Daughters of the Samurai - A Journey from East to West and Back

 Janice P. Nimura introduces us to the three young Japanese girls dressed in fussy Victorian outfits on the cover of her non-fiction book Daughters of the Samurai - A Journey from East to West and Back ((#639).  Their stories are quite remarkable.  In 1871, the Japanese government sent an ambassadorial team an on misstion to the outside world, beginning with the United States, to learn more about the Westerners who were forcing drastic changes on Japanese society by the mere fact of their presence in Japan.  At the last moment, it was decided to send five young girls along with this mission to be educated in the United States and return with a thorough knowledge of the language and culture which would benefit Japan when they were able to pass this along to their future pupils and their own children  That was what was supposed to happen, but in the ten years Shige, Sutematsu and Ume spent living with families in Washington, D.C. and New Haven, Connecticut, things at home changed.

The two oldest girls of the original five came home less than a year after leaving for the States so the book concentrates on Ume, the youngest at six, Shige and Sutematsu who graduated from Vassar before returning home.  None of the girls spoke English when they left home.  By the time they returned to Japan, it was at first a chore to even speak Japanese, let alone be fluent in reading or writing it.  They had become, in effect, young American women.

Yet as fascinating as their lives were while living in the United States, their paths on their return took them in separate directions, though they always remained close.  They struggled so hard to adjust and to make the most of the education they had received and to accomplish the mission they were originally charged to perform.  Two of them remained in the public spotlight both in Japan and abroad.  One led a quieter life that perhaps came closest to meeting the ideal of their mission.  All three lived lives of courage, grace and strength.

Daughters of the Samurai was on the New York Times 100 Notable Books List of 2015.  You'll understand why when you read this amazing story.