Susan Karen Burton

Since the first 'Welch' sailor set foot on Japanese shores in the seventeenth century to the present-day presence of high-tech Japanese companies in the Valleys, Wales and Japan are two nations with deeply entwined roots.

Captured in this groundbreaking book is a chorus of modern-day Welsh migrants to Japan. There is Catharine who, in 1965, followed her Japanese husband to an 'out of kilter' house in the seaside town of Zushi; Jac, the 'capitalist ski bum', who guides tourists through the bear-infested wilds of snowy Hokkaidō, while on a volcanic island in the Seto Inland Sea, Simon clears jungle vines to develop his vegan farm.

There are also actors, writers, teachers, an ex-bouncer turned martial artist, a filmmaker, a games localiser, and many more. There are even Japanese fans who promote Welsh culture in their homeland. Together they form a polyphonic group portrait based on oral-history techniques, mixing travel writing, character study and reportage, while proving an ear for natural speech.

Fresh, engaging, with a strong sense of space and place, but above all, a knack for crafting a life story, this volume of documentary literature presents universal themes of work, adventure, reinvention and survival. Here are people discovering and negotiating the land, the life and the culture of Japan, and putting down 'transplantable roots'.

INCLUDES 45 B&W IMAGES

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