Misplaced Pages

So Far from the Bamboo Grove: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 21:51, 21 December 2007 editSaranghae honey (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users12,078 edits Undid revision 179461311 by Blue011011 (talk) I requested RfC to resolve dispute and please read WP:CIVIL← Previous edit Latest revision as of 12:00, 20 October 2024 edit undoClueBot NG (talk | contribs)Bots, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers6,438,404 editsm Reverting possible vandalism by 216.212.21.117 to version by Schazjmd. Report False Positive? Thanks, ClueBot NG. (4352408) (Bot)Tag: Rollback 
(562 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Book by Yoko Kawashima Watkins}}
{{infobox Book | <!-- See Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Novels or Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Books -->
{{Infobox book|
| name = So Far from the Bamboo Grove
| name = So Far from the Bamboo Grove
| title_orig =
| translator = | title_orig =
| translator =
| image = ]
| image = File:SoFarfromtheBamboogroveCover.jpg
| image_caption =
| author = Yoko Kawashima Watkins | caption = First edition
| author = Yoko Kawashima Watkins
| cover_artist = Leo & Diane Dillon
| country = ] | cover_artist = ]
| country = United States
| language = ]
| series = none | language = English
| genre = ], ] | series =
| publisher = ] | genre = ], ]
| publisher = ]
| release_date = ], ]
| release_date = April 1986
| media_type = Print (] & ])
| pages = 192 pp | media_type = Print (] & ])
| isbn = ISBN 0-688-13115-8 | pages = 192 pp
| isbn = 978-0-688-13115-9
| preceded_by =
| congress = PZ7.W3235 So 1994
| followed_by = ]
| oclc = 426064992
| preceded_by =
| followed_by = ]
}} }}


'''''So Far from the Bamboo Grove''''' is a ] book written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, a ] writer. It was originally published by ] in ] of ]. A Japanese version of this book is not available while China has banned publication of it. <ref> http://news.empas.com/show.tsp/20070117n02484 {{ko icon}} Empas Article, ], ]</ref> '''''So Far from the Bamboo Grove''''' is an autobiography written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, a ] writer.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=graiX5o4tMYC&q=%22Yoko+Kawashima%22&pg=PA351 |title=Children's books and their creators |first= Anita|last= Silvey |publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year= 1995 |isbn= 978-0-395-65380-7|page=351}}</ref> It was originally published by Beech Tree in April 1986.


Watkins's book takes place in the last days of 35 years of ]. An eleven-year-old ] girl, Yoko Kawashima, whose father works for the Japanese government, must leave her home in ], part of northern Korea, as her family escapes south to ], then to ], to return to Japan.
==Overview==
In the last days of ], an eleven-year old ] girl, Yoko Kawashima (along with her mother and sister) must leave their home in Nanam (now part of ]), northern Korea, to travel south to Pusan to be re-patriated to Japan.


==Plot== ==Plot summary==
The story begins with Yoko Kawashima (and her mother, brother and sister) living in ]. Yoko is 11 years old and living in North Korea during World War II while their father works as a Japanese government official in Manchuria, China. As the war draws towards a close, Yoko and her family realize the danger of their situation and attempts to escape back to Japan as communist troops close in on North Korea.


Her brother, Hideyo, also tries to leave but he is separated from his family because he has to serve at an ammunition factory for six days a week. The women of the family board a train to Seoul using a letter from a family diplomat but their trip is cut short by a bomb 45 miles away from Seoul. Yoko is injured from the bombing and the women are forced to walk the rest of the way. After receiving medical treatment in Seoul, Yoko, her sister, and mother board a train to Busan, and then a ship to Japan.
The story begins with Yoko Kawashima (and her mother and sister) living in Nanam, a city in northern Korea. When ] becomes dangerous, 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.


When Yoko, her sister Ko, and her mother reach ], Japan, it is not the beautiful, comforting, welcoming place Yoko dreamed of. Once again, they find themselves living in a train station scrounging in the garbage for food to survive. Eventually, Yoko's mother travels to ] to find her family. She then leaves for ] to seek help from their grandparents who she discovers are both dead. Their mother dies on the same day, leaving Yoko and Ko waiting for their brother Hideyo. Their mother's last words were to keep their wrapping cloth where she had hidden money for her children.
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.


Yoko begins to attend a new school where she enters and wins an essay contest with a cash prize. News of her winning the contest is reported in the newspaper. Hideyo and the Korean family who took bid farewell and Hideyo finally reaches Busan where he finds the message left to him by Yoko. After reaching Japan, he sees signs with his name and Yoko and Ko's address. While asking directions from locals, he is spotted by Yoko and they are reunited.
When Yoko, her sister Ko, and her mother reach ], Japan, they travel to ], as the mother had been educated there. She then leaves for ] 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.


