About Encounter with Japan: An Adventure in Love

About the Book

The year is 1960—just fifteen years after World War II. Native New Yorker Addie Katz is living in the small village of Hinsdale, Massachusetts with her family. The 4'11" redhead, who is corresponding with a housewife in Kyoto, Japan, enters an essay contest sponsored by Letters Abroad, Inc., part of President Eisenhower's People-to-People Program . . .

Imagine being a 35-year-old housewife with three children, and having Eleanor Roosevelt and five other prestigious judges choose your essay as a winner. You, who've never won anything before, have just won a trip to Japan to meet your pen pal.

Your story appears in newspapers in Japan and America and LIFE Magazine prints a three-page article about it in its May 30th issue. Overnight you become a celebrity.

In Encounter with Japan: An Adventure in Love, Addie Katz's oldest child, Susan, invites us to enter into her remarkable mother's story—with all its joys and sorrows—beginning with her birth to immigrant parents in New York City. Addie's trip to Japan, the centerpiece of the story, is a life-changing experience. Poetic excerpts from pen pal Suzue Matsubara's charming letters and Addie's own eloquent words—heartfelt, soul searching, humorous and always passionate—have been woven by daughter Susan into a magic carpet which takes us on an amazing journey through her life, from the Bronx to the world.

Complementing the writing are both black and white and color images. An outstanding 32-page color section, containing twenty-five of Addie's poems arranged on beautiful backgrounds of vintage Japanese fabric or Japanese paper, makes Encounter with Japan: An Adventure in Love "a feast not only for the mind and heart, but for the eyes as well."

"It is my hope that you will find joy in this book, viewing Japan and its people, as well as life in general, through the mind and heart of an extraordinary person." —Susan

NOTE: The book cover photo is of Addie and Suzue's emotional first meeting on May 7, 1960 at Kyoto Station. It appears courtesy of Kyoto Shimbun (The Kyoto Press).

Encounter with Japan: An Adventure in Love
By Adelaide E. Katz, Ph.D. and Susan Katz Saitoh
ISBN 978-0-578-10421-8
Paperback (Perfect Binding)
176 Pages
Contains Black and White and Color Photographs

Click here to read what people are saying about the book.