The Broken Bridge

THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT

The Broken Bridge showcases the literary work of 36 non-Japanese writers, expatriates in Japan who provide 36 windows looking in on the country, revealing a Japan as seen through the eyes of writers who love and live, but who will never completely belong, in Japan. 

Gaijin (foreigners) to the Japanese, destined always to be outsiders to a certain extent, they all find their own balance between individual identity and conforming to Japanese society. The writers represent a variety of eras (from the occupation on through to the '90s) and they deal with love, dignity, adultery, desecration, and despair in stories that are alternately full of humor and humiliation, happiness and pain.

An English teacher in Frank Tuohy's "The Broken Bridge" seeks the author of a troubled essay and discovers, after a series of cultural "mistakes," that the student has killed himself. Drawn with fascination to Miss Yukiya's body and Miss Hama's mind, Morgan Gibson's protagonist in "Is There a God in Your Heart?" looks up for the Big Dipper and falls into a ditch.

While the literary styles are diverse, the quality never wavers as these writers explore their adopted country, their inner demons, and their love-hate relationships with Japan.