Two Homelands

by Toyoko Yamasaki

Two Homelands (Futatsu no sokoku) tells the powerful story of three brothers during the years surrounding World War II. From the attack on Pearl Harbor to the Pacific War, relocation to Manzanar, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the Tokyo war crimes trials, we follow the lives of Kenji, Tadashi, and Isamu Amo, the California-born sons of Japanese immigrants. The eldest, Kenji, must grapple with what it means to belong to two nations at war with one another and to face betrayal by both. Tadashi, in school in Japan when war breaks out, is drafted into the Japanese army and renounces his U.S. citizenship. Later Kenji and Tadashi find themselves on opposite sides of a battlefield in the Philippines; although they both survive the conflict, their relationship is destroyed by the war. Isamu, the youngest and the most thoroughly American of the brothers, loves John Wayne movies and gives his life to rescue the lost Texas battalion fighting in France. Popular Japanese novelist Toyoko Yamasaki spent five years interviewing Japanese-Americans and researching documentary sources to assemble the raw material for her book. Through the story of the Amo family, she forces readers to confront the meaning of "love of country" as her characters encounter prejudice and suspicion on both sides of the Pacific.

Genres: Fiction, Japan, Japanese Literature

704 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2007

About the author

Toyoko Yamasaki (山崎 豊子, real name Sugimoto Toyoko; 3 November 1924 – 29 September 2013) was a Japanese novelist.

A native of Osaka, Yamasaki worked as a journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun from 1945 to 1959 after graduating from Kyoto Women's University in Japanese literature. She published her first story, Noren (1957), a story of a kelp trader, based on the experiences of her family's business. The following year, she won the Naoki Prize for her second novel Hana Noren, the story about the founder of an entertainment group. A major influence on her writings of that period was Yasushi Inoue, who was deputy head of the Mainichi Shimbun's cultural news desk.

Yamasaki wrote some stories based on actual events. For example, Futatsu no Sokoku is derived from the biography of a Japanese American David Akira Itami, and Shizumanu Taiyō is based on the Japan Airlines Flight 123 accident. Several works of hers were featured in films and television dramas.

Reviews

[Minori Shimizu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this last summer...and took me a long time to get through it. Partially because of time constraints with my work / life balance, partially because it is so heavy I struggled at times to get through. A nisei Japanese American myself, reading this gave me a feeling that is hard for me to express. Heartache? Alarmed? Validated? Sad?This book follows a nisei Japanese American during World War II - he starts in LA, gets sent to the interment camp with his two elderly parents, has two kids, sets himself apart from his parents as he pledged allegiance to the States as his two beloved countries go to war. He ultimately ends up in Japan as a interpreter of sorts in the Tokyo trials. He as an American member of the army takes up his bicultural abilities to be more helpful to America but ultimately ends up in an heartache. Let down by two countries who both rejected who he is. I finish this book thinking, I’m glad I don’t have to live in the World War II times to live through his struggles that I would have likely had but at the same time I reflect - have things really changed since? Very well written worth while book - but dense and depressing. Some of the book did not rub well with me (there are some sexist portions) but perhaps that also speaks to the Japanese American culture. What hard worthwhile read.