Tadaima! I Am Home: A Transnational Family History

In this appealing but slightly narrow story, journalist Coffman (How Hawai'i Changed America) traces how several generations of a Japanese family developed roots in Hawaii. Hoping to improve his family’s economic status, Marujiro Miwa traveled to Hawaii in 1894 to work as a plantation laborer. His son, Senkichi, replaced him two years later, establishing the “precedent of the two-way journey” for the family as they launched a hay, feed, and grain business. Senkichi’s son James came to Hawaii in 1914 for a Western-style education before taking over the company. James was legally ineligible for naturalization, but he made sure his children were born in Hawaii, which guaranteed them U.S. citizenship, and then sent them back to Japan in the 1930s. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, James was interned before repatriating to Hiroshima to join his family. Coffman provides a fascinating view of wartime Japan, including morale-boosting efforts such as military-style uniforms for children, and the horrors of the first atomic bombing. Throughout, he weaves in just enough historical information to illuminate the broader importance of the Miwas’ experiences. Unfortunately, he focuses exclusively on the Miwa men, obscuring women’s contributions to their transnational life and limiting the book’s impact. Nevertheless, this account will reward readers interested in Japan and Japanese-Hawaiian experience. Illus. (Oct.)