So Far from the Bamboo Grove

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**Title** **So Far from the Bamboo Grove**

Author	Yoko Kawashima Watkins
Cover artist	Leo & Diane Dillon
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	none
Genre(s)	War novel, Autobiographical novel
Publisher	HarperTeen
Released	May 24, 1994
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	192 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-688-13115-8
Followed by	My Brother, My Sister, and I

So Far from the Bamboo Grove is a semi-autobiographical book written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, a Japanese American writer. It was originally published by Beech Tree in April of 1986.

1 Overview
2 Plot
3 Controversy
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Overview

In the last days of World War II, an eleven-year old Japanese girl, Yoko Kawashima (along with her mother and sister) must leave their home in Nanam (now part of Chongjin), northern Korea, to travel south to Pusan to be re-patriated to Japan.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story begins with Yoko Kawashima (and her mother and sister) living in Nanam, a city in northern Korea. When the Japanese are defeated in World War II, Yoko and her family must leave to return to Japan. Hiding from both Japanese military and Koreans, her brother, Hideyo, also flees, but as he was employed in an ammunitions factory, he is separated from his family.

A difficult and frightening journey in experienced by the family as they make their way to Seoul and then Pusan to take a ferry to Japan.

When Yoko, her sister Ko, and her mother reach Fukuoka, Japan, they travel to Kyoto, as the mother had been educated there. She then leaves for Aomori to seek help from their grandparents. She returns to Yoko and her sister bringing dismal news that both of their grandparents are dead. The mother dies on the same day, leaving Yoko and Ko waiting for the eventual return of their brother, Hideyo.

A few months later, Yoko, Ko, and Hideyo are eventually reunited at Maizuru, and Hideyo tells his tale of how he escaped North Korea and made it to Japan.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Controversy

The Korean television program Neukkimpyo (느낌표; meaning “Exclamation Mark”) has argued that the Koreans have been portrayed as “evil” and as “rapists” by the book. It states that Kawashima's book presents an “unhesitant, outrageous distortion” of Koreans. The show argues that by the Taft-Katsura Agreement, the Japanese viewed the invasion of Korea as “proper”, and that this is one of history’s greatest distortions. It also stated that the father of Kawashima might be the commander of the Unit 731 that researched biological warfare and conducted human experimentation. It stated that if American students believe this book is true, then they will view Koreans as evil and people who caused war.

The Koreans also argue that the claims of Korean forces raping Japanese women is also unbelievable, since Japanese soldiers were not disarmed until a few weeks after August 15, 1945. They also argue that while Kawashima portrays her father as against the war, records show that her father was kept at a Siberian prison for six years as a war criminal. ^[1]

The author said in an interview with JoongAng Daily that she did not have the intention to disregard the history of South Korea and apologized for any hard feelings felt by Korean readers. However, she stated that she only wrote about her experiences. She denied the statement that her father was a high ranking officer of Unit 731. She also stated that she tried to portray her experiences in a more softer way for young readers.^[2]

Some Korean-American parents have also boycotted the book in the U.S. ^[3]

Currently, a Japanese version of this book has not been available yet while China has banned publication of it. ^[4]

South Korean newspapers and Korean groups stated the story was false, but the author insisted it was true. South Korean paper JoongAng Daily quoted Daniel Barenblatt, who researches Japanese germ warfare program, against Watkins, and wrote that he "tenaciously bombarded 73-year-old Yoko Kawashima Watkins, the author of the book, with questions." He stated later that the newspaper had misquoted him. In his personal website, he stated that he only had the opportunity to ask two questions, but still opposes the book being part of the school curriculum.^[5]

In an editorial published in The Boston Globe, Harvard professor Carter Eckerd has called for putting the book into context while allowing the book into school curiculum, comparing it to the German Holocaust. Eckerd described Watkin's story as "unfortunately incomplete, if not distorted, by the absence of this larger context," but can help students understand the historical circumstances during that time. He concluded the editorial by arguing, "To teach So Far from the Bamboo Grove without providing historicization [sic] might be compared to teaching a sympathetic novel about the escape of a German official's family from the Netherlands in 1945 without alluding to the nature of the Nazi occupation or the specter of Anne Frank."^[6]