Kawashima also wrote a sequel titled '']''.
A few months later, Yoko, Ko, and Hideyo are eventually reunited at ], and Hideyo tells his tale of how he escaped North Korea and made it to Japan.


==Translations==
==Historical errors==
A Korean version of this book titled ''Yoko iyagi'' (요코이야기, "Yoko's tale") was published in 2005 and sold 4,000 copies of the first printing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.mk.co.kr/outside/view.php?year=2007&no=26453|script-title=ko:`한국인 日소녀 강간` 美교재 국내 출간|date=2007-01-17|publisher=매경닷컴|language=ko}}</ref> However, it was banned soon after.
The book says that Soviet troops first landed in Korea on ] ] when the first Soviet advance into Korea did not take place until ] ]. The ] did not begin its ] until ] ] when it began the invasion of Manchuria.

A Japanese version of this book, ''Takebayashi haruka tōku: Nihonjin shōjo Yōko no sensō taikenki'' (竹林はるか遠く : 日本人少女ヨーコの戦争体験記, "Bamboo grove far distant: Japanese girl Yōko's war experience account") became available in June 2013.<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:竹林はるか遠く―日本人少女ヨーコの戦争体験記|language=ja|id={{ASIN|4892959219|country=jp}}}}</ref> In June 2013, the book reached No. 1 on the Amazon Best Sellers in Books in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/books|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607092730/http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/bestsellers/books|archive-date=2013-06-07|script-title=ja:ベストセラー|trans-title=Best Sellers |publisher=Amazon.co.jp|language=ja}}</ref>


==Controversy== ==Controversy==
There has been controversy surrounding this book's reversal of the roles of Koreans and Japanese during ], as Japan colonized Korea from ] until its defeat on the ]. The book has no mention of Japan's war crimes, such as ] and ] and portrays Koreans as the antagonists of the story.<ref></ref>


===Response in Boston===
The controversy began in when children of Korean descent became stigmatized and came home crying after their classmates read and discussed Watkins's book.<ref name=Boston></ref> ] parents have sought to remove the book from the school curriculum.<ref> JoongAng Daily, ], ] </ref> Similar efforts in different parts of the U.S. have been successful in removing the book from the curriculum and reading lists.<ref name=Boston/><ref name="AM"></ref>
The issue came to head after 2006, when 13 parents of Korean-American students in a ] community urged the book be removed from the English curriculum of Dover-Sherborn Middle School, resulting in the convening of a review committee that included the middle school librarian and two English teachers, which recommended removing the book from school curriculum in November 2006.<ref name="Boston">{{cite news |last=Kocian |first=Lisa |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/12/ban_book_from_class_panel_says/?page=2 |title=Ban book from class, panel says |date=November 12, 2006 |work=The Boston Globe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022035020/http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/12/ban_book_from_class_panel_says/?page=2 |archive-date=2012-10-22}}</ref> A hearing in the Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee was later held which took no action and instead referred the matter to a subcommittee for review. The book was later kept in the curriculum to be used in tandem with other books on Korean history for a more balanced experience.<!--ref name="AM" is renamed since AM is archiver, not publisher--><ref name="Korea Times 2007-01-23">{{cite news |url=http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=61889 |title=US: More American schools stop textbook falsifying Korea |publisher=] |author=Park Chung-a |date=January 23, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322052735/http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=61889 |archive-date=2012-03-22 }}</ref>


The parents' have complained that the book is "racist and sexually explicit" containing historical inaccuracies that whitewashed Japanese atrocities against Koreans during the Japanese Occupation. During the hearing of the School Committee on the proposed book ban one parent said he didn't think rape and other war atrocities were appropriate subject matter for young children. When talking of a scene in the book where a Japanese girl is being raped by a Korean man, the parent brought up worries that this would lead children to have a certain impression of Korean men, saying, "The first impression you imprint in a child's mind is typically very hard to erase."{{efn|Exact language in Kocian's piece in the ''Boston Globe'': "..it will be the students' first exposure to Asian history"; and "You'll notice throughout the book these acts are committed by Korean men -- it is a pretty disturbing connotation of a group of people",... "The first impression you imprint in a child's mind is typically very hard to erase".}}<ref name="Boston"/>
The controversy spread to South Korea when television program ''Neukkimpyo'' (느낌표 ''Exclamation Mark'') has said that 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 ], the Japanese viewed the ] as “proper”, and that this is one of history’s greatest distortions.


