم در منچوری مشغول به کار بود..
وقتی که جنگ شدت گرفت اوضاع برای ژاپنی هایی که ساکن کره شمالی بودن سخت شد، چون گروه های کمونیست کره ای از استعمار و تبدیل شدن کشورشون به میدان جنگ ناراضی بودن و به همین دلیل دست به کشت و کشتار ژاپنی ها میزدن!
این اوضاع پس از تمام شدن جنگ و استقلال کره ی شمالی نه تنها پایان نگرفت بلکه شدیدتر هم شد و عده ی کثیری از ژاپنی هایی که در این کشور و اطرافش زندگی میکردن در دوران جنگ و پس از آتش بس، مجبور به فرار و رسوندن خودشون به ژاپن شدن!!
در این بین تعداد زیادی از پناهندگان یا توسط کره ای ها کشته شدن و یا به دلیل بیماری، سرما، گرسنگی و… جون خودشون رو از دست دادن..
خانواده ی کاواشیما جزو گروه های ژاپنی ای بودن که با سختی بسیار موفق به فرار از کره به ژاپن شدن
و یوکو؛ دختر کوچکشون، خاطرات و تجربیات اون دورانشون رو در این مجموعه ی دو جلدی(که گویا فقط همین یک جلدش به فارسی ترجمه شده) گرد آوری کرده و به چاپ رسونده…
من قبلا هم گفتم راجع به کتابهایی که خود زندگی نامه یا مجموعه ای از خاطرات نویسنده هستن و به مسائل خاص و حساسی مثل جنگ، اردوگاه های کار اجباری و.. میپردازن خیلی خوشبین نیستم چون بارها بهم ثابت شده که دروغهای زیادی توسط نویسنده، لا به لای حقایق گنجونده شده و من اعتماد چندانی به مطالب اینجور کتابها ندارم و معمولا امتیازی هم بهشون نمیدم…
September 14, 2010
I love reading books that are based on true stories, and this one had me from the beginning. Yoko is a Japanese girl living in Korea during World War II. As the war is about to end, her family realizes they need to leave the country and get back to Japan. Her journey is remarkable! This novel allowed me to see life during the war from a young Japanese girl's persepective. Yoko is a character I will never forget.
July 16, 2013
My teacher in middle school, made this a required reading. Ever since reading the first page, it is one of my all time favorite books. It changed my life. Right before reading it my mother died of cancer when I was 12. I didn't know what cremation meant until I read this book. Although that isn't what this story is about, it meant a great deal to me. I love this book, one I will read over again in a heartbeat.
July 5, 2009
This rainy fourth of july was actually the first time I read this children's classic. I found it a profoundly moving novel, and I would certainly recommend it to my students. It sheds a different light on our Japanese "enemies" during World War II, and it reminds us of the essential humanity of all people, which often gets lost and/or forgotten in the heat of battle.
September 29, 2011
So Far from the Bamboo Grove was spectacular! This memoir reminds me much of the story of Anne Frank because of both of their inner-self. If I were to be in Anne Frank's or Yoko Kawashima(the main character in So Far From The Bamboo Grove) and I was in the middle of World War II going on and I have to travel from one place to another, I would be with my family, but I wouldn't be in the same home I have lived, grew up, and created memories in; I would be in a place that was half-comfortable to me. For instance, if I were to be sleeping in a bed, or no bed at all, it wouldn't feel like "home" to me because I've adjusted myself to be sleeping in a caved in bed with white sheets and a crazy pattern-like bedding, but to be taking that away from me is a struggle to get use to and if I was known to have my mom make food for me and take care of me and love me, it changes when you are in a struggle to survive if you were just a 12 year old girl who only knew little about surviving as an escapee/refugee.
I could tell throughout the memoir that the Yoko, the main character, developed herself as a character by her needs and just her dialogue in general! From time in the book, Yoko was happy, but for silly things a rich person would think was completely nothing; silly objects like food, money, and a home. Yoko had transparent emotions, even though it was secretly hiding through a blanket of words. What really took me was when Yoko started going to school in Japan right after they (Ko, Mother and Yoko)came back from Korea; the city they were in was Fukuoka, Japan.
"She turned to me. 'For your cleaning assignment today you will be part of the group that does this room.' Then she placed me in a back seat. I felt desperately unhappy and out of place with these girls in their fine clothes. All had long hair, some in braids. Then a man teacher came in, a history teacher, it turned out. I had no books, no pencil or paper, but I listened. Loneliness attacked me again and I sniffed back tears. I could not wait for school to be over so that I could get back to the station, where I belonged, with Mother and Ko. After class, I had to linger for my cleaning assignment. Some of the girls, as they went out, tossed papers into a wastepaper basket. This gave me an idea and I examined the basket. The papers were crumpled, but many had little writing and all were blank on one side. I picked them up and smoothed the wrinkled sheets. I looked for a pencil too, but there was none. 'You want more paper?' a girl asked. She made an airplane with a piece of notebook paper and aimed at me. The others laughed. I bit my lip, but I did not shed tears when it flew, for collecting papers was a lot easier than looking for food in trash cans. Trying to ignore the girls, I unfolded the airplane and smoothed the wrinkles. There were six of us left to do the cleaning assignment. I had no dustcloth so I asked a girl with a broom if I could sweep, and she shoved the broom at me and walked off. As I swept and came near the girls who were dusting, they scattered, as if I were carrying contagion. If they had gone through what we had experienced, I thought, they would be compassionate. They just don't know! Tears came again as I swept. I longed not only for Mother and Ko but for Father and Hideyo." paragraph six, seven, and eight from page 95 and paragraph one, two, and three from page 96 in So Far From the Bamboo Grove.
