Funny, but being in Japan I forget I’m in Asia, and therefore connected to the thousands of other Jews who make their lives on this side of the world.
Yesterday came a rare opportunity to not only remember that, but to share from my nearly 29 years of memories of Jewish life in Japan. What prompted this was a meeting attended by my dear friend Leza Lowitz who similarly shared her perspective with Leah Ferentinos, a visiting student from University of Pennsylvania currently doing research through Tokyo University for a project investigating Jewish life in Japan.
To my surprise, I found myself sighing quite a bit during our conversation. Jews from China, especially Hong Kong, so outnumber out tiny population in Tokyo that I sighed with envy to think they have Jewish schools that go right up from kindergarten to the end of high school. I sighed to think Hong Kong Jews can board a nonstop plane to Israel and not have to change in Korea, Beijing or Istanbul. I sighed to think that Hong Kong Jews have multiple choices where to daven and, if they choose, to pray in a Sephardic shul that is one of the beautiful architectural historic gems of Asia.
Then I stop sighing. Because of the work of Erica Lyons, a Hong Kong literary trail-blazer amongst us, who saw the need and found the means to create a beautiful magazine dedicated to celebrating all our lives, Asian Jewish Life Magazine exists. And it’s on these pages that I found my outlet to appreciate all that is good and sweet about Jewish life in Tokyo.
Yesterday’s meeting with Lean Ferentinos jogged my memory. I brought along copies of those articles to give her to read about my perspective on Jewish life in Japan. And after doing so, I thought it’s time–if you’ve been following my blog so far– to share with you the two articles featured in Asian Jewish Life 2013 editions that became the embryonic beginnings of my memoir, The Wagamama Bride.
http://asianjewishlife.org/pages/archive/AJL_issue12-June_2013.html
http://asianjewishlife.org/pages/archive/index_Issue13_November2013.html
Thanks to Erica for treating our corner of Asia–Japan–with such interest!
Asian Jewish Life has also featured two of Japan’s most beloved American female expat writers– Tracy Slater, Four Stories founder and author of The Good Shufu, a groundbreaking memoir and loving tribute to her Japanese husband and his father who helped smooth her difficult transition to life in Japan. And Leza Lowitz, author of Here Comes the Sun, and one of Japan’s most sought-after yoga teachers, also has written for Asian Jewish Life about her deeply personal experience of adoption in Japan.