A Boston councilman{{Efn|]. The Dover parents were not actually his constituents, as the {{harvp|Kiang|Tang|2009}} study noted.}} also weighed in, stating that the Korean minority were being portrayed as the "bad guys", even though Japan was the one who had occupied Korea.<ref name="Boston"/>
South Korean newspapers '']'' and ''Yonhap News'' alleged that her father was involved in ] and that he was kept in Siberian prison for six years as a war criminal.<ref> Chosunilbo, ], ]</ref><ref> {{ko icon}} </ref> They further stated the story was false and uncovered further documentation of organized evacuation of thousands Japanese families evacuated from Manchuria and North Korea and eventually to Maizuru Bay, the same route taken by Yoko Watkins, under military and medical supervision. It had also been pointed out that Japanese evacuees rejected water and food from Koreans for fear of it being poisoned.<ref></ref>


Both the School Committee members and the parents said they had no objection to the book remaining in the school library.
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 that her father was a high ranking officer of ] and that she tried to portray her experiences in a softer way for young readers.<ref> {{ko icon}} JOINS Article, ] ]</ref>


Although some staunch supporters of the book were teachers and parents who saw the issue as a matter of literary censorship rather than historical revisionism and distortion, the middle school headmaster who was on the book review committee said the panel struggled with its recommendation adding that there wasn't enough time in school to properly explore the issues raised by the book. Other supporters who coalesced around anti-censorship issue were Kathy Glick-Weil, president of the Massachusetts Library Association and director of the Newton Free Library, and ], deputy director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.<ref name="Boston" />
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. On his personal website, he stated that he only had the opportunity to ask two questions, but still opposes the book for being "not based on fact" but "full of fabrication and misinterpreted history". He also states, "...a book properly introducing readers to the historical reality of Japan's Korea colony, and to the Japanese-Korean relationship in modern history, would present a picture of Japanese soldiers terrorizing Korean civilians, not the other way around."<ref></ref>


===Response in California===
In an editorial published in ], ] professor Carter Eckert has called for putting the book into context while allowing the book into school curriculum, for example, with Richard Kim's ''Lost Names''. Eckert described Watkin's story as "unfortunately incomplete, if not distorted, by the absence of this larger context." Without the context Eckerd points out that, "to teach 'So Far from the Bamboo Grove' without providing historicization 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."<ref></ref>
In 2009, Korean-American school parents submitted a complaint to the California Department of Education regarding inclusion of ''So Far From the Bamboo Grove'' in the school curriculum on grounds that the novel contained historical inaccuracies, including accounts of Japanese female victims of rape perpetrated by Koreans. The state of California gave school parents an opportunity to offer opinions and ultimately decided to remove the novel as a school curriculum option in the state. Around 50 K-12 Korean-American students who attended the Young Korean American Academy wrote letters to the state education offices and publishers asking for greater exposure of Korean history and culture, with McGraw-Hill sending back a response letter promising to implement students' requests.<ref>{{cite journal|ref={{SfnRef|Koreanbizwire|2018}}|title=American Textbooks Hold More Korean Content |journal=Koreanbizwire|date=April 18, 2018 |url=http://koreabizwire.com/american-textbooks-hold-more-korean-content/117322}}</ref>

===Response in Korea===
When this book was published in Korea as ''Yoko iyagi'' (요코 이야기, "Yoko's tale") in 2005, the sales were brisk partly due to a sales copy that said "why was this book banned in China and Japan?", but there was not much discernible social uproar about it.{{sfnp|Lee (H. K.)|2014|p=38}}<ref>{{cite journal|ref={{SfnRef|Kim (M.)|2010}}|last=Kim |first=Michael |title=The Lost Memories of Empire and the Korean Return from Manchuria, 1945-1950: Conceptualizing Manchuria in Modern Korean History |journal=Seoul Journal of Korean Studies |volume=23 |number=11 |date=December 2010 |url=http://s-space.snu.ac.kr/bitstream/10371/75779/1/The_Lost_Memories_of_Empire_and_the_Korean_Return_from_Manchuria__1945-1950.pdf |pages=195–223}}</ref>

There had even been positive reviews written about it, accepting the book as delivering an anti-war and anti-colonial message.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Choi |first=Hyeon-mi (최현미) |script-title=ko:日소녀가 본 日패망 풍경 : ‘요코 이야기’… 식민정책 비판 등 담아 |trans-title=A Japanese girl's glimpse of defeated Japan: 'Yoko's Tale' includes criticism of colonial policy |journal=] |date=2005-05-09 |url=http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2005050901012630023006}}</ref><ref>Review in ''Yonhap News'' (March 3, 2005), cited by {{harvp|Kim (M.)|2010|p=197, n5}}</ref>

The situation completely changed in 2007, when it became a target of intense debate in Korea and in the United States. This development was triggered by the protests lodged by Korean-American students in the ] area in September 2006.{{sfnp|Lee (H. K.)|2014|p=38–39}}

===Other schools===
Even prior to the Dover-Sherborn Middle School's decision to suspend the book, there have been other challenges tracked by ],<ref name=Boston/> some of which have been successful in removing the book from the curriculum and reading lists. ] in New York had acted swiftly by banning the book in September, 2006.<ref name="Korea Times 2007-01-23"/>

