The Translation of Love

February 29, 2016
Kutsukake’s moving debut novel focuses on the intertwining stories of several protagonists in post–World War II Tokyo. Matt, a Japanese-American military man, and Kondo, a middle-school teacher with considerable language skills, both ply their trade by translating letters: Matt for General MacArthur, who has invited the Japanese people to mail him their thoughts, and Kondo on the black market, where he works weekends writing letters for lovelorn women to their G.I. boyfriends. Twelve-year-old Fumi, one of Kondo’s students, finds herself befriending the shunned Aya Shimamura, who was sent to live in Japan after internment with her father in a Canadian camp. Aya’s mother had committed suicide by drowning, and Aya keeps the stones that had been found weighing down her pockets. Fumi is desperate to find her older sister, Sumiko, who left the family to work as a bar girl in order to provide food and medicine for them. With Aya’s strong command of English, Fumi writes to MacArthur to ask him for help with locating Sumiko and bringing her home. The characters further intersect when Fumi asks Matt for help getting the letter to MacArthur. Kutsukake’s story is consistently engaging, though a smattering of unlikely plot points can be distracting. The result is a memorable story of hope and loneliness with a cathartic ending.

Starred review from March 1, 2016
Through an elegant web of interconnected storylines, Kutsukake's absorbing debut brings American-occupied postwar Tokyo to life. It's 1946, and after spending the war in a Canadian internment camp, 13-year-old Aya Shimamura and her father have "repatriated" to Japan under governmental duress. Struggling to survive in an unfamiliar city still ravaged by the war, Aya's emotionally distant father works constantly, leaving Aya to navigate her new world alone. At school, she's an outcast, the hunched-over foreigner who barely speaks Japanese, and when kindly Kondo Sensei assigns her classmate Fumi to look after her, the relationship gets off to a predictably disastrous start--the last thing Fumi wants is to be weighed down by a repat who can hardly talk. But it doesn't take long before the two develop a tenuous friendship: quiet Aya may be a social liability, but she speaks fluent English, and Fumi--a bossy firecracker--needs help. Fumi's beloved older sister has gone missing, and the desperate girl has decided the only solution is to write a letter to Gen. MacArthur imploring him to find her. She's not the only one: legions of Japanese citizens are pinning their hopes on MacArthur, flooding his General Headquarters with letters about anything and everything--land reform, missing family members, birthday wishes, the cost of soy sauce. Capturing the whirling desperation and energy of a city in flux, the story moves from MacArthur's offices, where Japanese-American soldier Yoshitaka "Matt" Matsumoto spends his days translating the general's mail, to the seedy dance halls of the Ginza to Love Letter Alley, where rows of translators cater to the Japanese women carrying on trans-Pacific correspondences with their American GIs. Emotionally rich without turning saccharine, twisting without losing its grounding in reality, Kutsukake's novel is classic historical fiction at its best. A vivid delight chronicling a fascinating--and little-discussed--chapter in world history.

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June 1, 2016

Beautifully written, this novel examines the complexities of post-World War II Japan for the Japanese and the Americans living there as part of the occupation. The citizens face shortages of food and medical supplies. Discrimination and mistrust are everywhere-especially toward Japanese Americans who have been forced to repatriate, the women who became romantically involved with American soldiers, and the biracial children who resulted from those liaisons. Despite difficulties, the characters find the inner strength and resiliency that they need to survive. Teens will relate to the complex friendship that develops between 13-year-old Aya, who was born in Canada yet was sent "back" to Japan, and her tenacious classmate Fumi, who enlists Aya to write a letter in English to General MacArthur asking for help in finding her missing older sister. Other translators in the novel include the girls' teacher, Sensei Kondo, who supplements his income translating letters, and Corp. Matt Matsumoto, who finds himself haunted by Fumi's letter. Both men appreciate the hope behind each letter and believe their role is to give a voice to those who have none. Readers seeking more in-depth details about this dark period will want to read Charlotte Taylor's The Internment of Japanese Americans and Yoshiko Uchida's Picture Bride. VERDICT An engaging piece of historical fiction highly recommended for leisure reading and to support the history curriculum.-Sherry J. Mills, Hazelwood East HS, St. Louis

