Hamakua Hero - Softcover

Patsy Y. Iwasaki; Art By Berido

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1573063215 ISBN 13: 9781573063210

Publisher: Bess Press, Inc., 2010

Synopsis

Written and illustrated in manga style is the true story of Katsu Goto, a Japanese man who journeyed to Hawaii seeking a better life as a plantation worker. This book illustrates the racial and cultural problems Japanese immigrants such as Katsu Goto faced in the plantations. It is a powerfully poignant biography about Katsu Goto s life and the injustices he and his countrymen faced in their years of work in Honoka a from when they arrived in 1889.

About this title

About the Author

Patsy Y. Iwasaki was born and raised on Kauai surrounded by sugar cane and plantations. Her grandparents immigrated to Hawaii from Hiroshima and worked on the Lihue Sugar Plantation. Iwasaki is currently a lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Hilo in the communication and English departments. In addition to her academic work she is a freelance writer and researcher

From Publishers Weekly

In the late 19th century, a shortage of labor for the sugar plantations on the islands of Hawaii and difficult economic circumstances in Japan made for a synergistic coupling: thousands of Japanese (mostly young men) left for Hawaii. According to Iwasaki's young adult history tale, those immigrant workers didn't exactly find an immigrants' paradise. Relegated to the most grueling plantation work under frequently cruel bosses, the young Katsu Goto, like other workers, tried to get off the treadmill by opening a store and becoming a businessman. Goto's success, and status as a leader of immigrant workers agitating against miserable working conditions, unfortunately enrages some of the white locals, who look for retribution. Iwasaki's story, though told in vividly juvenile style by artist Berido, is a straight history lesson, with all the attendant pluses and minuses of the genre--fascinating subtext being one of the former, and a tendency toward excessive literalness and footnotes being one of the latter. Although very local in its focus, this is a smart piece of immigrant history. (Oct.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bess Press, Inc.
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1573063215
• ISBN 13: 9781573063210
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 80