Why read The Wagamama Bride?

Book cover of The Wagamama Bride: A Jewish Family Saga Made in Japan

Book description

Contrasting wedding ceremonies—a lavish Imperial Hotel Shinto affair for his side, a modest Jewish wedding for hers—set the stage for a fascinating union between two spiritual seekers, who raise their children in Tokyo with Jewish and Japanese roots.

Wagamama means "selfish" in Japanese, but not in the sense of hoarding…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Wagamama Bride as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Suzanne Kamata

Author

When Wakabayashi first arrived in Japan, as a journalist and curious traveler, she was not particularly religious. She met and married a Japanese acupuncturist with an affluent background, and began a family of her own. Later, she began to seek meaning in Judaism, even managing to engage with a small Jewish community in Tokyo. The heart wants what the heart wants, but Wakabayashi shows how difficult it can be to reconcile the conflicting desires of the mind and soul in an interfaith and intercultural family. Her deeply engaging story provides insight into rarely-scene subcultures in Japan, while detailing her spiritual…

From Suzanne's list on memoirs by foreigners in Japan.