In these paragraphs(in quotes), I could react to the pain Yoko was going through (because with all the travelling and hiding your true identity and other elements that were obvious in the text) because if I were to be caught up in the "drama" with the girls that were bullying me about my appearence, it would hurt me because of knowing what such I went through. If I were to be one of the girls and I was looking Yoko up and down in her torn-like, poor clothes, I would know to be supportive of her, just by her appearence.
In Yoko's point of view, her older sister, Ko, can be harsh most of the time and bossy, but what comes out of that is even more. "My legs became numb. I whined, 'I can't walk anymore.' 'You've got to,' Ko said bluntly, 'Don't talk, just walk!' She was getting very bossy." The first two dialogues on page 38 of So Far From The Bamboo Grove. "And then Ko yelled, 'Stay where you are!' She was hopping back on the ties as easily as if she were jumping rope. She had no pack on her back. When she reached us she turned around, bent over and said to me, 'Hop on.' I put myself on her back and locked my arms around her neck. 'Don't choke me, Little One,' said Ko, and coughed. I turned my head toward Mother, and the smile she gave me spoke worlds." At the bottom of page 39 and top of page 40. Those harsh and demanding words took more loving action than the Anti-Japenese Communist Army's similar words. It really means that if you yell and demand something at a person you love and want to survive and do well in life, the words are worth something and it's for the "person that is listening's" sake. It just shows that they (Ko, in this case) believes that whoever they are talking to (Yoko) can make it (Yoko can win the fight for survival).
How Yoko thinks of Mother is that she is more gentle and Yoko herself can know that she has her Mom there by her side and that she isn't completely alone. "'I have learned about good schools,' Mother said. 'I'll take you there tomorrow.' 'I have no clothes!' I protested. 'And look at my shoe, ripped open. I don't want to go to school!' I was going to school, she told me, to learn and to become and educated person. I did not need to decorate myslef." The second paragraph on page 92 in So Far From The Bamboo Grove. Again, this little conversation symbolized love. If Mother hadn't said those words and put it in a gentle form, then Yoko wouldn't have felt loved and she wouldn't have known that her Mother cares about her and her future. Mother would have had a clue about Yoko leading a normal life once more again and think that Yoko, and Ko, would be the future.
Yoko Kawashima sets a tone for herself throughtout the book. In the beginning of the book, she set herself as a person that did her work and was a good person, but once the Anti-Japenese Communists came through Japan, attitudes and emotions changed for Yoko, Ko, and Mother. Ko started to get more bossy; Yoko began to feel more saddness inside and lonliness, and basically she felt new to the new unknown world that the family was going through, but to me, and maybe Yoko, Mother seemed like she was use to the action of being an escapee. It felt like she knew how it was to be alone, and gentle when people are at their worst, and everything that falls in between.
Then there was Hideyo, the Honorable Brother of Yoko and I assume yonger brother of Ko. Hideyo was all by himself from ecaping from Japan to Korea, then from Korea back to Japan. He was more alone than ever. He didn't have a family to be with and no one to be able to talk to. Also to mention, he was traveling, towards the end of the book, in heavy snow and fell unconscious and ended to live with a temporary family. After explaining to the family that he had to go find his real family, he set out to locate any lving or word-by-word clue of finding his Mother (who was dead at the time) and his two sisters. All on his own, with the help of a letter stabbed onto a bulletin board that was written by his little sister, Yoko, he found his way back to them. Captivating and Ispiring to have a character like him able to live life on his own for over a year.
Do you remember when I mentioned the similar or duplicate character of Yoko Kawashima? If not, her name was Anne Frank. They both were very similar in character, and also in traditions. Although in Anne Frank's Diary, she doesn't mention much of her traditions as Yoko does in spots of chapters, but there is little to compare and contrast.
Compare: 1) On each of their New Year's Eve/Day, both cultures prepare a type of feast and/or colorful food to celebrate the new year to come.
2) Anne and Yoko's traditions are similar in the reasons of dance. At a get-together/performance/special occasion, festival, or even a wedding, there are traditional dances that are an act of a welcoming (mood) or any other act of a sign.
3) Both characters have or use calligraphy in their lives.
Contrast: 1) Both main characters have different religions. Anne Frank follows the Judaism religion when Yoko Kawashima most likely would follow the Buddhism or Shinto religion. So it would be obvious that beliefs and doings would be a difference.
2) For the men in a Jewish religion (Anne Frank), where the Kippah which is a type of head dressing that would be worn whenever is possible. For the women in Japan (Yoko Kawashima), they where kimonos for religious reasons or/and traditional reasons.
Overall, I liked this book, and I loved how all the siblings reunited at the end of the novel, but what really saddened me was that the Mother had passed away and the Father never returned (in the book) from Manchuria, and as well as the refugees that were minorly explained in the memoir, but mainly... outstanding writing and a work of art.
-Kajal Patel
I could tell throughout the memoir that the Yoko, the main character, developed herself as a character by her needs and just her dialogue in general! From time in the book, Yoko was happy, but for silly things a rich person would think was completely nothing; silly objects like food, money, and a home. Yoko had transparent emotions, even though it was secretly hiding through a blanket of words. What really took me was when Yoko started going to school in Japan right after they (Ko, Mother and Yoko)came back from Korea; the city they were in was Fukuoka, Japan.
