Midnight in Broad Daylight, Pamela Rotner Sakamoto
Midnight in Broad Daylight, Pamela Rotner Sakamoto
1 Rating(s)
List: $21.99 | Sale: $15.39
Club: $10.99

Midnight in Broad Daylight
A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds

Author: Pamela Rotner Sakamoto

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller

Unabridged: 11 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/05/2016

Synopsis

After their father's death, Harry, Frank, and Pierce Fukuhara—all born and raised in the Pacific Northwest—moved to Hiroshima, their mother's ancestral home. Eager to go back to his own land—America—Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Despite being sent to an internment camp, Harry dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, his brothers Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army.

As the war raged on, Harry, one of the finest bilingual interpreters in the United States Army, island-hopped across the Pacific, moving ever closer to the enemy and to his younger brothers. But before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family.

Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

About Pamela Rotner Sakamoto

Pamela Rotner Sakamoto is a historian and the author of Japanese Diplomats and Jewish Refugees: A World War II Dilemma. Fluent in Japanese, Pamela lived in Kyoto and Tokyo for seventeen years. She works offsite as an expert consultant on Japan-related projects for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and has taught in the University of Hawaii system. She teaches at Punahou School in Honolulu.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sarah Beth on December 10, 2015

I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins. This work of non-fiction details the experiences of the Fukuhara family during World War II. Although of Japanese descent, all five children: -Victor, Mary, Harry, Pierce, and Frank - were born and raised in the Pacific Northwest.......more

Goodreads review by Jim on June 05, 2023

Sakamoto tells an amazing true story of a family's struggle to survive in two worlds. This is the Fukuhara family from Hiroshima. The main character is Harry, born in Washington State, where his parents settled after emigrating from Japan. He, like his brothers and sister, is caught between the two......more

Goodreads review by Dolores on January 10, 2016

I was very impressed with this true story of a Japanese American family caught up by World War II, with two sons in the Japanese Imperial Army and one son an interpreter in the United States Army. It is a vivid portrayal of the Pacific campaign and also of the internment camps and the racism faced b......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on February 12, 2016

I am still reeling from the power and the beauty of this book. I am hopeful that many of us have heard of Sulu from "Star Trek," George Takei's story about being a Nisei (second generation Japanese) in the US, and the internment of several hundred thousand Americans of Japanese descent at the onset......more

Goodreads review by Rochelle on March 30, 2016

This book tells in beautiful language multiple stories of the Japanese during World War II. The breadth of the story is unique in that it presents the experiences in such a personal way. The story of ordinary people and their experience of war is often missing from history, and this perspective is v......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List