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An Ocean Between Us
The changing relationship between Japan and the United States is told in four stories from the life of an American town--Port Angeles, Washington, from 1834, when the first Japanese washed up on the Washington coast, to 1988, when one of Japan's largest paper companies invested $75 million in an aging American paper mill. Aughor Iritani is an award-winning journalist.
- GenresNonfiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 30, 2011
I found this to be a most interesting book. It would have been even more interesting at the time it was published, as Japan is not now the economic power in the U.S. as it was in the early 1990s and about which Iritani writes in the Prologue and the fourth part of the book, which is about the Daishowa Paper Co. in Port Angeles, WA.
The author’s father was a Japanese born in the U.S. and her mother was born in Japan. She graduated from college in 1978.
All four parts of the book are about the same area, or directly related to, Port Angeles.
First is “The Shipwreck” of 1834 when Native Americans found three Japanese sailors washed ashore close to where the town of Port Angeles is located. Then “Our Spy” is about a Japanese family who lived in Port Angeles before and at the beginning of World War II. “Bubbles of Death” tells the sad story of the people killed in 1945 by an explosion of a balloon bomb the Japanese had sent to the U.S. The pregnant woman killed was from Port Angeles.
Writing of the relationship between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s, Iritani states that “American values of independence, bluntness, and honesty—however real or imagined—are at odds with the Japanese emphasis on cooperation, face-saving, and teamwork” (p. 183).
And then on the last page of the Epilogue she writes,
“From their very first contacts, the United States and Japan have walked a tightrope between attraction and revulsion, . . . constantly thrown off balance by language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and egos struggling for control” (p. 246).
Even though somewhat dated, by changes that have occurred since 1995, this is a book well worth reading by all who have a special interest in the relationship between the U.S. and Japan.
The author’s father was a Japanese born in the U.S. and her mother was born in Japan. She graduated from college in 1978.
All four parts of the book are about the same area, or directly related to, Port Angeles.
First is “The Shipwreck” of 1834 when Native Americans found three Japanese sailors washed ashore close to where the town of Port Angeles is located. Then “Our Spy” is about a Japanese family who lived in Port Angeles before and at the beginning of World War II. “Bubbles of Death” tells the sad story of the people killed in 1945 by an explosion of a balloon bomb the Japanese had sent to the U.S. The pregnant woman killed was from Port Angeles.
Writing of the relationship between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s, Iritani states that “American values of independence, bluntness, and honesty—however real or imagined—are at odds with the Japanese emphasis on cooperation, face-saving, and teamwork” (p. 183).
And then on the last page of the Epilogue she writes,
“From their very first contacts, the United States and Japan have walked a tightrope between attraction and revulsion, . . . constantly thrown off balance by language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and egos struggling for control” (p. 246).
Even though somewhat dated, by changes that have occurred since 1995, this is a book well worth reading by all who have a special interest in the relationship between the U.S. and Japan.
March 13, 2009
I found this in Port Townsend's William James bookstore (great place) a couple years ago and took awhile to get around to reading it, but it was a worthwhile read. Well-written and researched, Iritani tells several interesting stories that explore the history of Port Angeles, Neah Bay, and Washington's Olympic Peninsula. If you're interested in local history, you will enjoy this.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews