The El Granada resident studied Japanese culture and language while in college. She married a Japanese man. Later, when she began writing short stories, they all tied in with Japan.
“They just came out that way,” she said. “I became very enamored of the Japanese culture.”
 Wendy Tokunaga has completed her second novel, "Love in Translation," which like her first one reflects her love of Japanese culture. |
“Love in Translation” is not a sequel to “Midori,” but more a mirror image with new characters, said Tokunaga.
The story concerns protagonist Celeste Duncan, who finds herself in Japan seeking a long-lost relative who might hold the key to the father Celeste never knew. The relative was a Japanese war bride who traveled to America to marry Celeste’s great-uncle.
While searching the country, Celeste finds an affinity for Japanese culture and especially its music. And then she falls in love with a Japanese man.
“It’s partly a cross-cultural love story (with) a mystery element because she is seeking this person that she doesn’t know is dead or alive,” Tokunaga said.
The book, a roughly 250-page trade paperback published by St. Martin’s Press, will be available in major and independent bookstores and online via Amazon, said Tokunaga. She added that she also hopes to stock it in Coastside bookstores, where she hopes to hold book-signings.
Japan and the unique Japanese culture have been “such a part of my life for so long,” she said. “I’m attracted to the aspect of the culture where the people seem to be courteous and a society based on courtesy and social norms appeals to me … I like the feeling of security, I guess, where people think more in terms of what’s good for the group, instead of being individual-centered.”
When she’s not turning out novels, Tokunaga works as a consultant to aspiring novelists and memoir-writers, through her own business at www.wendytokunaga.com.
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