American Jap Girl: A Samurai Daughter's Ikigai-From Incarceration to Legacy

Incarceration to Inspiration: Ikigai Legacy of an American Jap Girl

In 1925, three-year-old Tome, one of nine children, is abandoned by her birth parents. Raised by a foster family who instill in her the Bushido code of honor and perseverance, she grows up believing she's an all-American girl-until America brands her a "Jap."

When Executive Order 9066 uproots her family and confines them behind barbed wire, Tome endures injustice with quiet strength, guided by her purpose: her ikigai. Through war, poverty, and personal tragedy, including a desperate moment of near suicide-halted by her young son Richard's cry, "No, Mommy, no!"-she transforms pain into determination.

American Jap Girl, told in Tome's posthumous voice and reconstructed from family journals, reclaims a racial slur as a symbol of resilience and belonging. Spanning from the Great Depression to the rise of postwar California, Tome's story is a testament to one woman's defiance against the myth of inferiority and her transformation of suffering into legacy.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Digital Lifestory Press
Published: 05/05/2026
ISBN: 9781971076010
Pages: 282
Weight: 0.72lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.64d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2026