"She turned to me. 'For your cleaning assignment today you will be part of the group that does this room.' Then she placed me in a back seat. I felt desperately unhappy and out of place with these girls in their fine clothes. All had long hair, some in braids. Then a man teacher came in, a history teacher, it turned out. I had no books, no pencil or paper, but I listened. Loneliness attacked me again and I sniffed back tears. I could not wait for school to be over so that I could get back to the station, where I belonged, with Mother and Ko. After class, I had to linger for my cleaning assignment. Some of the girls, as they went out, tossed papers into a wastepaper basket. This gave me an idea and I examined the basket. The papers were crumpled, but many had little writing and all were blank on one side. I picked them up and smoothed the wrinkled sheets. I looked for a pencil too, but there was none. 'You want more paper?' a girl asked. She made an airplane with a piece of notebook paper and aimed at me. The others laughed. I bit my lip, but I did not shed tears when it flew, for collecting papers was a lot easier than looking for food in trash cans. Trying to ignore the girls, I unfolded the airplane and smoothed the wrinkles. There were six of us left to do the cleaning assignment. I had no dustcloth so I asked a girl with a broom if I could sweep, and she shoved the broom at me and walked off. As I swept and came near the girls who were dusting, they scattered, as if I were carrying contagion. If they had gone through what we had experienced, I thought, they would be compassionate. They just don't know! Tears came again as I swept. I longed not only for Mother and Ko but for Father and Hideyo." paragraph six, seven, and eight from page 95 and paragraph one, two, and three from page 96 in So Far From the Bamboo Grove.
In these paragraphs(in quotes), I could react to the pain Yoko was going through (because with all the travelling and hiding your true identity and other elements that were obvious in the text) because if I were to be caught up in the "drama" with the girls that were bullying me about my appearence, it would hurt me because of knowing what such I went through. If I were to be one of the girls and I was looking Yoko up and down in her torn-like, poor clothes, I would know to be supportive of her, just by her appearence.
In Yoko's point of view, her older sister, Ko, can be harsh most of the time and bossy, but what comes out of that is even more. "My legs became numb. I whined, 'I can't walk anymore.' 'You've got to,' Ko said bluntly, 'Don't talk, just walk!' She was getting very bossy." The first two dialogues on page 38 of So Far From The Bamboo Grove. "And then Ko yelled, 'Stay where you are!' She was hopping back on the ties as easily as if she were jumping rope. She had no pack on her back. When she reached us she turned around, bent over and said to me, 'Hop on.' I put myself on her back and locked my arms around her neck. 'Don't choke me, Little One,' said Ko, and coughed. I turned my head toward Mother, and the smile she gave me spoke worlds." At the bottom of page 39 and top of page 40. Those harsh and demanding words took more loving action than the Anti-Japenese Communist Army's similar words. It really means that if you yell and demand something at a person you love and want to survive and do well in life, the words are worth something and it's for the "person that is listening's" sake. It just shows that they (Ko, in this case) believes that whoever they are talking to (Yoko) can make it (Yoko can win the fight for survival).
How Yoko thinks of Mother is that she is more gentle and Yoko herself can know that she has her Mom there by her side and that she isn't completely alone. "'I have learned about good schools,' Mother said. 'I'll take you there tomorrow.' 'I have no clothes!' I protested. 'And look at my shoe, ripped open. I don't want to go to school!' I was going to school, she told me, to learn and to become and educated person. I did not need to decorate myslef." The second paragraph on page 92 in So Far From The Bamboo Grove. Again, this little conversation symbolized love. If Mother hadn't said those words and put it in a gentle form, then Yoko wouldn't have felt loved and she wouldn't have known that her Mother cares about her and her future. Mother would have had a clue about Yoko leading a normal life once more again and think that Yoko, and Ko, would be the future.
Yoko Kawashima sets a tone for herself throughtout the book. In the beginning of the book, she set herself as a person that did her work and was a good person, but once the Anti-Japenese Communists came through Japan, attitudes and emotions changed for Yoko, Ko, and Mother. Ko started to get more bossy; Yoko began to feel more saddness inside and lonliness, and basically she felt new to the new unknown world that the family was going through, but to me, and maybe Yoko, Mother seemed like she was use to the action of being an escapee. It felt like she knew how it was to be alone, and gentle when people are at their worst, and everything that falls in between.
Then there was Hideyo, the Honorable Brother of Yoko and I assume yonger brother of Ko. Hideyo was all by himself from ecaping from Japan to Korea, then from Korea back to Japan. He was more alone than ever. He didn't have a family to be with and no one to be able to talk to. Also to mention, he was traveling, towards the end of the book, in heavy snow and fell unconscious and ended to live with a temporary family. After explaining to the family that he had to go find his real family, he set out to locate any lving or word-by-word clue of finding his Mother (who was dead at the time) and his two sisters. All on his own, with the help of a letter stabbed onto a bulletin board that was written by his little sister, Yoko, he found his way back to them. Captivating and Ispiring to have a character like him able to live life on his own for over a year.
Do you remember when I mentioned the similar or duplicate character of Yoko Kawashima? If not, her name was Anne Frank. They both were very similar in character, and also in traditions. Although in Anne Frank's Diary, she doesn't mention much of her traditions as Yoko does in spots of chapters, but there is little to compare and contrast.
Compare: 1) On each of their New Year's Eve/Day, both cultures prepare a type of feast and/or colorful food to celebrate the new year to come.
2) Anne and Yoko's traditions are similar in the reasons of dance. At a get-together/performance/special occasion, festival, or even a wedding, there are traditional dances that are an act of a welcoming (mood) or any other act of a sign.
3) Both characters have or use calligraphy in their lives.
Contrast: 1) Both main characters have different religions. Anne Frank follows the Judaism religion when Yoko Kawashima most likely would follow the Buddhism or Shinto religion. So it would be obvious that beliefs and doings would be a difference.
2) For the men in a Jewish religion (Anne Frank), where the Kippah which is a type of head dressing that would be worn whenever is possible. For the women in Japan (Yoko Kawashima), they where kimonos for religious reasons or/and traditional reasons.
