Storm Rider [Paperback]

Though he never stops wanting to return to Japan, Hiko does the only things he can do--he makes friends among Americans, learns the language, keeps his mind open to new ideas, and travels the world on American ships. Eventually he meets senators, President Buchanan, and even President Lincoln during the Civil War, before finally returning to Japan as an American interpreter when the shogunate opens the country to trade in the 1860s. "Faction samurai" are as opposed to this as many Americans are to the Emancipation Proclamation, and bloodshed and fires directed at foreigners make life for Hiko and the American consular officers for whom he works very dangerous.

For someone interested in the opening of Japan, the novel provides interesting historical insights. As a novel, however, the book is a challenge. The plot has no real dramatic tension or focus, simply following Hiko around for many years. Inexplicably, the narrative also splits several times, following the lives of other Japanese castaways whom Hiko meets as they, too, try to return to Japan. Though this gives additional historical information, it further fragments the reader's already weak identification with Hiko, since he is not present in these side narratives. Episodic and lacking in urgency, the novel feels more like an historical record than a plot which the author has directed. With undeveloped characters, no love story, and no humor to change the tone or mood, this is a novel more geared to the historian than the lover of literature. Mary Whipple

When the ship is caught up in a fierce storm and virtually destroyed after days of incessant pounding from the waves, the increasingly desperate crew is saved by an American ship sailing to San Francisco, in America. So begins Hikozo?s attempt to return to his homeland, a process that is thwarted both by world events and the seclusion policy of Japan. This policy forbids a man?s reentry into Japan after traveling abroad. The strict control is eventually loosened, but not for many years. Meanwhile, Hikozo cannot return to the land of his birth.

Hizoko?s experiences define his life between two continents: he is essentially a man of two countries, in the unique position of observing both, but unable to return to the land of his birth. Through Hizoko?s adventures, the author describes world events from the opening of trade with Japan in 1839 to the American Civil War, as well as the California Gold Rush. Eventually Hizoko does return to Japan, where he uses his Americanized name, Joseph Heco, but his American citizenship stigmatizes the rest of his life.

This novel is a translation of the original and, while historically precise, the reading can be dry and uninspiring. Whether this is due to the original manuscript or the translation is difficult to ascertain. However, this is a rich period in world politics, as America flexes its military muscle, forcing Japan to open to trade and the influx of opportunists who flock to California, infected with gold fever. With the advent of the Civil War, Hizoko chooses not to return to America; rather, he remains a man lost between cultures, a prisoner of history, denied a homeland that recognizes his identity. Luan Gaines/2004.