Miss Nume of Japan: A Japanese-American Romance

by Onoto Watanna

The first known novel by an Asian-American, Miss Nume of Japan charts the romantic adventures of two couples, one Japanese and one American. The Japanese couple, though not really in love, has been betrothed since childhood. The relationship of the second couple, a beautiful American and her fiancee, is equally troubled. Through a series of coincidental encounters, the couples find opportunities to escape these loveless relationships. Although tragic events unfold, the spirit of the title character triumphs as she finds liberation and true happiness with the American man. Revealing both the tenuousness of racial identity and the resiliency of social boundaries, the book employs typically exotic, inscrutable caricatures of Japanese people. But it also includes coded arguments for the autonomy of the "new woman," a creature living between worlds and between the choices of career and domesticity. The Japanese women in Watanna's fiction are remarkable for their dissatisfaction with the narrow strictures of their culture. Watanna's men generally find these women attractive not only for their Oriental charm and innocence, but also for their outspokenness and difference from more traditional Japanese women. Now available in paperback, Miss Nume of Japan is a work of critical importance to the Asian-American canon and a milestone in the complex history of ethnic formation and literary production.

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2011

About the author

Onoto Watanna is a pseudonym for Winnifred Eaton (her maiden name) or Winnifred Eaton Reeve (her married name).

From Onoto Watanna: The Story of Winnifred Eaton
"In 1901, the young Winnifred Eaton arrived in New York City with literary ambitions, journalistic experience, and the manuscript for A Japanese Nightingale, the novel that would sell many thousands of copies and make her famous. Hers is a real Horatio Alger story, with fascinating added dimensions of race and gender."

Reviews

[Jolon · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Onoto Watanna" was born to British and Chinese parents, being Canadian by birth and Yankee by preference. The pseudonym was evidently intended to appear Japanese and draw interest as a Japanese author of a Japanese romance, but there is nothing to indicate she ever went to Japan either in readings about her or her writing in this novel.

"Muss Nume" is interesting as an example of turn-of-the-century Orientalism, but not so much as a story. If you've read another romance, you've probably read a better romance.

The characters aren't very well written and it has no value as a historical work on Japan, but it was alright for light reading.

[Stacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

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