Dear Miye: Letters Home from Japan, 1939-1946 (Asian America) - Hardcover

Mary Kimoto Tomita

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0804724199 ISBN 13: 9780804724197

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 1995

Synopsis

These letters tell the story of a young American woman of Japanese descent who, along with over 10,000 other Japanese Americans, was stranded in Japan during World War II.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

“The letters give a sense of immediacy in her descriptions of conditions in prewar, wartime, and postwar Japan. They also reveal an ordinary, resourceful, sassy, yet vulnerable young woman negotiating her way through tough situations.”—Library Journal
“Tomita’s commentary on the racial prejudices, economic disparities, moral dilemmas, and day-to-day social and sexual politics that she observed and experienced provides an intimate account of Japanese society, as well as a critique of U.S. society as represented in microcosm by the Allied occupation establishment.”—Asian Weekly

Review:

"The letters cover three periods: the prewar years (1939-41); the war years (1941-45); and the postwar years (1945-46), during which Tomita worked as a civilian employee for the U.S. occupation forces pending her repatriation. As an 'indelibly American' woman, she describes the conflict of competing political loyalties, gender role expectations, and ethnic identity in a voice of immediacy and authenticity that make these intensely personal, unselfconscious letters a valuable contribution." (Choice)

"Tomita's commentary on the racial prejudices, economic disparities, moral dilemmas, and day-to-day social and sexual politics that she observed and experienced provides an intimate account of Japanese society, as well as a critique of U.S. society as represented in microcosm by the Allied occupation establishment." (Asian Weekly)

"A fascinating, and often passionate firsthand description of Japanese, American, and Japanese American society from 'over there.'" (JAAS)

"The letters give a sense of immediacy in her descriptions of conditions in prewar, wartime, and postwar Japan. They also reveal an ordinary, resourceful, sassy, yet vulnerable young woman negotiating her way through tough situations." (Library Journal)

About this edition

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0804724199
• ISBN 13: 9780804724197
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Robert G. Lee