Monday, April 3, 2017

Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds by Pamela Rotner Sakamoto

An interesting true story of a Japanese-American family during World War II is extensively researched. All the children of the Fukuhara family were born in the United States but returned to Hiroshima, Japan with their mother after their father's death. Harry Fukuhara and his sister, Mary returned to the northwest U.S. in the late 1930s.  They were sent to internment camps after the Pearl Harbor attack and endured rough conditions.  Seeking a way out Harry enlisted in the U.S. army and became a bilingual interpreter.  Facing the Japanese enemy in several Pacific islands and interrogating captured Japanese soldiers he also was in danger and mistrusted by American soldiers because he was Japanese. Harry's family was enduring tough conditions in Japan and his brothers had to serve in the Japanese army. When the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima members of Harry's family were injured.  After the Japanese surrendered Harry finds his family in Hiroshima and witnesses the devastation in this city.  This book shows the suffering and sacrifices of this family and is an excellent historical read.

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