Utagawa Hiroshige

Eugene Woodbury wrote Tokyo South based on his two years in Japan as a missionary from 1979 - 1981, ages 19 - 21. The book is technically fiction with strong autobiographical elements. 

Eugene reflected quite often on his mission and many of his reflections can be found on this blog, including a post from 2024. 

The book retains the perspective of a young man leaving home: family, college life, and homeland. He encounters not only a new culture and new perspectives but a variety of human beings, ranging from ambitious and rule-oriented to whimsical and romantic to matter-of-fact and dedicated. Most importantly, he encounters and falls in love with place:  

For the first time [Thackeray] understood mono no aware—the idiom that referred to the pathos and beauty of the human condition, the tremulous ache of a freshly broken heart. For the first time he knew that America was very far away. 

The text is downloadable only as a PDF. Click on the button below. 

Labels: ebooks, tokyo south