Gaijin

An insightful and thought provoking novel. Well written, the author captures the transition of a young woman into a grown up. Lucy lives in a small town and has a restricted view of life until Owen joins the college where she is a student. He is exotic, foreign and fascinating and Lucy is smitten. Then he disappears and her journey into adulthood begins taking her to Japan. I very much enjoyed this novel and the authors experience as a reporter gives her writing authenticity. It provides a fascinating insight into the island of Okinawa and the US presence among the locals, the tensions and problems which surface are explored with the measured detachment of a reporters eye.

This was an enjoyable read, light in terms of speed to read it but not in terms of content. It touches upon themes like shame, suicide, sexual assault in an unusually gentle manner. The writer was quite adept at transporting the reader to the sweltering heat of Okinawa and portraying the cultural differences between the US and Japan.
It’s the story of an Illinois teenager who falls in love with a Japanese student and is inspired to move to Japan a few years later to experience the country he has brought to life for her. She finds more than just a culture shock when she arrives.

All in all, it is well written and engaging. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Lucy first meets Owen Ota at Northwestern University, where she is studying journalism, she soon becomes quite besotted by him. He talks to her of traditional cultures of his home in Japan, the sheer beauty of the country and the gentle people. It isn’t long before she has fallen in love with him and his homeland. They are soon dating but he often refers to her as his friend, which she finds strange and things don’t progress quite like she would have liked, but she is still learning about his ways and traditions. He says he is a gaijin in her country, an unwanted foreigner.
Owen invites her to go to Japan with him but strangely disappears without saying anything to her. Lucy continues at university and adds a new course about Japan. When she sees a position advertised at a newspaper in Japan she applies for the position and is totally surprised that they offer her the job.
Lucy is determined to find out why Owen left her as he did, she is heartbroken. She has to grow up rather quickly in so many ways once she arrives in Japan. It is a cultural shock in every way possible. Determined not to go back home she faces everything head-on and finds a friend in an unexpected place. There are some very beautiful traditions but there are also some huge life expectations. Not everything in Japan is quite the dream country Lucy thought she was going to find.
I loved how Lucy’s character developed and how the environment made her so much stronger.
I wish to thank Anna Sacca of FSB Associates and NetGalley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Gaijin is a tale that takes us to Okinawa the least Japanese place there is in Japan.

Lucy meets Owen at college in Illinois while studying, The duo are partned up to do a presentation together. For Lucy who is a pathological loner apart from her best friend Rosie, soon finds herself charmed by Owen and Japan. Owen ups and leaves heading back to Tokyo and it sets wheels in motion for Lucy to leave her life behind and head to Japan.
She applies for jobs and gets one working at a newspaper in Okinawa.
A place where thousands of American Military live, protests happen and its not all Lucy thought it would be.

Can Lucy push Owen to the back of her mind, and why is his brother Hisashi defensive when his name is mentioned.

Gaijin is a tale of love, compassion, overcoming fears and finding a path in your life to follow. Going on a journey and making new friends. Lucy follows a path that takes her on a journey and finding herself and being happy.

A highly enjoyable read.

‘You don't have to think about someone for him to be part of you. A person or memory just sits inside you and you have no choice about it.’

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Lucy is studying Journalism, when she meets the handsome Owen Ota ,a new student from Japan. Their relationship soon flourishes into something beyond just friends. But when Owen disappears without a word or trace, heartbroken Lucy embarks on a quest to track him down across Japan.
When Lucy lands a job in Okinawa, she is soon faced with the reality that the Japan she thought she knew, was nothing like she had dreamt. She experiences first hand the barriers of being a gaijin, a Japanese slur, a foreigner in a country that is so culturally different. The odds are stacked against her. She soon learns that she can not just speak her mind, that honour and loyalty is as strong in the modern world as it was during the samurai era.
She witnesses the racial protests against the American military, and the sexism women still face.
While following Lucy on her Journey to Okinawa, we clearly see her transformation. Lucy starts off being naive but her experiences in Japan allow her to grow into a young lady that knows her own mind and finds her true calling.
Okinawa to the Aokigahara, the suicide forest of Mt Fuji.
I didn't know much about Okinawa before reading the book, but it made me curious, so I read up about the history of Okinawa and of Aokigahara. There are some loose facts that the author uses to build her story around. There is definitely scope here to delve deeper, especially with the events that transpire in the book and real life. But this would make this particular story completely different. It’s a light but enjoyable read.