One Catholic school and one private school, both in Massachusetts removed the book from their curricula in 2007.<ref name="Korea Times 2007-01-23"/> A teacher at the latter{{Efn|Friends Academy, ].}} wrote an opinion on the book which appeared in '']''.<ref>{{citation|last=Walach |first=Stephen |title=So Far from the Bamboo Grove: Multiculturalism, Historical Context, and Close Reading |journal=The English Journal |volume=97 |number=3 |date=January 2008 |doi=10.58680/ej20086264 |url=http://academics.tctc.edu/lynx/authors/Watkins_Bamboo.pdf}} {{JSTOR|30046824}}</ref>

The school board of ] struck the book off its recommended list in March 2007.<ref name=chosunilbo-2007-03-19>{{cite web |title=Korean Americans Win Victory Over WWII Novel |url=https://www.chosun.com/english/kpop-culture-en/2007/03/19/GVDF3AMLOF34Q354QPVNSDGSIM/ |website=The Chosun Daily |access-date=1 September 2024}}</ref>

===Watkins' response===
Watkins said that she had no intention of disregarding the history of Korea and apologized for any hard feelings felt by Korean readers. She stated her intention was to portray her childhood experiences in a softer way for young readers, and denied the accusations made by the Korean newspapers.<ref name=joongang-2007-02-02>{{cite news |url=http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2871981 |title=Controversial author stands by story of her war ordeal |publisher=] |date=February 2, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718172209/http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2871981 |archive-date=2011-07-18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://article.joins.com/article/article.asp?total_id=2625111 |script-title=ko:왜곡 아니다 … 한국인에 상처준 건 죄송 |language=ko |publisher=JOINS |date=February 3, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090909173614/http://article.joins.com/article/article.asp?total_id=2625111 |archive-date=2009-09-09 }}</ref>

==Historical inaccuracies==

The Korean media has characterized her book as "]". It has believed there are several points of historical inaccuracies in her account. Certain "Korean historians" (unspecified) charge that some of her narrated incidents are imagined. However, the author insists she wrote her experience as she remembered it.<ref name=joongang-2007-02-02/>

===U.S. bombers===
Watkins gives in her book an account of sighting U.S. ] (identified as that type by Mr. Enomoto). This has been characterized as suspect, since according to historians, there were no bombing in the area in July or August 1945. Watkins retorted that she did not go so far as to say these airplanes bombarded her hometown of Nanam (]), but that she had simply witnessed them fly over.<ref name=joongang-2007-02-02/>

In fact, U.S. bombers were flying missions to the general area of Korea by this time, according to Yoshio Morita's book on evacuation from Korea: "From July 12 onward, American B-29's came almost every other day and regularly around 11:AM assaulting ] and {{illm|Ungi|ja|雄基}} in Northeast Korea, dropping many mines into the harbor".{{Efn|Quote in Japanese:「七月十二日以後、沖縄を基地とするアメリカのB29は、ほとんど隔日に、しかもきまって午後十一時ごろ、東北鮮の羅津、雄基に来襲し、そのつど多数の機雷を港内に投下していた。それ以前には"」}}<ref>{{harvp|Morita|1964|p=28–29}}, possibly from cited source, Kitamura, Tomekichi/Ryūkichi, ''Razu dasshutsu no omoide'' 羅津脱出の思い出. Kitamura was ''buyun'' (府尹, ]) or city magistrate of Razu. {{in lang|ja}}</ref>

An airplane attack on the train Yoko was aboard occurred, although she has not claimed she was able to identify the aircraft as American.{{sfnp|Watkins|1994|loc=Chapter 2}} On this point, Korean media cast suspicion on this passage as anachronistic, since "American military did not bomb any part of North Korea during the time frame of the story".<ref name=chosunilbo-2007-01-18/> The train was stalled by the attack 45 miles before reaching Seoul.{{sfnp|Watkins|1994|loc=Chapter 3}}

===Korean communist presence===
Also, when pressed, she admitted she could not identify the armed uniformed militia that her family encountered as definitively "Korean Communists",<ref name=joongang-2007-02-02/> although that was the label she has given to her posing threat throughout the book.{{sfnp|Watkins|1994|loc=Chapter 3}} She explained that this had been the assumption she had made after hearing that the areas left behind in her trail had been overrun by communists. The book, in a different context,{{Efn|In relation to the army ]ing some farmers' lands to expand its hospital.}} describes the mother telling Yoko that Koreans had formed what is known as an "Anti-Japanese Communist Army".{{Efn|"Anti-Japanese Communist Army" (''kōnichi kyōsangun'', 抗日共産軍) has been used elsewhere to designate China's ]. The Japanese of course would not dignify using Communist China's official name as the people's army.}}{{sfnp|Watkins|1994|p=9}}