Overall, I liked this book, and I loved how all the siblings reunited at the end of the novel, but what really saddened me was that the Mother had passed away and the Father never returned (in the book) from Manchuria, and as well as the refugees that were minorly explained in the memoir, but mainly... outstanding writing and a work of art.
-Kajal Patel
July 8, 2010
Having read When my name was Keoko, which was the Korean point of view on the Japanese occupation of Korea, I then picked up this book, "So far from the Bamboo Grove", the first in a two volume autobiographical novel series by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, a Japanese girl who grew up in Korea, the child of a member of the Japanese ruling class. When the war began to go badly for the Japanese, and the Korean Communist party/forces attack the Japanese colonialists, Yoko, her mother and sister leave and begin to walk south to Seoul. The bamboo grove where they once lived, in fact, gets very little time. As the story opens, their lives are already relatively hard (although I was glad to have the back story of Keoko , because it gives an angle that one just would NOT get simply from reading this. (Given that Kawashima was quite young at the time, this isn't exactly surprising).) There is basically just enough time to introduce Colonel Matsumura before the Kawashima family escapes. The brother, Hideyo, follows the women a week later, and for a great deal of the book the narrative is split between the two.
This is a very important book. It's the only one I know of at the moment that covers immediate post-war Japan, in English, for a YA audience. (Anyone with any recs, please provide!) I really appreciate the reminder that life in Japan was anything but easy post-war. (Because by the time I went to Japan, it all seemed so … repaired. And shiny.) So, yeah. The Kawashima family are refugees in a defeated Japan. And refugees are pretty much as low as you can get, especially from Korea, and post-war.
There were so many little moments of cultural reminder: of festivals and how birth dates are calculated and the realities of post-war life: it's just wonderful from that angle, and probably also wonderful from a plain old literary standpoint.
I'm very glad that I made the decision to make the Kawashima Watkins books a priority in my final weeks with this marvellous collection.
This is a very important book. It's the only one I know of at the moment that covers immediate post-war Japan, in English, for a YA audience. (Anyone with any recs, please provide!) I really appreciate the reminder that life in Japan was anything but easy post-war. (Because by the time I went to Japan, it all seemed so … repaired. And shiny.) So, yeah. The Kawashima family are refugees in a defeated Japan. And refugees are pretty much as low as you can get, especially from Korea, and post-war.
There were so many little moments of cultural reminder: of festivals and how birth dates are calculated and the realities of post-war life: it's just wonderful from that angle, and probably also wonderful from a plain old literary standpoint.
I'm very glad that I made the decision to make the Kawashima Watkins books a priority in my final weeks with this marvellous collection.
February 1, 2015
I originally read this book in middle school. The author lived in the next town over, so she came to my school and read the book to us. Later there was Q&A and it was a very memorable experience. Yoko even autographed copies of her book for us kids. This was a great book and it tought me about life in a different time and place.
April 11, 2013
For most of its history, Korea was the subject of a continual power struggle between Japan, Russia and China. In 1905, Japan defeated Russia in a naval war over the right to control Korea’s port cities. Japanese businessmen began filtering into Korea because of the commercial value these port cities possessed. Yoko Kawashima was the eight year old daughter of such a businessman. She and her family lived in the middle of a bamboo grove near the city of Nanam, Korea, while her father worked and often stayed overnight in the port city of Manchuria which was about a day’s journey away. This story begins near the end of WWII. It is the story of a family struggling to escape capture by the Korean Communist party, then eventually to start life over in Japan. Beginning in their home city of Nanam, Yoko, her sister Ko, and their mother journeyed for several weeks by foot to reach the city of Seoul where they hoped to find her older brother Hideyo. Eventually they were forced to move on to another city by the roughness of the men who began filtering into Seoul. After leaving notes by the railway station for Hideyo, they found a free ride on a Red Cross train headed for Pusan. From there they took a boat to Japan, again fearing the seedy (disreputable?) men who were overriding the city. Arriving in Fukuoka, Japan, Yoko’s mother decided to enroll her children in school despite their shortage of money. Yoko was against the idea, having always disliked school, but her mother enrolled her in a good school and paid for six months of tuition. Ko was accepted at a university nearby, and began attending there. Ko was then left in charge of Yoko while their mother went in search of relatives who might be able to provide them a home. Fitting in at school was a difficult task for the two girls; they were constantly teased for coming to school in rags, living at a railway stop, and scrounging for writing supplies in the trash. After several weeks of living on by themselves, their mother returned. She was extremely weak and ill from stress and lack of food, and died within hours of returning. In the whirlwind of burial arrangements, Yoko met a woman who took pity on the poor sisters and helped them find a cremation center. Additionally, this woman offered to let Yoko and Ko live with her. They gratefully accepted. From here on, life improved slowly but steadily. Ko started sewing and selling dresses from cloth she begged, Yoko found a friendly trash man who saved treasures that he found in the garbage to give her, and both sisters learned to work together in hardship. At last they found some good fortune when Yoko won first place in a writing competition and was awarded a sizeable sum of money. Subsequently, a friend who had known them when they had lived in Korea saw her name in the paper and came by to see what assistance he could offer them. This aid helped them make it through a cold, hungry winter and assured them that they were not alone. Finally came the happy end to a sad story: one night while preparing dinner, Yoko spotted a young man wondering slowly toward her house. She walked out to ask if he needed help, but found that he had indeed come to the right place. This was her brother, Hideyo, who had finally made a safe escape from Korea after so many months. Hideyo had been confronted with death multiple times on his journey, initially from hostile soldiers trying to track him, and then ultimately fighting a battle against winter which he barely survived. Years later these young adults were reunited with their father who had also escaped, but that was far ahead on the horizon. At this point Yoko, Ko, and Hideyo were content simply to be reunited with each other and at last be able to make themselves a new home, so far from the bamboo grove.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2017
Since my mother's family was in Manchuria and afterwards China during World War 2, I've been familiar with some incidents described in this non-fiction novel. While she doesn't like to talk much about her experiences on the way back to her homeland, Japan, I occasionally learnt her segmented stories about the escape, which were definitely harsh experiences to a ten-year-old girl at that time.