I really liked the angle of this novel, focusing on Okinawa as less an island paradise and more a place fraught with real social problems. The story itself was also intriguing and the writing expressive without being overbearing. Great book for anyone interested in Japan too.

To be honest, based on the blurb of Gaijin, I was expecting a simple love story. What I got instead was a book filled with depth and beauty. That includes the story of Lucy and Owen, the descriptions of Japan, and a quest to find the truth.

However, as I already mentioned, this book has dark elements. As much as I was intrigued by haiku and tea ceremonies, I also learned how difficult it is to be a foreigner in certain parts of Japan and the contempt toward the American army. This delve into Japanese culture also showed me how certain traditions can ensure that areas of the population are not accepted, and how sexism is still rife. However, these themes were all touched upon in a respectful way, bringing no disrespect to Japan and its people.

Gaijin is the perfect balance between telling an intriguing story but staying true to real-life situations.

Lucy Tosch has returned to Northwestern after a year away, a break to recover from the sudden death of her beloved father, when she meets the magnetic and charming Owen Ota, a Japanese student with whom she falls deeply in love, her first real passion. Although Owen is demonstrably affectionate, he avoids intimacy, and after only two months at the university, he flies home.

Entranced by her lost love, Lucy alters her academic path to include a minor in Japanese studies, and as she covers education at the Chicago Sun-Times, she applies for countless jobs in Japan, finally landing one at Okinawa Week, where Owen’s brother, Hisashi, is the sole photographer. She’s sure working with him will provide a path back to Owen and renewing their relationship.

However, Okinawa is nothing like the Japan she expected – it’s hot, humid, crowded, noisy, and filled with people who are openly hostile to Americans. She and her hotel driver are caught in a protest on the way to her first day at the paper, and she realizes that perhaps she should just quietly resign and go home.
“I was miserable and scared and overwhelmed, but I wasn’t a quitter and after all, I was in the country I’d longed for.”
Nor is Hisashi a romantic prospect. After their first sake-soaked dinner, he asks her:

“Would you date a Japanese man?”
“I already have dated a Japanese man.”

Hisashi realizes Lucy is referring to Owen, and he graciously accepts that their relationship will stay firmly in the friend zone. He becomes her travel partner, ally, and on the few occasions she needs a defender, Hisashi is there — and later, his parents, who are fond of Lucy and welcome her to their home with genuine warmth.
Although she decides to stay and honor her commitment to Okinawa, she has a hard time adjusting to what an American calls “Divorce Rock” and spends her first weeks in a depressed, alcohol-infused haze, listening to Leonard Cohen and wondering how she ended upon the other side of the world. Her mother hen and coworker, Amista, repeatedly reminds her about “spouting off,” her American habit of expressing her thoughts automatically, and again Lucy wonders how she’ll adjust to this strange island.
But adjust she does. She reacts calmly when an interview subject expresses his deep hatred of Americans, including her, and she manages to keep her cool when a stranger is arrested for using a camera strapped to his shoe to film upskirt footage as she’s walking to a restaurant. However, when she “spouts off” in court, an observer screams that ultimate insult: “Gaijin!”
Sarah Sleeper has written a wondrous tale of a woman just starting to emerge from her cocoon and spreading her wings halfway across the world. As she grows accustomed to life in Okinawa and travels the country with Hisashi — especially when they visit Aokigahara, the Suicide Forest, which has touched both of them — she broadens her views of the world, of life and death, the meaning of family, coming to terms with one’s identity, finding your true cause, and listening for her father’s encouraging whispers in the winds. Initially a broken young woman grieving her father’s death, her mother’s withdrawal, and the sudden departure of the man she loves, she summons the courage to face her fears, defying all sensible advice, and embracing the truth when it comes her way. In these revelatory moments, Lucy finds herself not on Divorce Rock, but the beautiful subtropical island where she creates a family of her own, filled with friends who love her, and devotes herself to a cause that strikes deep in her heart. Her story is a tale of bravery, recovery, renewal, and life, and readers are privileged to travel alongside her.