Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island

The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island

Chavez, Amy

Hardcover

Biographies GeneralTravel WritingJapan

Publisher Price: $16.99

ISBN10: 4805316918
ISBN13: 9784805316917
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Published: May 24 2022
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.90
Height: 1.10 Width: 5.51 Depth: 8.19
Language: English
Get to know the inhabitants of a tiny Japanese island--and their unusual stories and secrets--through this fascinating, intimate collection of portraits.

This book beautifully describes the residents of tiny Shiraishi Island as well as telling how Amy herself came to be in such a fascinating little corner of Japan...Amy herself, with this book, has shown herself an integral part of this preservation. --Rebecca Otowa, author of At Home in Japan

When American journalist Amy Chavez moved to the tiny island of Shiraishi (population 430), she rented a house from an elderly woman named Eiko, who left many of her most cherished possessions in the house--including a portrait of Emperor Hirohito and a family altar bearing the spirit tablet of her late husband.

Why did she abandon these things? And why did her tombstone later bear the name of a daughter no one knew? These are just some of the mysteries Amy pursues as she explores the lives of Shiraishi's elusive residents.

The 31 revealing accounts in this book include:

  • The story of 40-year-old fisherman Hiro, one of two octopus hunters left on the island, who moved back to his home island to fill a void left by his brother who died in a boating accident.
  • A Buddhist priest, eighty-eight, who reflects on his childhood during the war years, witnessing fighter pilots hiding in bunkers on the back side of the island.
  • A pufferfish widow, so named because her husband died after accidentally eating a poisonous pufferfish.
  • The ex-postmaster who talks about hiking over the mountains at night to deliver telegrams at a time when there were only 17 telephone numbers on the island.

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