KRISTINE OHKUBO:  

KRISTINE OHKUBO is an award-winning author whose work emphasizes topics related to Japan and Japanese culture. During her childhood in Chicago, she cultivated a deep reverence and affection for Japanese culture, people, and history. Through her many travels, she has gained unique insights into this fascinating country, which she shares in her books and various writings. Published in 2016 (revised edition in 2022), her debut book was an anthology of numerous travel blog articles pertaining to Japan. In 2017, she released a historical examination of the Pacific War, focusing on the perspective of Japanese and Japanese American civilians living in Japan and the United States when the conflict began. Two years later, she supplemented her earlier works with the account of an infamous twentieth-century geisha who was both the aggressor and the victim, enduring a strict patriarchal culture and a rapidly changing social system. 2019 marked the publication of Sakhalin, a sequel to her 2017 book, The Sun Will Rise Again. With an emphasis on the tragic events that took place in August 1945, this book examines the far-reaching effects that the island's transfer of ownership had on its inhabitants and resources. Kristine shifted her attention in 2020 to rakugo, the 400-year-old Japanese narrative art form. She released two books, Talking About Rakugo 1: The Japanese Art of Storytelling followed by Talking About Rakugo 2: The Stories Behind the Storytellers. By employing a combination of biographical information, anecdotes,...Expand for more