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Numamushi, by Mina Ikemoto Ghosh, follows Numamushi as he learns the meaning of family.

What I liked:

• I had this book for I don’t know how long in my TBR and I’m upset that I waited so long to read it because I absolutely loved it. In many ways, I think this is the English-language work by a nikkei author that reminds me most strongly of the Japanese stories I grew up with and the ones I continue to read (I think I’ve said this about other works on this blog – it’s not that I’ve forgotten, but rather that the target keeps moving, which I think is a good thing).
• Ghosh’s illustrations are so interesting and I’m really glad they form part of the story. While the visuals for the story in my head look very different, I always enjoy seeing how an author represents their own work.
• The name choice of Numamushi, as well as the explanation for the name given in the story, struck me as very Japanese. I’ve been reading 光が死んだ夏 and I got a very similar vibe from Ghosh’s work, though a lot less terrifying. For my fellow nikkei who have ever looked around in the quietいなか in Japan and wondered what might be out there or what has been out there or who might be watching and waiting, and shivered a little in both fear and anticipation of the stories to come, raise your hand!

What I learned:

• Snakes have never been a particular interest of mine, but I enjoyed how Ghosh represented them in the story, even if I don’t know enough snake lore to distinguish existing stories from Ghosh’s inventions.

Questions I had:

• I read this story primarily as a historical fantasy, a la Silver in the Wood, by Emily Tesh, but I’d be curious to know if this is what Ghosh intended. For example, I didn’t necessarily interpret the story as a commentary on or metaphor for the aftermath of the war for Japanese people, but I do think this would be a valid and not far-fetched interpretation. On a related note, is the discarded candy tin a nod to 火垂るの墓? It would be interesting to hold a nikkei roundtable about how we as creators choose, or not, to reference Japanese works that are well-known outside Japan in our own work. For myself, as many of these works occupied a prominent place in my childhood, long before they were widely known to non-Japanese people (Studio Ghibli with no subtitles on VHS, am I right, fellow shin-[insert generation here] nikkei millennials?), if I did include any such references, I would be doing so to pay homage to the Japanese creators and their massive influence on both Japanese popular culture and my own burgeoning understanding of creative storytelling at the time, not as any kind of signal to non-Japanese audiences.

Follow-up:

• If Ghosh ever decides to write a sequel, I am so there!

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Village in the Dark, by Iris Yamashita, continues the adventures of Detective Cara Kennedy as she attempts to piece together the true fate of her missing husband and son.

What I liked:

• Yamashita’s novels are so interesting – I didn’t feel a particular connection to any of the characters in Village in the Dark, which is usually what keeps me turning the pages, but somehow I basically read it in two sittings. I suspect the short chapters and very readable writing style have a lot to do with it. Maybe this is what comes of having a screenwriting career before a novelist career?
• Are there really so many Japanese people in Alaska? I find Mariko’s character so funny and spot-on, and reminiscent of the type of persona I would expect to find in a Japanese novel. I’d love to know where Yamashita got inspiration for her.
• I appreciate Yamashita drawing clear distinctions between Japanese and Ainu people, though I’m curious about how common Ainu people actually are in Alaska. I hadn’t previously considered interactions between Ainu people and indigenous people from other parts of the world, so it was interesting to read the relationships Yamashita constructed between Ayai, Mia, and the indigenous and non-indigenous residents of Unity.

What I learned:

• I recently read Moon of the Crusted Snow, by Waubgeshig Rice – an indigenous-centered novel by an indigenous writer, for those who are unaware – and feel that I observe a significant gap in representation between Rice’s depiction of indigenous characters and cultures and Yamashita’s depiction. However, being non-indigenous, I’m cognizant that this is merely an observation on my part with no actual lived experience to back it up. How would Rice and Yamashita, respectively, describe the key tenets of writing outside your experience?