Harvard historian ] had considered these points, and stated the only organized Korean "Communist Army" around this time would have been the ] led by Soviet-trained ], who "did not arrive in Korea until early September 1945", but there might have been "local Korean communist groups" present.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/16/a_matter_of_context/ |title=A Matter of Context |publisher=Boston Globe |first=Carter |last=Eckert |date=December 16, 2006 | work=The Boston Globe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090910003940/http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/16/a_matter_of_context/ |archive-date=2009-09-10}}</ref>

However, there was already a report that on August 8,{{Efn|The day Russia formally declared war on Japan}} a Korean contingent of 80 strong men was spotted with the Soviet Army, crossing the border into To-ri (土里; Japanese: Dori).{{Efn|The group assaulted a police station in To-ri, and killed two Japanese officers.}}{{sfnp|Morita|1964|pp=28–29}} It was only a short distance by speedboat across the ] for them to arrive from Russia to this town.{{sfnp|Morita|1964|pp=28–29}}{{Efn|This town was about 60 miles north of Nanam, where Yoko lived.}} But in historical facts, defense of the Japanese army was solid and so Soviet troops reached ] from the sea side on August 12 and captured this city on August 17.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ソ連軍の朝鮮北部占領 |url=http://www.dce.osaka-sandai.ac.jp/~funtak/kougi/gendai_note/SorenShi.htm |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=Osaka Sangyo University}}</ref>

"Korean Communist soldiers" were bereft of their uniforms for Yoko, her sister, and mother to use as disguise in the book.{{Efn|The locations is several nights' walk closer to Seoul than where their train derailed.}}{{sfnp|Watkins|1994|loc=Chapter 3}} Some media coverage gave a forced reading saying this term can only have applicable meaning as soldiers of the "]", not established until 1948, so that Yoko was describing uniforms nonexistent at the time.<ref name=chosunilbo-2007-01-18>{{cite news |url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2007/01/18/2007011861008.html |title=Korean Parents Angry over 'Distorted' U.S. School Book |publisher=] |date=January 18, 2007}}</ref>

== Awards ==
Watkins was awarded the Literary Lights for Children Award by Associates of the ] in 1998<ref name=gazette>{{cite news|last=Brown |first=J. J. |authorlink=<!--J. J. Brown--> |title=Library group to honor 5 children's-book authors at awards ceremony |newspaper=] |location=<!--Boston, Massachusetts--> |date=September 20, 1998 |page=293 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/442192343/ |access-date=2019-08-15}}</ref> and also the Courage of Conscience Award by the Peace Abbey.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bpl.org/general/associates/literarylightschildren-past.htm |publisher=The Boston Public Library |title=Literary Lights for Children |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107012936/http://www.bpl.org/general/associates/literarylightschildren-past.htm |archive-date=2014-01-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peaceabbey.org/cofc-award/award-recipients/|title=Courage of Conscience Award Recipients|publisher=The Peace Abbey |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610041225/http://www.peaceabbey.org/cofc-award/award-recipients/ |archive-date=2014-06-10}}</ref>


==See also== ==See also==
*]
*]
*] *]

*]
==Explanatory notes==
*]
{{notelist}}
*]
*]


==References== ==References==
<references />


{{reflist|30em}}
]
]


==Bibliography==
]
{{Refbegin}}
]

]
* {{Citation|last1=Kiang |first1=Peter |last2=Tang |first2=Shirley |title=Transnational Dimensions of Community Empowerment: The Victories of Chanrithy Uong and Sam Yoon |editor-last1=Collet |editor-last2=Lien |work=The Transnational Politics of Asian Americans|publisher=Temple University Press |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uhasTFXN3v8C&pg=PA89 |pages=88–91|isbn=9781592138623 }}
* {{cite journal|ref={{SfnRef|Lee (H. K.)|2014}}|last=Lee |first=Hye Kyoung (李恵慶) |title=Tekusuto wo uragiru tekusuto: Takebayashi haruka tōku ni okeru sensō no kioku to kioku no sensō |script-title=ja:テクストを裏切るテクスト―『sensō 』における戦争の記憶と記憶の戦争 |trans-title=Memory, Nostalgia and Nationalism: Unlocking The Textual Unconscious in Yoko Kawashima Watkins's So Far From The Bamboo Grove |journal=Asia-Pacific Review |script-journal=ja:アジア太平洋レビュー |number=11 |year=2014 |url=https://www.keiho-u.ac.jp/research/asia-pacific/pdf/review_2014-04.pdf |pages=38–52 |language=ja}} (published by the ])
* {{Cite book|last=Morita |first=Yoshio (森田芳夫) |title=Chōsen shūsen no kiroku: Bei So ryōgun to nihonjin no hikiage |script-title=ja:朝鮮終戦の記錄: 米ソ両軍の進駐と日本人の引揚 |publisher=Gannando<!--巌南堂書店-->|year=1964 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nekzAAAAMAAJ&q=%E7%BE%85%E6%B4%A5%2C%E9%9B%84%E5%9F%BA|language=ja}}
* {{Cite book|last=Watkins|first=Yoko Kawashima |title=So Far from the Bamboo Grove |publisher=Harper Collins |year=1994 |orig-year=1986 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AFt9A9dDikC |isbn=978-0-6881-3115-9}}
{{Refend}}