But my mother was lucky. She had her father together all along their escape from China’s continent. But the heroines of this novel, Yoko and Ko, did not. The main theme of this story is relationships between their mother and the daughters under the extremely harsh circumstance. In the chaotic situations, it is always women and children who suffer from the unreasonable violence. The total absence of her father in the novel has a symbolic significance in terms of the society at that time: men served the country rather than to directly protect their families. This issue has been emphasized in a context to criticize Japan’s militarism. But I feel that the absence of the paternity in a family is quite ubiquitous in Japan even today.
The most cruel part of the novel is not the sexual assaults in Busan, but that Yoko’s family witnessed devastated their mother country after their long struggles for the homecoming. The devastation is two-folds: Japanese cities (including Yoko’s hometown) were literally flattened by the US air raises. But it is more serious that Yoko had to be aware that Japan is not her “mother country” that she had long been seeking. Unlike her elder brother, who spent his childhood in Japan, Yoko and her elder sister Ko had to fight Japanese society to protect their identities. I feel that this is one of the most serious and sad parts of the novel.
This novel is not only a powerful story about Japanese escapees from China’s continent at the end of WW2, but also contains an objective and critical analysis on the Japanese society. I would strongly recommend this novel to everyone who is interested in Japan.
But my mother was lucky. She had her father together all along their escape from China’s continent. But the heroines of this novel, Yoko and Ko, did not. The main theme of this story is relationships between their mother and the daughters under the extremely harsh circumstance. In the chaotic situations, it is always women and children who suffer from the unreasonable violence. The total absence of her father in the novel has a symbolic significance in terms of the society at that time: men served the country rather than to directly protect their families. This issue has been emphasized in a context to criticize Japan’s militarism. But I feel that the absence of the paternity in a family is quite ubiquitous in Japan even today.
The most cruel part of the novel is not the sexual assaults in Busan, but that Yoko’s family witnessed devastated their mother country after their long struggles for the homecoming. The devastation is two-folds: Japanese cities (including Yoko’s hometown) were literally flattened by the US air raises. But it is more serious that Yoko had to be aware that Japan is not her “mother country” that she had long been seeking. Unlike her elder brother, who spent his childhood in Japan, Yoko and her elder sister Ko had to fight Japanese society to protect their identities. I feel that this is one of the most serious and sad parts of the novel.
This novel is not only a powerful story about Japanese escapees from China’s continent at the end of WW2, but also contains an objective and critical analysis on the Japanese society. I would strongly recommend this novel to everyone who is interested in Japan.
January 28, 2016
What caused me to review this specific book was an article in the Japan Times on-line site, dated Jan. 18, 2007, and entitled Book Claims Koreans Raped Japanese. My review of that article is in my current events section on atrocities.
I wanted to see if what the people were objecting to was really there. The book is about Yuko's mother and older sister fleeing from North Korea, trying to get to the south and away from the Korean Communists.
Very early in the book Yuko and the others are treated almost savagely by Japanese soldiers, not Koreans. They flee to the South and go through a series of very grim experiences, managing finally to get to a place where they are able to get a boat back to Japan.
Things don't get any better for Yuko and her sister, though, when their mother dies. Their brother is still missing in Korea, and their father is missing in Manchuria.
The events in the book that take place during the time they are fleeing to the south do include Koreans raping some Japanese. They also include Koreans murdering Japanese, and the events are quite believable, considering how the Koreans felt about the Japanese.
There is also a short historical section at the end of the book which clearly describes Japan's takeover of Korea and how the people felt, so the book is not hiding Japan's guilt in taking over Korea. It is simply a book about some Japanese fleeing and the experiences they went through; regardless of what had happened in the past, raping women and girls is not an acceptable form of behavior for anyone, period.
The book itself is well written and gripping. Grim, but gripping.
I wanted to see if what the people were objecting to was really there. The book is about Yuko's mother and older sister fleeing from North Korea, trying to get to the south and away from the Korean Communists.
Very early in the book Yuko and the others are treated almost savagely by Japanese soldiers, not Koreans. They flee to the South and go through a series of very grim experiences, managing finally to get to a place where they are able to get a boat back to Japan.
Things don't get any better for Yuko and her sister, though, when their mother dies. Their brother is still missing in Korea, and their father is missing in Manchuria.
The events in the book that take place during the time they are fleeing to the south do include Koreans raping some Japanese. They also include Koreans murdering Japanese, and the events are quite believable, considering how the Koreans felt about the Japanese.
There is also a short historical section at the end of the book which clearly describes Japan's takeover of Korea and how the people felt, so the book is not hiding Japan's guilt in taking over Korea. It is simply a book about some Japanese fleeing and the experiences they went through; regardless of what had happened in the past, raping women and girls is not an acceptable form of behavior for anyone, period.
The book itself is well written and gripping. Grim, but gripping.