Questions I had:

• How do indigenous readers from Alaska feel about Yamashita’s portrayal of indigenous characters and cultures? Do they feel Yamashita’s approach is respectful?
• Did Yamashita make any changes to her research process for the indigenous content in Village in the Dark compared with her process for City Under One Roof? Did her indigenous sensitivity readers, consultants, etc. recommend or observe any improvements to her approach with this second novel?
• How do Ainu readers feel about the portrayal of Ayai and Mia? Do they agree with Yamashita’s representation choices? What are the implications of nihonjin or nikkei writers depicting Ainu characters and culture?
• I had this question with Yamashita’s first novel, but how, indeed, does a nikkei writer working in Hollywood land on a remote and unique community in Alaska and a not-insignificant amount of indigenous representation as the premise for a novel? Does the indigenous representation in Yamashita’s novels actually benefit Alaska’s indigenous communities in any way? Perhaps that is one key factor in writing outside your experience – if it does not benefit the communities being depicted in a meaningful way, is it a clear sign not to do it, particularly if the communities in question are marginalized in one or more ways? Yamashita’s author’s note references the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, but I’m not sure if reading Yamashita’s books would necessarily motivate the majority of readers to donate to AKNWRC or to other indigenous-run organizations.

Follow-up:

• Are we done with Cara now? I liked the (more or less) happy ending for Cara, but I would also enjoy reading another novel set in this world.

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The Fisher Boy, written by Debbi Michiko Florence and illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa, is a young readers’ graphic novel adaptation of Urashima Tarō.

What I liked:

• This is one of those books for which my impression significantly varies depending on what type of nikkei audience I envision reading it. If I think of readers like me, who grew up surrounded by books in both Japanese and English, and who likely experienced most Japanese stories in Japanese before ever (if ever) encountering them in any other language, I am, to be perfectly honest, disappointed in this version. To be clear, I don’t believe any fault lies with Florence or Yoshikawa. I experience a similar disappointment/sense of falling short almost every time I experience a Japanese story (meaning, a story originally told in Japanese) in a language other than Japanese (don’t let’s get started on dubbed Miyazaki films or manga translated into English). At the same time, I recognize that, for nikkei who may be unable to experience a Japanese story in Japanese, particularly for those who are unable to listen to, read, or otherwise learn Japanese due to a disability, it is important to make our stories accessible, and I’d like to think The Fisher Boy might make Urashima Tarō accessible to nikkei readers who would otherwise not be able to experience it. Additionally, as longtime readers of this blog are likely aware, I would absolutely always rather see a Japanese author (and illustrator!) tackle a translation or re-adaptation of a Japanese story over anyone else (don’t let’s get started on the extent to which white people have dominated and ‘presented’ Japan to people outside Japan, or the extent to which these ‘presentations’ have, unfortunately, shaped non-Japanese POC ‘presentations’ of Japan to people outside Japan – decolonize does not mean weebs are ok if they are people of color).
• Yoshikawa’s soft, bright, and vibrant palette was so much fun to experience on every page and perfectly filled in the gaps (there are remarkably few words in this book, as befits a comic or graphic novel, but I found this particularly noticeable because the book itself is so short) – I hope – for readers new to Urashima Tarō.

What I learned:

• I don’t remember ever seeing instructions in a book on how to read that book, but I appreciate the step-by-step at the beginning of this book on how to read and interpret panels. These instructions are great not only for young readers who are new to the US comic/graphic novel format, but also for readers who may need additional guidance in order to fully experience this book, including readers with disabilities and/or readers who are unfamiliar with US comics.

Questions I had:

• How did Florence approach this project in terms of translation? First, in terms of how to reshape the original Japanese text into English, and second, in terms of how to condense this reshaped text into comic/graphic novel length and format.
• How did fellow nikkei readers feel about this book? Did they find it to be in line with their personal definitions of Japaneseness? For me, not so much – I would say my overall ‘feeling’ of reading this book was very similar to how I feel about Avatar: The Last Airbender, in the sense that the story is solid and entertaining and ‘wears’ a non-western aesthetic, but at its core feels like a western product created for western audiences. Not necessarily a ‘bad’ feeling, but not at all in alignment with what typically makes me feel something is Japanese.
• Along the same lines, is this book a ‘nikkei’ book? Or rather, how does this book fit into the existing body of nikkei literature? How does this book expand or reframe or challenge the qualities that have ‘defined’ nikkei literature up to this point? How might we, as nikkei readers and the nikkei community at large, approach this book in conversation with other US comics or graphic novels produced by nikkei creators?

Follow-up: