Itsuka

Front Cover
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1994 - Fiction - 331 pages
“Profoundly political, exquisitely intimate, Itsuka reverberates with longing and hope.”—The Canada Times
 
Already a Canadian bestseller, the sequel to Joy Kogawa’s award-winning novel Obasan follows the character Naomi Nakane into adulthood, where she becomes involved in the movement for governmental redress. Much more overtly political than Kogawa’s first book, the story focuses on reaching that itsuka—someday—when the mistreatment of those of Japanese heritage during World War II would be recognized.
 
Although during the war both the United States and Canada interned Japanese-Americans and confiscated their property, when the war ended the property of those in Canada never returned to them. This is the story of the fight to get government compensation for the thousands of victims of the wartime internment, which was, unbelievably, only accomplished in 1988. Both a moving novel of self-discovery and a fascinating historical account of the fight for redress, Itsuka ends with a message of inspiration and hope.

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1994)

Joy Kogawa was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1935 and graduated from high school in Coaldale, Alberta where her family was sent after WWII. Kogawa was made a Member of the Order of Canada. From 1983 to 1985, she worked with the National Association of Japanese Canadians to help those Japanese who had lost their land and possesions under the War Measures Act in 1942. Kogawa went on to study education at the University of Alberta and taught elementary school in Coaldale for a year. She then studied music at the University of Toronto followed by studies at the Anglican Women's Training College and the University of Saskatchewan. Kogawa has won awards for her book Obasan, including the Books in Canada, First Novel Award, the Canadian Authors Association, Book of the Year Award, the Periodical Distributors of Canada, Best Paperback Fiction Award, the Before Columbus Foundation, and The American Book Award

Bibliographic information