Call Me Okaasan – the Blog Tour

The little darlings are on spring break at the moment, so I haven’t been blogging much here.  My task is to keep them away from the video games and get fresh air into the lungs!  Not as easy as you might think!

Nevertheless, with the publication of Call Me Okaasan only one month and one day away, it’s time to organize Call Me Okaasan: The Blog Tour.  During the month of May, I will be posting interviews with the contributors, recipes, excerpts and other book-related items.  I will also be posting links to reviews.  If you are interested in reviewing Call Me Okaasan on your blog, I’d be happy to hook you up with an electronic advanced reading copy and I’ll pencil (key?) you into the blog tour schedule.  You may approach the tour in any way you like, i.e. with a review, with personal musings upon one or more essays, with an interview with me or another contributor, etc.  Once I have a new stash of print copies, I’ll send you one which you may keep for your personal collection or give away to the readers of your blog.

Please send inquiries to sue kamata (at) msn (dot) com.

Thanks!!

Losing Kei for $5!

I keep forgetting to mention that my publisher, Leapfrog Press, is having a monthly book sale.  In honor of Women’s History Month, they are offering Losing Kei and Pagan Kennedy’s Confessions of a Memory Eater for only $5 with reduced postage until the end of March.  (I think this offer’s only good in the United States.)

Change is A-Comin’

My mother-in-law moved out a week ago.  I felt a mixture of relief and sadness when she left, but now mostly I feel calm.  She stopped by yesterday to pick up some stuff she’d left behind and to water her many, many potted plants.  The children were very happy to see her.  She seemed to be in a good mood, and she was kind. 

In other news, my husband requested a transfer and got it.  In Japan, teachers are moved around every seven or eight years to avoid stagnation and to make job placements more fair, I guess.  My husband has been at the same school for the past twelve years and he was due for a change.  He has also been a baseball coach for the past twelve years, one of the most – if not the most – demanding jobs a teacher can have.  I remember when he first started I felt sorry for him because he had to give up golf, friends, vacations, and just about everything else.  He has been a coach for our children’s entire lives, thus he has never been to my daughter’s many culture festivals, and only attended our kids’ sports festivals once.  I’ve been calling him “the imaginary husband” for several years.

Well, all that is about to change.  From April, my husband will be teaching at a school for the disabled near our house.  Since there are no teams or clubs, and the student population is quite small, his work-load will be much lighter than before.  He will have to make a huge adjustment.  He is used to teaching/coaching robust teen-agers.  He is accustomed to talent and finesse.  He will have to develop patience for kids who struggle to control their bodies.  I think that it’ll be a fantastic experience for him (and for Lilia).

My son has been a bit teary-eyed about the change.   After hearing of the transfer, he said, “Daddy was my hero.”   (Baseball coaches are rather glamorous here in Japan.)

“He can still be your hero,” I told him.  “You don’t have to watch him on TV, though.  He’ll be right here with you.”

Elizabeth Sanders Home

This evening there was a documentary on TV Osaka about the Elizabeth Sanders Home, an orphanage for biracial Japanese kids just after WWII (when all those American soldiers were here making babies).  The orphanage was run by a Mitsubishi heiress.  She took in all kinds of kids who were rejected by their Japanese mothers, who in turn might  have been abandoned by their American husbands/lovers and cast out by their families.  Basically, Sawada-san fed, clothed and loved these kids when times were tough.  She made diapers out of the curtains and sold her own clothes in order to put food in those mouths.  And she kept them away from the hostile stares of less open-minded Japanese.

The documentary featured several people who grew up there, with American-Japanese pop star Anna Tsuchiya along as the tour guide.

It was very moving.  Tomorrow I think I’ll do a Google search and try to find out who Elizabeth Sanders was.  Or if you know, maybe you can tell me.

So Far, So Good

It’s only two months till the official publication of Call Me Okaasan.  Reviews are starting to trickle in.  Here’s a nice one.

Fear of Fourth Grade

My twins are nearing the final days of third grade.  Whenever I tell someone Japanese that they will be entering fourth grade in April, I get a weird, teeth-sucking response.  “Ahh, fourth grade,” people say.  “That’s when school becomes difficult.”  According to my husband, who is a Japanese public high school teacher, fourth grade is when our children’s futures will be decided.  It’s the year when kids are irrevocably sorted into Those Who Will Attend Good Colleges and Those Who Will Do Manual Labor.  Not that there’s anything wrong with manual labor.  When I say things like “at his/her own pace” or “late bloomer,” I am treated like an idiot.

But this is what I think:  There is huge world beyond Japan.  The possibilities are endless.

She’s Leaving

So the big news here is that my mother-in-law is moving out.  She’ll be moving into an apartment close to her daughter’s house.  I don’t think a change of address will be enough to rid her of  her demons, but I  no longer feel responsible for her.  I feel sorry for my kids – her grandchildren, and for her son, who tried to do right by her, but I feel relieved as well.  Please don’t think ill of me.