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2016
More than half a million Japanese citizens sent letters to General MacArthur during the American occupation of Japan following WWII, and Kutsukake uses that fact as the framework for her first novel. Twelve-year-old Fumi enlists Aya, a new girl in school, for help with a letter asking the general to find Sumiko, Fumi's older sister. Aya has a good command of English because she grew up in Canada, from where she and her father were deported after spending time in an internment camp. Corporal Matt Matsumoto, a Nisei born and raised in the U.S., has a job translating the letters that pour into occupation headquarters. Kondo, Fumi's middle-school teacher, moonlights in Love Letter Alley, reading and writing letters for young women desperate to contact GIs who have returned to the U.S. What Fumi doesn't know is that Sumiko is not actually missing. Instead, she works in a dance hall in Tokyo's Ginza district and uses the money and gifts she receives ( a peck on the cheek might yield a jar of peanut butter ) to help support her family. Kutsukake skillfully weaves these characters' varied perspectives together to create a vivid and memorable account of ordinary people struggling to recover from the devastations of war.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 1, 2016

This poignant first novel is set in post-World War II Japan during the American occupation. Told from multiple viewpoints, it is a story of nationality and identity, family and friendship, love and loss. Twelve-year-old Aya and her father have been repatriated to Japan after their release from a Canadian internment camp. Aya struggles to fit into an unfamiliar country where even though she looks like everyone else, she is viewed as an outsider, a "repat," an "Amerikajin." Aya is befriended by Fumi, who asks her to write a letter to Gen. Douglas MacArthur seeking help in finding her older sister, Sumiko, a dancer in the Ginza district. The girls' teacher, Sensei Kondo, moonlights in "Love Letter Alley" translating letters between Japanese women and their American GI sweethearts. Meanwhile, Cpl. "Matt" Matsumoto, an American nisei (second generation Japanese American), translates missives addressed to MacArthur. These characters, all struggling with issues of self-discovery, are eventually united through the search for Sumiko. VERDICT Through this coming-of-age tale Japanese Canadian Kutsukak, a former librarian, offers a fresh perspective on life in postwar Japan. An excellent choice for readers who loved Jamie Ford's The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. [See Prepub Alert, 10/26/15.]--Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2015

Forcibly repatriated to Japan with her father after World War II, Japanese Canadian Aya Shimamura is taunted as an outsider but eventually helps a friend by writing a letter to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Japanese Canadian Kutsukake worked as a librarian at the University of Toronto.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2016

This poignant first novel is set in post-World War II Japan during the American occupation. Told from multiple viewpoints, it is a story of nationality and identity, family and friendship, love and loss. Twelve-year-old Aya and her father have been repatriated to Japan after their release from a Canadian internment camp. Aya struggles to fit into an unfamiliar country where even though she looks like everyone else, she is viewed as an outsider, a "repat," an "Amerikajin." Aya is befriended by Fumi, who asks her to write a letter to Gen. Douglas MacArthur seeking help in finding her older sister, Sumiko, a dancer in the Ginza district. The girls' teacher, Sensei Kondo, moonlights in "Love Letter Alley" translating letters between Japanese women and their American GI sweethearts. Meanwhile, Cpl. "Matt" Matsumoto, an American nisei (second generation Japanese American), translates missives addressed to MacArthur. These characters, all struggling with issues of self-discovery, are eventually united through the search for Sumiko. VERDICT Through this coming-of-age tale Japanese Canadian Kutsukak, a former librarian, offers a fresh perspective on life in postwar Japan. An excellent choice for readers who loved Jamie Ford's The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. [See Prepub Alert, 10/26/15.]--Catherine Coyne, Mansfield P.L., MA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.