May 2015
Photo © Lucy Schaeffer.
Born and raised in New York City, Janice P. Nimura graduated from Yale and received a master’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia. During a three-year sojourn in Tokyo, she worked as an editor and journalist, studied Japanese, and became comfortable in her new role as the foreign daughter-in-law of a Japanese family. She is a book critic and essayist, contributing to publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Newsday. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children.
"Through her fascinating tapestry of history and biography, New York scholar Nimura weaves the strange, vibrant tale of an insular nation coming to terms with currents of modernism …. an extraordinary, elegantly told story."
—Kirkus Reviews, ***Starred Review***
"Through the sensitive weaving of correspondence and archival papers, Nimura produces a story of real-life heroines in this masterful biography….a testimonial to their collective strength and determination."
—Publishers Weekly
"Nimura brings the girls and their late nineteenth-century exploits to life in a narrative that feels like an international variation on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, so very appealing and delightful are their historic stories."
—Booklist, ***Starred Review***
"Exquisite….a captivating read for biography lovers, readers interested in America’s Gilded Age or late Meiji Japan, and fans of Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha."
—Library Journal, ***Starred Review***
Daughters of the Samurai by
In 1871, five young girls were sent by the Japanese government to the United States. Their mission: learn Western ways and return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan.Raised in traditional samurai households during the turmoil of civil war, three of these unusual ambassadors--Sutematsu Yamakawa, Shige Nagai, and Ume Tsuda--grew up as typical American schoolgirls. Upon their arrival in San Francisco they became celebrities, their travels and traditional clothing exclaimed over by newspapers across the nation. As they learned English and Western customs, their American friends grew to love them for their high spirits and intellectual brilliance.The passionate relationships they formed reveal an intimate world of cross-cultural fascination and connection. Ten years later, they returned to Japan--a land grown foreign to them--determined to revolutionize women's education.Based on in-depth archival research in Japan and in the United States, including decades of letters from between the three women and their American host families, Daughters of the Samurai is beautifully, cinematically written, a fascinating lens through which to view an extraordinary historical moment.