]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 12:00, 20 October 2024

Book by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
So Far from the Bamboo Grove
First edition
AuthorYoko Kawashima Watkins
Cover artistLeo and Diane Dillon
LanguageEnglish
GenreWar novel, non-fiction
PublisherWilliam Morrow
Publication dateApril 1986
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hard & paperback)
Pages192 pp
ISBN978-0-688-13115-9
OCLC426064992
LC ClassPZ7.W3235 So 1994
Followed byMy Brother, My Sister, and I 

So Far from the Bamboo Grove is an autobiography written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, a Japanese American writer. It was originally published by Beech Tree in April 1986.

Watkins's book takes place in the last days of 35 years of Korea's annexation by Japan. An eleven-year-old Japanese girl, Yoko Kawashima, whose father works for the Japanese government, must leave her home in Nanam, part of northern Korea, as her family escapes south to Seoul, then to Busan, to return to Japan.

Plot summary

The story begins with Yoko Kawashima (and her mother, brother and sister) living in Nanam. Yoko is 11 years old and living in North Korea during World War II while their father works as a Japanese government official in Manchuria, China. As the war draws towards a close, Yoko and her family realize the danger of their situation and attempts to escape back to Japan as communist troops close in on North Korea.

Her brother, Hideyo, also tries to leave but he is separated from his family because he has to serve at an ammunition factory for six days a week. The women of the family board a train to Seoul using a letter from a family diplomat but their trip is cut short by a bomb 45 miles away from Seoul. Yoko is injured from the bombing and the women are forced to walk the rest of the way. After receiving medical treatment in Seoul, Yoko, her sister, and mother board a train to Busan, and then a ship to Japan.

When Yoko, her sister Ko, and her mother reach Fukuoka, Japan, it is not the beautiful, comforting, welcoming place Yoko dreamed of. Once again, they find themselves living in a train station scrounging in the garbage for food to survive. Eventually, Yoko's mother travels to Kyoto to find her family. She then leaves for Aomori to seek help from their grandparents who she discovers are both dead. Their mother dies on the same day, leaving Yoko and Ko waiting for their brother Hideyo. Their mother's last words were to keep their wrapping cloth where she had hidden money for her children.

Yoko begins to attend a new school where she enters and wins an essay contest with a cash prize. News of her winning the contest is reported in the newspaper. Hideyo and the Korean family who took bid farewell and Hideyo finally reaches Busan where he finds the message left to him by Yoko. After reaching Japan, he sees signs with his name and Yoko and Ko's address. While asking directions from locals, he is spotted by Yoko and they are reunited.

Kawashima also wrote a sequel titled My Brother, My Sister, and I.

Translations

A Korean version of this book titled Yoko iyagi (요코이야기, "Yoko's tale") was published in 2005 and sold 4,000 copies of the first printing. However, it was banned soon after.

A Japanese version of this book, Takebayashi haruka tōku: Nihonjin shōjo Yōko no sensō taikenki (竹林はるか遠く : 日本人少女ヨーコの戦争体験記, "Bamboo grove far distant: Japanese girl Yōko's war experience account") became available in June 2013. In June 2013, the book reached No. 1 on the Amazon Best Sellers in Books in Japan.

Controversy

Response in Boston

The issue came to head after 2006, when 13 parents of Korean-American students in a Greater Boston community urged the book be removed from the English curriculum of Dover-Sherborn Middle School, resulting in the convening of a review committee that included the middle school librarian and two English teachers, which recommended removing the book from school curriculum in November 2006. A hearing in the Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee was later held which took no action and instead referred the matter to a subcommittee for review. The book was later kept in the curriculum to be used in tandem with other books on Korean history for a more balanced experience.

The parents' have complained that the book is "racist and sexually explicit" containing historical inaccuracies that whitewashed Japanese atrocities against Koreans during the Japanese Occupation. During the hearing of the School Committee on the proposed book ban one parent said he didn't think rape and other war atrocities were appropriate subject matter for young children. When talking of a scene in the book where a Japanese girl is being raped by a Korean man, the parent brought up worries that this would lead children to have a certain impression of Korean men, saying, "The first impression you imprint in a child's mind is typically very hard to erase."

A Boston councilman also weighed in, stating that the Korean minority were being portrayed as the "bad guys", even though Japan was the one who had occupied Korea.