November 8, 2015
(Historical, nonfiction 1986) This was recommended by the elementary school librarian where I repair books. There is so much I did NOT know about World War II! This story begins in Korea, just as Japan is bombed by the USA. At that time, Japan had control over Korea, and the Korean people revolt against that control. The story is written through the eyes of 11-year-old Yoko Kawashi. She, her older sister and her mother are forced to flee their home in Korea by the uprising, and make their way to the coast to find a ship to Japan. Her brother was not with them, so they leave messages wherever they can to let him know about their plans. Her father is also left behind, as he is in the soon-to-be-overthrown Japanese government. The story of their escape from Korea and survival in Japan is very moving. An interesting perspective on a little known (to me, anyway) part of history.
December 30, 2015
I read it during my childhood and it was one of the most inspiring, meaningful books i read. The book is a true page-turner. Back then, I recommended reading it to everyone i knew!
January 6, 2020
This book was so good. I wish everyone would read it. A fantastic memoir about resilience, family and hope.
Please, read it.
Please, read it.
November 18, 2017
“So Far from the Bamboo Grove” is a children’s book about Yoko the daughter of a Japanese official and her accounts of the harsh life she endured as she escaped Northeastern Korea during World War II. I came across this book accidentally, as it was a required reading for my child at school. After opening the pages, my eyes welled up with tears as I learned about the suffering she had to endure: watching people around her die by the ugly hands of war, observing women getting raped and other atrocities. After beating all odds to get back to Japan, Yoko learns that her remaining family in Japan were all killed by the Atomic bomb dropped by the Americans. Life for this pre-teen girl remained tough when returned home to Japan. Although she no longer feared for her life, Yoko still endured a miserable life: children teased her for wearing oversized garments confiscated from dead Soldiers and even suffer the loss of her mother that had protected her throughout the harrowing ordeal. This story draws sympathy toward the hardships faced by the waifish 12 y/o Japanese girl but it does so at a cost of ignoring the history of the Korean-Japanese conflict. The summery written by the author called the event “the rising terror of anti-Japanese hostility”. She unfairly gives this false narrative even though she writes that her brother was able to blend in with the Korean population by taking clothes from the dead Korean Family that supported her family before the war had begun. She consciously gave the Koreans this label even after learning herself that her brother who nearly froze to death, was taken into sanctuary by a Korean family and nursed backed to health until he could travel to reunite with his family in Japan. What is equally important is the story that happened years before the young girls account of her journey: That by 1904 the Japanese had forced reforms on Koreans. They had forced the Koreans to change their national language, change their names and disbanded their military and placed in lieu of it with a Japanese police force that tormented and tortured Korean citizens. In 1932 53% of all land in Korea was owned by the Japanese and the poor tenant farmers were forced to pay over half their crops as rent to fund the war- forcing farmers to send their wives and daughters into factories to work for free or into prostitution so they could pay their taxes. The butchery and shaming worsened during the war. Tens of thousands of Korean women were used as sex slaves for the Imperial Army and were coined as “comfort women” and the butchery imposed by the Japanese forces were also imposed on the Korean people. Because of this, the story is missing the perspective on why the Korean people opposed the Japanese. Had she never mentioned it on the cover-then I see this simply from her perspective. By labeling the Korean people after telling her compelling story- borders on history erasing and falsifying what really happened. That the Japanese were extremely brutal and in War it's often hard to determine the villain. Because of this I also oppose this type of children’s book to be used in schools unless the entire narrative or balanced story is applied.
February 20, 2016
I gave this a read b/c I wanted to see why Koreans hate it so much. They go nuts over it b/c it portrays Japanese folks in a kind light while also showing some of the evil potential of Koreans taking out their anger on their previous controllers upon war's end.
Surely that happened to some degree, but Koreans will likely continue thinking that they were perfect angels upon liberation and every point after that.
The book bothers me because it is supposed to be autobiographical fiction, the "fictional characters" share the same names as the author, etc. and it SEEMS like she's basically writing her story, but it's a story muddled. I would imagine she wrote this years after her actual experience and the narrative is effected by the distance of time. Invading Russian speak bad Korean to the characters (I just can't imagine them speaking any), bombs from planes fall on Korea (both as convenient plot devices and, wait, planes weren't bombing korea), they scrounge for food that doesn't seem Korean or Japanese at all (sandwiches and milk?), people have a very defined concept of the 38th parallel and the safety it entails in like August/Fall 1945, the border is highly militarized already, the Korean Communist Army is far more organized than the reality of that time, etc. etc.
There are some heart-wrenching moments, but overall, the loose history torpedoes the story and makes me wish I just picked up a nonfiction book on the subject.
Still, it's an important narrative. My wife's grandfather was a Japanese farmer in Manchuria who got TB fleeing and died a few years later from it. It's worth knowing that even these conquering people were people too, and they also suffered. Korean people need to realize that the world is not so black and white and get over admonishing such things. I just wish Watkins had been a little more on point with things.
2.75/5
Surely that happened to some degree, but Koreans will likely continue thinking that they were perfect angels upon liberation and every point after that.
The book bothers me because it is supposed to be autobiographical fiction, the "fictional characters" share the same names as the author, etc. and it SEEMS like she's basically writing her story, but it's a story muddled. I would imagine she wrote this years after her actual experience and the narrative is effected by the distance of time. Invading Russian speak bad Korean to the characters (I just can't imagine them speaking any), bombs from planes fall on Korea (both as convenient plot devices and, wait, planes weren't bombing korea), they scrounge for food that doesn't seem Korean or Japanese at all (sandwiches and milk?), people have a very defined concept of the 38th parallel and the safety it entails in like August/Fall 1945, the border is highly militarized already, the Korean Communist Army is far more organized than the reality of that time, etc. etc.
There are some heart-wrenching moments, but overall, the loose history torpedoes the story and makes me wish I just picked up a nonfiction book on the subject.
