That's on the outside. Inside, her heart is in the East - specifically Japan.
"I grew up as a WASP, but I didn't identify with (anything) European," said the 16-year Coastsider. "But I've been attracted to Japanese culture" since her teens.
 Author Wendy Tokunaga relaxes at her Coastside home shortly after the release of her new novel "Midori by Moonlight." |
The book is officially due for release Sept. 18, but can be pre-ordered through Amazon.com.
It focuses on Midori Saito, a young woman who - like Tokunaga herself - does not fit into her own culture. Too independent for Japanese society, she rebuffs her parents' efforts to arrange a marriage for her and instead falls in love with Kevin, and American teacher of English.
Enter Kimberly, Kevin's former fianc/e with whom he is still enough in love to dump Midori after she goes to San Francisco to be with him.
She's left alone, trying to make believable excuses to her mother's long-distance phone calls, with little command of English, less cash and a visa about to expire. But she pulls herself together, pins her hopes on a potential new landlord, hunts for a job and tries to resume her shattered dream of a new life.
"Part wasabi, part ginger, and as scrumptious as a California roll," was the critique from author Cara Lockwood.
The book said Tokunaga, explores the theme of why some people trade their native cultures for a new one.
The prime example for Tokunaga is husband Manabu, whom she playfully calls an "Osaka-born surfer dude" who felt he never fit in Japan and emigrated to the United States at 18. (She modeled her book's character, Shinji, on him.)
Despite its genteel qualities, she said, in Japan she feels that "there are expectations. If you don't (follow,) there's a lot of guilt on you, that it's shameful to do that to your family."
She said she imbued Midori with the feeling that "I want to live life the way I want in the U.S., where you generally can do that more than other places in the world."
Her own enchantment with the Japanese culture began in high school, when she found herself drawn to Japanese art and other aspect of Japanese life. She read a book on Zen and Japanese culture and found herself enthralled. In college, she took every class she could on anything to do with Japan, braving the odd response she got from her fellow Caucasian students.
But the pull was strong. "When I met Japanese people, I was struck by their sincerity and 'ki ga tsuku' - which translates to knowing someone's needs or what they want before they ask," she said.
She went on to become a technical writer and producer of Web sites, and lived briefly in Tokyo in the early 1980s. Musically gifted as a teen, a talent she later refined as a Joni Mitchell-style singer-songwriter, she played bass and wrote songs for several rock and new wave bands.
She also mastered skills in Japanese karaoke, singing both j-pop (Japanese pop styles) and enka, and won awards in numerous competitions.
Since her marriage, she and her husband founded the award-winning GEnie Japan Round Table Forum online discussion board that ran from 1989 to 1994.
They also perform as a musical duo called Star Jazzmin. With Wendy on vocals and Manabu on electronic keyboard, they play an eclectic blend of pop, jazz and bossa nova. In 2002, Wendy Tokunaga was a finalist on NKH's "Nodo Jiman" singing contest at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, which was broadcast live worldwide.
She also penned two other nonfiction books: "Famous People: Christina Aguilera" and "Wonders of the World: Niagara Falls." And now she is a published novelist.
She will tour several Bay Area bookstores, beginning Sept. 15, to promote and sign copies of the new novel, including Cody's Books in Berkeley and Book Passage in Corte Madera, where with her husband she will perform songs such as those one might her in a Japanese karaoke bar like the one in which Midori finds work.
"A lot of people are Japanophiles," she said mischievously.
She is currently beginning the second year of her master of fine arts in writing program at the University of San Francisco.
She will have a book launching from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Ink Spell Books at 500 Purisima St. in Half Moon Bay. It will feature a reading, book signing, food and music by Star Jazzmin, the duo of Tokunaga and her husband.
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