Both the School Committee members and the parents said they had no objection to the book remaining in the school library.

Although some staunch supporters of the book were teachers and parents who saw the issue as a matter of literary censorship rather than historical revisionism and distortion, the middle school headmaster who was on the book review committee said the panel struggled with its recommendation adding that there wasn't enough time in school to properly explore the issues raised by the book. Other supporters who coalesced around anti-censorship issue were Kathy Glick-Weil, president of the Massachusetts Library Association and director of the Newton Free Library, and Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Response in California

In 2009, Korean-American school parents submitted a complaint to the California Department of Education regarding inclusion of So Far From the Bamboo Grove in the school curriculum on grounds that the novel contained historical inaccuracies, including accounts of Japanese female victims of rape perpetrated by Koreans. The state of California gave school parents an opportunity to offer opinions and ultimately decided to remove the novel as a school curriculum option in the state. Around 50 K-12 Korean-American students who attended the Young Korean American Academy wrote letters to the state education offices and publishers asking for greater exposure of Korean history and culture, with McGraw-Hill sending back a response letter promising to implement students' requests.

Response in Korea

When this book was published in Korea as Yoko iyagi (요코 이야기, "Yoko's tale") in 2005, the sales were brisk partly due to a sales copy that said "why was this book banned in China and Japan?", but there was not much discernible social uproar about it.

There had even been positive reviews written about it, accepting the book as delivering an anti-war and anti-colonial message.

The situation completely changed in 2007, when it became a target of intense debate in Korea and in the United States. This development was triggered by the protests lodged by Korean-American students in the Greater Boston area in September 2006.

Other schools

Even prior to the Dover-Sherborn Middle School's decision to suspend the book, there have been other challenges tracked by the American Library Association, some of which have been successful in removing the book from the curriculum and reading lists. Rye Country Day School in New York had acted swiftly by banning the book in September, 2006.

One Catholic school and one private school, both in Massachusetts removed the book from their curricula in 2007. A teacher at the latter wrote an opinion on the book which appeared in The English Journal.

The school board of Montgomery County, Maryland struck the book off its recommended list in March 2007.

Watkins' response

Watkins said that she had no intention of disregarding the history of Korea and apologized for any hard feelings felt by Korean readers. She stated her intention was to portray her childhood experiences in a softer way for young readers, and denied the accusations made by the Korean newspapers.

Historical inaccuracies

The Korean media has characterized her book as "autobiographical fiction". It has believed there are several points of historical inaccuracies in her account. Certain "Korean historians" (unspecified) charge that some of her narrated incidents are imagined. However, the author insists she wrote her experience as she remembered it.

U.S. bombers

Watkins gives in her book an account of sighting U.S. B-29 bombers (identified as that type by Mr. Enomoto). This has been characterized as suspect, since according to historians, there were no bombing in the area in July or August 1945. Watkins retorted that she did not go so far as to say these airplanes bombarded her hometown of Nanam (Rannam), but that she had simply witnessed them fly over.

In fact, U.S. bombers were flying missions to the general area of Korea by this time, according to Yoshio Morita's book on evacuation from Korea: "From July 12 onward, American B-29's came almost every other day and regularly around 11:AM assaulting Rajin and Ungi [ja] in Northeast Korea, dropping many mines into the harbor".

An airplane attack on the train Yoko was aboard occurred, although she has not claimed she was able to identify the aircraft as American. On this point, Korean media cast suspicion on this passage as anachronistic, since "American military did not bomb any part of North Korea during the time frame of the story". The train was stalled by the attack 45 miles before reaching Seoul.

Korean communist presence

Also, when pressed, she admitted she could not identify the armed uniformed militia that her family encountered as definitively "Korean Communists", although that was the label she has given to her posing threat throughout the book. She explained that this had been the assumption she had made after hearing that the areas left behind in her trail had been overrun by communists. The book, in a different context, describes the mother telling Yoko that Koreans had formed what is known as an "Anti-Japanese Communist Army".

Harvard historian Carter Eckert had considered these points, and stated the only organized Korean "Communist Army" around this time would have been the guerrillas led by Soviet-trained Kim Il Sung, who "did not arrive in Korea until early September 1945", but there might have been "local Korean communist groups" present.

However, there was already a report that on August 8, a Korean contingent of 80 strong men was spotted with the Soviet Army, crossing the border into To-ri (土里; Japanese: Dori). It was only a short distance by speedboat across the Tumen River for them to arrive from Russia to this town. But in historical facts, defense of the Japanese army was solid and so Soviet troops reached Nanam from the sea side on August 12 and captured this city on August 17.

"Korean Communist soldiers" were bereft of their uniforms for Yoko, her sister, and mother to use as disguise in the book. Some media coverage gave a forced reading saying this term can only have applicable meaning as soldiers of the "Korean People's Army", not established until 1948, so that Yoko was describing uniforms nonexistent at the time.

