Read This Book…

Nao has decided to defer college for a year in order to do something she’s long dreamed of: return to Japan. Although she lived in her mother’s homeland as a young kid, she’s mostly grown up in the States and feels like a part of her is missing. When she arrives at Himawari House, a place for young students from all over the world, she meets Hyejung and Tina, who are from Korea and Singapore. The three form a bond despite their differences and language barriers, and they learn to rely on each other as they navigate Japanese classes, work, and the unknowns of their futures.

I loved this book for so many reasons, but I’ll start with the characters and their unique perspectives. Although the book is centered around Nao’s experiences and perspective, we also get the backstories and POV of both Hyejung and Tina as they share what brought them to Tokyo and what their goals are. Their friendship is really sweet, and I love how they relate to each other through food (so much delicious food, it was like being in a Ghibli movie!), bonding over being homesick, and by supporting each other while far from home. The use of language is also really fascinating in this book, and it’s notable because Becker lays it all out on the page—Japanese, Korean, English, and more. The scenes in which the characters are learning Japanese or struggling to understand each other are artfully smudged, so you get this really cool visual representation of the words they’re catching and their confusion. From a linguistic standpoint, I thought it was really fascinating and creative. The only language I read in this book is English, but it was really cool to see multiple languages represented on the page.

Overall, this is a really lovely book about the emotional storm of returning to a country that you’re from but haven’t grown up in, and what it means to be an outsider and citizen at the same time. It’s also a thoughtful portrayal of the bravery it takes to go to a new country and learn a new language, and nuanced look at the many reasons why young people might emigrate to Japan. The ending was bittersweet, but perfect.