Still, it's an important narrative. My wife's grandfather was a Japanese farmer in Manchuria who got TB fleeing and died a few years later from it. It's worth knowing that even these conquering people were people too, and they also suffered. Korean people need to realize that the world is not so black and white and get over admonishing such things. I just wish Watkins had been a little more on point with things.
2.75/5
March 22, 2021
What if a novel that claims a daughter of a Nazi officer was raped by Jewish people, is sold as a bestseller on Amazon?
"So Far from the Bamboo Grove", the novel that turns a perpetrator into a victim and a rapist into a victim.
On Amazon, the book is being sold as a best seller around the world, ranking #124 in Children's Violence Books (Books), #372 in Children's Military Fiction (Books), and #447 in Children's Asia Books. The current introduction of the book on Amazon follows the contents of the back cover of this book as it is, introducing this book as a "true story" rather than a "fiction".
Could a story of a Nazi girl suffering from the Jews after World War Ⅱ be distributed as a true story?
"So Far From the Bamboo Grove", an “autobiographical” novel by American-Japanese Yoko Kawashima Watkins, contains that Japanese people were raped and assaulted by Koreans in the process of leaving Korea shortly before and after Japan's defeat in World War Ⅱ.
This book encourages racism toward Koreans.
In this novel, Koreans are portrayed as perpetrators, or evil people, while Japanese are portrayed as unjust victims and war refugees. When teenagers around the world, including the United States, read this book without knowing the history of East Asia and the history of Korean during the Japanese colonial occupation at school, they will perceive that Koreans were the perpetrators and Japanese were the victims.
This book is promoted as a novel written based on a true story, saying that it is a "Japanese version of Anne Frank's Diary". But in reality, through this book, Japanese war crimes are glossed over, and Koreans transformed into perpetrators and Japanese into victims.
What's worse is that "So Far From the Bamboo Grove" is a novel that distorted historical facts.
This book also described that the main character Yoko took a train in the middle of the night, leaving behind an air raid by the US B-29 bomber that flew to Nanam, North Hamgyeong Province, where she lived.
However, in fact, the US (Army) Air Force did not directly bomb the Korean Peninsula at that time. The B-29 could not even afford to air strike the northern part of the Korean Peninsula due to its flight range.
Yoko described that there were many sexual assaults on Japanese by Koreans, so she and her mother wrapped their front of upper body to disguise themselves as men, and stood up when they needed to urinate. However, this description also lacks credibility. Even after the defeat of Japan, it still did not disarm on the Korean peninsula until the US and Soviet troops disarmed Japanese troops based on the 38th parallel. Rather, Koreans who were welcoming liberation were even killed by Japanese troops.
"So Far from the Bamboo Grove", the novel that turns a perpetrator into a victim and a rapist into a victim.
On Amazon, the book is being sold as a best seller around the world, ranking #124 in Children's Violence Books (Books), #372 in Children's Military Fiction (Books), and #447 in Children's Asia Books. The current introduction of the book on Amazon follows the contents of the back cover of this book as it is, introducing this book as a "true story" rather than a "fiction".
Could a story of a Nazi girl suffering from the Jews after World War Ⅱ be distributed as a true story?
"So Far From the Bamboo Grove", an “autobiographical” novel by American-Japanese Yoko Kawashima Watkins, contains that Japanese people were raped and assaulted by Koreans in the process of leaving Korea shortly before and after Japan's defeat in World War Ⅱ.
This book encourages racism toward Koreans.
In this novel, Koreans are portrayed as perpetrators, or evil people, while Japanese are portrayed as unjust victims and war refugees. When teenagers around the world, including the United States, read this book without knowing the history of East Asia and the history of Korean during the Japanese colonial occupation at school, they will perceive that Koreans were the perpetrators and Japanese were the victims.
This book is promoted as a novel written based on a true story, saying that it is a "Japanese version of Anne Frank's Diary". But in reality, through this book, Japanese war crimes are glossed over, and Koreans transformed into perpetrators and Japanese into victims.
What's worse is that "So Far From the Bamboo Grove" is a novel that distorted historical facts.
This book also described that the main character Yoko took a train in the middle of the night, leaving behind an air raid by the US B-29 bomber that flew to Nanam, North Hamgyeong Province, where she lived.
However, in fact, the US (Army) Air Force did not directly bomb the Korean Peninsula at that time. The B-29 could not even afford to air strike the northern part of the Korean Peninsula due to its flight range.
Yoko described that there were many sexual assaults on Japanese by Koreans, so she and her mother wrapped their front of upper body to disguise themselves as men, and stood up when they needed to urinate. However, this description also lacks credibility. Even after the defeat of Japan, it still did not disarm on the Korean peninsula until the US and Soviet troops disarmed Japanese troops based on the 38th parallel. Rather, Koreans who were welcoming liberation were even killed by Japanese troops.
September 30, 2011
The theme for this book is taking place around the time of the vietnam war. When Japan is under attack by Korean gorillas, Japanese families spring to action. 8 year old Yoko Kawshima is on the run for her birth Place, Japan. She is running with her mother and sister on voyage to safety. Yoko had long beutiful, black hair, as well as her mother and sister, before it became to dangerous to be traveling as women and girls. So they shaved it all off. Yoko is motivated to get to Japan and finally meet her grandparents, and hopefully meet up with her Father, a Leader of Japan, and her brother Hideyo, who was helping with the army's ammunition. When Hideyo went away, he was suprised to be coming home to everything but a warm and friendly welcome. Instead, he saw the door to his house open, with the bolts Knocked off. He rushed inside only to find a note that his honorable sister had written for him. It basically said to meet with them in Soule, where they would there travel together to Japan and stay with their grandparents. When Hideyo doesn't come quickly enough, they start to worry, Where could Hideyo be? Now the mother of the Kawashima family has not eaten for weeks, and when they arrive in Japan, she announces that she will be going alone to the grandparents house to check up on them and ask a few questions. But when she comes back she is ill for she has eaten barely anything since they escaped. Honorable mother dies straight in front of Yoko and when honorable sister gets back from school, she is devistated to find that her mother has died, but they only have little money to use for a funeral.The book is being shown through an eight and 16 year old boy who are trying to survive in this horrible time. The author did a great job of showing how tense it was, or how frightened someone could be.