Awards

Watkins was awarded the Literary Lights for Children Award by Associates of the Boston Public Library in 1998 and also the Courage of Conscience Award by the Peace Abbey.

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. Exact language in Kocian's piece in the Boston Globe: "..it will be the students' first exposure to Asian history"; and "You'll notice throughout the book these acts are committed by Korean men -- it is a pretty disturbing connotation of a group of people",... "The first impression you imprint in a child's mind is typically very hard to erase".
  2. Sam Yoon. The Dover parents were not actually his constituents, as the Kiang & Tang (2009) study noted.
  3. Friends Academy, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
  4. Quote in Japanese:「七月十二日以後、沖縄を基地とするアメリカのB29は、ほとんど隔日に、しかもきまって午後十一時ごろ、東北鮮の羅津、雄基に来襲し、そのつど多数の機雷を港内に投下していた。それ以前には"」
  5. In relation to the army eminent domaining some farmers' lands to expand its hospital.
  6. "Anti-Japanese Communist Army" (kōnichi kyōsangun, 抗日共産軍) has been used elsewhere to designate China's People's Liberation Army. The Japanese of course would not dignify using Communist China's official name as the people's army.
  7. The day Russia formally declared war on Japan
  8. The group assaulted a police station in To-ri, and killed two Japanese officers.
  9. This town was about 60 miles north of Nanam, where Yoko lived.
  10. The locations is several nights' walk closer to Seoul than where their train derailed.

References

  1. Silvey, Anita (1995). Children's books and their creators. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-395-65380-7.
  2. `한국인 日소녀 강간` 美교재 국내 출간 (in Korean). 매경닷컴. 2007-01-17.
  3. 竹林はるか遠く―日本人少女ヨーコの戦争体験記 (in Japanese). ASIN 4892959219.
  4. ベストセラー [Best Sellers] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2013-06-07.
  5. ^ Kocian, Lisa (November 12, 2006). "Ban book from class, panel says". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22.
  6. ^ Park Chung-a (January 23, 2007). "US: More American schools stop textbook falsifying Korea". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2012-03-22.
  7. "American Textbooks Hold More Korean Content". Koreanbizwire. April 18, 2018.
  8. Lee (H. K.) (2014), p. 38.
  9. Kim, Michael (December 2010). "The Lost Memories of Empire and the Korean Return from Manchuria, 1945-1950: Conceptualizing Manchuria in Modern Korean History" (PDF). Seoul Journal of Korean Studies. 23 (11): 195–223.
  10. Choi, Hyeon-mi (최현미) (2005-05-09). 日소녀가 본 日패망 풍경 : ‘요코 이야기’… 식민정책 비판 등 담아 [A Japanese girl's glimpse of defeated Japan: 'Yoko's Tale' includes criticism of colonial policy]. Munhwa Ilbo.
  11. Review in Yonhap News (March 3, 2005), cited by Kim (M.) (2010), p. 197, n5
  12. Lee (H. K.) (2014), p. 38–39.
  13. Walach, Stephen (January 2008), "So Far from the Bamboo Grove: Multiculturalism, Historical Context, and Close Reading" (PDF), The English Journal, 97 (3), doi:10.58680/ej20086264 JSTOR 30046824
  14. "Korean Americans Win Victory Over WWII Novel". The Chosun Daily. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Controversial author stands by story of her war ordeal". Korea JoongAng Daily. February 2, 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18.
  16. 왜곡 아니다 … 한국인에 상처준 건 죄송 (in Korean). JOINS. February 3, 2007. Archived from the original on 2009-09-09.
  17. Morita (1964), p. 28–29, possibly from cited source, Kitamura, Tomekichi/Ryūkichi, Razu dasshutsu no omoide 羅津脱出の思い出. Kitamura was buyun (府尹, 부윤) or city magistrate of Razu. (in Japanese)
  18. Watkins (1994), Chapter 2.
  19. ^ "Korean Parents Angry over 'Distorted' U.S. School Book". The Chosun Ilbo. January 18, 2007.
  20. ^ Watkins (1994), Chapter 3.
  21. Watkins (1994), p. 9.
  22. Eckert, Carter (December 16, 2006). "A Matter of Context". The Boston Globe. Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2009-09-10.
  23. ^ Morita (1964), pp. 28–29.
  24. "ソ連軍の朝鮮北部占領". Osaka Sangyo University. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  25. Brown, J. J. (September 20, 1998). "Library group to honor 5 children's-book authors at awards ceremony". The Boston Globe. p. 293. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
  26. "Literary Lights for Children". The Boston Public Library. Archived from the original on 2014-01-07.
  27. "Courage of Conscience Award Recipients". The Peace Abbey. Archived from the original on 2014-06-10.

Bibliography

Categories: