Toyo: A Memoir

The lady had a fascinating life witnessing amazing changes in Japanese culture but the author failed to portray her personality, it felt as if a stranger was recounting the information.

Left me with an eye-opener to life in Japan over this period. Really gave an insight into this person's life. Very easy reading and hard to put down for the most part.

An interesting family history from China, Japan and eventually Australia. Very descriptive writingrecording the history as provided by anecdotes told by the writers grandmother.

`Toyo' is Lily Chan's third-person memoir of her grandmother, a recreation of her grandmother's life through stories and experiences shared. Like most lives, Toyo's life is ordinary in some respects, extraordinary in others. Toyo's mother, Kayoko, was a fisherman's daughter from Japan's Goto islands. Kayoko was sent as a maid to the Takahashi family in China. When Kayoko became pregnant, Mr Takahashi set her up in an apartment in Osaka. Kayoko converted the bottom floor of the apartment into a café. Here, in the pre-war period, Toyo had occasional visits from her father and helped her mother in the café.`Toyo learned to ask nothing, to wait and count the days. But they passed and passed and still the doorway remained empty of his deep voice, calling out her name.'World War II happens, and Osaka is bombed. Toyo, aged 10, returns from the countryside to find the café has been destroyed. Kayoko establishes a successful yakitori business in Himeji which she loses as a consequence of a bad loan she has made to her young lover. And then, Kayoko's death leaves Toyo bereft.Toyo marries Chinese-Japanese Ryu Zhang, and becomes part of his big family (Zhang, then known as Chang and now Chan). She loses her Japanese citizenship as a consequence. Chinese migrants to Japan are a despised minority. Toyo's son Yoshio makes a fortune through laundries and early gaming parlours. He moves his family, including both Toyo and Lily (born in Kyoto) to Perth.Toyo supports her son and his family as they adjust to life in Australia. She insists, though, that the children learn Japanese ways as well. When Toyo becomes ill, it is her most recent memories that depart first. But the stories of her past, shared with family members, were still available to Lily Chan. The stories themselves are precious and also enabled Lily to contact other family members in Japan. Lily also discovered that Toyo had not shared all of her stories and experiences.As recounted by Lily, Toyo's story is both interesting and moving: a woman born on the margins of respectable Japanese society; who lived through the bombing of Japan; who was essentially ostracised by marrying into a Chinese family; and who adjusted to life in Australia. I'd have liked to have met her myself, to have learned of her life firsthand.I enjoyed reading `Toyo'. Lily Chan has written a beautiful account/memoir of Toyo's life. In many ways, it is the small details shared that serve to make what could be a detached description of Toyo's life and times a vibrant account of a life lived. A wonderful tribute to Toyo's memory.Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Toyo: A Memoir. I'm ok with sad and dramatic fiction, but when a book is based on real people, it can leave me feeling a bit gutted. So, I wondered if this would be too confronting and would I need to be in a good place to read it?All credit to Lily Chan's writing ability, I was soon involved with wonderful characters, the easy flow of the story and the well-thought-out plot. All based on real people and events (Lily's gradmother, actually) but Lily still had to piece it all together as a narrative. Her writing style has a quiet, poetic feel, which is so appealing, as she takes us on the epic journey of a girl/woman, whose life passes through many life-changing experiences. Lily's gentle style, is at times, juxtaposed to the sad and horrific circumstances recorded. In a way, Lily's approach, coaxes readers to embrace the story, where a more aggressive style might put readers off. She gave us the opportunity to reflect and think deeply about life and how events and people can affect us.Lastly, Lily avoided the temptation to make this book contrived, overly detailed and too personally emotional. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy reading about other cultures in a realist historical setting and people who enjoy good writing or the telling of a good story.

The book is an interesting read with an insite into family life in Japan from pre ww2 to the misery of the war and post war years. The family history depicted has obviously been hard to research and is testament to their diligence. The family's move to Australia also gave a detailed insite into the three generations integration into Australian life.

I felt every priviledged to read this intimate memoir that retells the life of Toyo and her mother Kayoko as they struggle to survive. It's well written and I enjoyed the author's style. Through Toyo's life I learned a lot about the attitudes of the time and what it was life to grow up with hopes and dreams that lay behind everyday survival.

I was thoroughly enjoying this memoire, their life in Japan I found so interesting,then my pulse quickened when I read of their move to Perth in Western Australia, a city in which I lived for over 40 years, then imagine my amazement when I reached the chapter dealing with their foundation of the Chinese village in outer Narrogin, my home town. It has been such a thrill reading this book and I have recommended it to several of my friends.

Life is stranger than fiction in this delightful book. A wonderful family memoir.so many fantastic characters. I found it very interesting to see how a Chinese family lived in Japan. The prejudiceagainst them and how the strong family bonds gave them strength. Then we see how this family adapted to life in rural Western Australia. Family, love and loss all of lifes drama shown through the eyes of the the wonderful women in this family. Great read.