March 1, 2017
This bullshit book is just as bad as Hitler's Mein Kampf if not worse. Author wrote up some fantasy story about her persecution from Chinese and Koreans during WWII. Her father was a military officer during the Nanking Massacre in Manchuria. The infamous Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731 performed human experiments on living humans there. They tortured people with chemical weapons and cut them open without anesthesia while they were alive. It's sickening to my stomach how Yoko Kawashima Watkins and the Japanese promote themselves as the victims after they've killed so many people including women and children. The author is a delusional sociopath for creating this nonsense that offends the millions murdered in the hands of the Japanese army during their aggression during WWII.
Educators! Please do yourselves and the children you teach a favor and do some research before you spread this crap in your classrooms. It's your responsibility as educators!
Educators! Please do yourselves and the children you teach a favor and do some research before you spread this crap in your classrooms. It's your responsibility as educators!
January 24, 2021
وقتی این کتاب شروع کردم داشتم با خودم فکر میکردم که فکر کنید داخل خونتون هستید و در آرامش دارید زندگی میکنی یک دفعه همه زندگی تون از دست بدی خانواده ت خونت کسایی که دوسشون داری اون بخاطر چی؟به خاطر جنگ به خاطر یه بمب..
کی میشه تمامی این جنگ ها تموم شه:)
همه تو صلح زندگی کنن
این کتاب خیلی قشنگ بودش
درباره جنگ کره و ژاپن بود
سختی هایی که مردمش کشیدن و بمب باران بزرگ که توی مرکز شهر توکیو اتفاق افتاد که تمامی مردمش کشته شدن شهر ویران شده بود همه جا داخل آتش سوخت و نابود شد
حتما بخونید:)
بعضی از قسمت کتاب درباره سختی های زندگی میگفت واقعا قلبم درد میگرفت
کی میشه تمامی این جنگ ها تموم شه:)
همه تو صلح زندگی کنن
این کتاب خیلی قشنگ بودش
درباره جنگ کره و ژاپن بود
سختی هایی که مردمش کشیدن و بمب باران بزرگ که توی مرکز شهر توکیو اتفاق افتاد که تمامی مردمش کشته شدن شهر ویران شده بود همه جا داخل آتش سوخت و نابود شد
حتما بخونید:)
بعضی از قسمت کتاب درباره سختی های زندگی میگفت واقعا قلبم درد میگرفت
June 23, 2025
This is a powerful survival story about a Japanese girl fleeing Korea at the end of WWII. It shows how terrifying war can be for civilians.
That said, I read it with an understanding of Japan’s colonization of Korea, and that made a big difference. So while I felt for Yoko, I didn’t forget the bigger history behind what was happening. (I hope students are taught the historical context before reading this book).
While the story may not be inaccurate, it’s incomplete. It’s important to read it with context or alongside books that show the Korean perspective too.
That said, I read it with an understanding of Japan’s colonization of Korea, and that made a big difference. So while I felt for Yoko, I didn’t forget the bigger history behind what was happening. (I hope students are taught the historical context before reading this book).
While the story may not be inaccurate, it’s incomplete. It’s important to read it with context or alongside books that show the Korean perspective too.
December 13, 2025
This was an amazing book! It is the story of Yoko an 11 year-old girl who is living with her Japanese family in northern Korea. In the final days of World War II, Yoko is suddenly fleeing for her life with her mother and older sister, Ko, trying to escape to Japan. The author was the 11-year-old girl who is now an adult. Well written and easily understood. This book is for ages 10 and up. from the book jacket.” So Far From the Bamboo Grove was heralded for presenting a perspective of World War II rarely seen.
September 29, 2011
This book is about a family who has to leave their home in Nanam, Korea to go to Seoul, Korea, because of the World War ll that Japan had just entered in 1942. The family are the main characters: Yoko, Ko, Hideyo, and their mother. People who aren't family but main characters in this book are: the Corporal Matsumura, the school's janitor, Mr.Naido, and the Korean Communist soldiers. There are some characters in the book that aren't main characters like: hideyo's friend's, and the spoiled school girls that made fun of Yoko. Yoko, Ko, Honorable Brother [Hideyo], and Honorable Mother, the Kawashima family, had to struggle to survive hunger, pain, sadness, embarrassment, torture, and many other things. After all of the experiences that they went through, they had not lost hope of returning to their normal lives in Nanam or starting a new life somewhere else. They Kept pushing each other to get to the place where they were going. Through those struggles Yoko, Ko, and their mother had to pretend not to be Japanese so that they wouldn't get killed. Hideyo had to wear clothing that Koreans did so that he wouldn't get killed either. From the reading of this book you can tell the tone of the characters because it has the right punctuations so you can see if they were sad, happy, exhausted, etc. Like in the book it said,"Oh! Little One! Little One!" "Welcome home, Honorable Brother!"
[This is a really good book. I would recommend this book to all of my friends. At first you would think that it is boring but then like in any other book, it gets at least a little more interesting. This book reminds me a lot of the book The Devil's Arithmetic.]
[This is a really good book. I would recommend this book to all of my friends. At first you would think that it is boring but then like in any other book, it gets at least a little more interesting. This book reminds me a lot of the book The Devil's Arithmetic.]
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