The Wagamama Bride: A Jewish Family Saga Made in Japan

Product Description
\nContrasting 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.
\n Wagamama means "selfish" in Japanese, but not in the sense of hoarding cookies. Having an opinion that goes against tradition can be viewed in Japan as selfish. With the author coming from a line of feisty, opinionated, secular Ashkenazi Jewish women, friction was inevitable—despite the fact that she married into a remarkably peace loving family, who respected her need to connect to her Jewish faith, after trying to follow their Buddhist, Shinto, and Taoist traditions. It was not easy.
\nGrunberg-Wakabayashi shares the inner process of returning home, with the help of two Lubavitcher families, who set up communities in Tokyo. She finds at these Chabad Houses what she needs to feel fulfilled and content, despite marital challenges. This memoir is full of scintillating conversations, memorable characters, art and synchronicity, sad endings, and joyful beginnings.
\n Review
\n"Grunberg-Wakabayashi has a wonderful gift for description, especially metaphoric descriptions that will delight any lover of the spoken or written word in English. At the same time, she paints some very interesting pictures of life in Japan that will give the would-be traveler - Jewish or otherwise - new insights."
\nGreer Fay Cashman, The Jerusalem Post\\n"An honest and moving account of love, loss, and the discovery of faith."
\nKirkus Reviews\\n"Anyone who lives in a place with a rather small Jewish community will be able to connect with the author's emotions. Grunberg-Wakabayashi explains quite well how hard it can be to navigate two cultures so fundamentally different from one another and how challenging it can be to return to Judaism, live by Jewish law, and build a Jewish home in a country where a Jewish presence is almost non-existent, while also being part of an interfaith family."
\nSarah Sussman, Judaica in the Spotlight\\nIn a memoir as gripping as - and often stranger than - fiction, Liane's journey, a paen to Chabad's unique recipe for love-filled, judgment-free outreach, unfolds in fascinating layers."
\nZiona Greenwald, Jewish Press\\n"The Wagamama Bride, is on the surface, a memoir about a non-Japanese woman's resoluteness- her wagamama, or 'selfishness'-to survive in an unfamiliar world. Ultimately, the book reveals the sacrifice required to truly live between two cultures and the ways in which ideals and identity can both foster growth and nearly destroy a family."
\nEric Margolis, Metropolis Magazine, Japan

Publisher:

Goshen Books

Pages:

286

Date Published:

2021-04-11