Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2001)

Starred Review Blumberg learned about Manjiro, the first Japanese person to live in the U.S., when she wrote the Newbery Honor Book Commodore Perry in the Land of Shogun (1985). Now she devotes an entire volume to his remarkable life, beginning with his childhood as a fatherless boy working as a fisherman to support his family. A shipwreck strands Manjiro on an island, where he is rescued by a passing whaling ship. He works with the crew, learning the particulars of whaling, and eventually becomes a surrogate son to the ship's captain, who takes Manjiro back to Massachusetts and to an education. After another stint at sea, Manjiro joins the gold rush and makes enough money to return to Japan. He avoids imprisonment and even death (the xenophobic era's sentence for Japanese who returned from foreign countries) by instructing the country's top officials about American customs and policies. He eventually becomes a samurai, helping broker the opening of Japanese ports to the rest of the world. Exemplary in both her research and writing, Blumberg hooks readers with anecdotes that astonish without sensationalizing, and she uses language that's elegant and challenging, yet always clear. Particularly notable is the well-chosen reproductions of original artwork, including some sketches by Manjiro himself, which help illustrate Japanese culture and viewpoints of the time, the whaling industry, and nineteenth-century America. An author's note, bibliography, and suggested Web sites conclude this outstanding biography.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

The life of Manjiro Nakahama, also known as John Mung, makes an amazing story: shipwrecked as a young fisherman for months on a remote island, rescued by an American whaler, he became the first Japanese resident of the US. Then, after further adventures at sea and in the California gold fields, he returned to Japan where his first-hand knowledge of America and its people earned him a central role in the modernization of his country after its centuries of peaceful isolation had ended. Expanding a passage from her Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (1985, Newbery Honor), Blumberg not only delivers an absorbing tale of severe hardships and startling accomplishments, but also takes side excursions to give readers vivid pictures of life in mid-19th-century Japan, aboard a whaler, and amidst the California Gold Rush. The illustrations, a generous mix of contemporary photos and prints with Manjiro's own simple, expressive drawings interspersed, are at least as revealing. Seeing a photo of Commodore Perry side by side with a Japanese artist's painted portrait, or strange renditions of a New England town and a steam train, based solely on Manjiro's verbal descriptions, not only captures the unique flavor of Japanese art, but points up just how high were the self-imposed barriers that separated Japan from the rest of the world. Once again, Blumberg shows her ability to combine high adventure with vivid historical detail to open a window onto the past. (source note) (Biography. 10-13)

Horn Book

Manjiro, a young Japanese fisherman, was rescued from a desert island by an American whaler, educated in Massachusetts, and returned to his homeland just in time to ease the diplomatic passage of Commodore Perry into Japan in 1853. His story, lucidly narrated by Blumberg, is uniquely suited to depicting the closed, rigorously controlled society that was Japan 150 years ago. Bib.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

The life of Manjiro Nakahama, also known as John Mung, makes an amazing story: shipwrecked as a young fisherman for months on a remote island, rescued by an American whaler, he became the first Japanese resident of the US. Then, after further adventures at sea and in the California gold fields, he returned to Japan where his first-hand knowledge of America and its people earned him a central role in the modernization of his country after its centuries of peaceful isolation had ended. Expanding a passage from her Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (1985, Newbery Honor), Blumberg not only delivers an absorbing tale of severe hardships and startling accomplishments, but also takes side excursions to give readers vivid pictures of life in mid-19th-century Japan, aboard a whaler, and amidst the California Gold Rush. The illustrations, a generous mix of contemporary photos and prints with Manjiro's own simple, expressive drawings interspersed, are at least as revealing. Seeing a photo of Commodore Perry side by side with a Japanese artist's painted portrait, or strange renditions of a New England town and a steam train, based solely on Manjiro's verbal descriptions, not only captures the unique flavor of Japanese art, but points up just how high were the self-imposed barriers that separated Japan from the rest of the world. Once again, Blumberg shows her ability to combine high adventure with vivid historical detail to open a window onto the past. (source note) (Biography. 10-13)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

From 14-year-old castaway to honored samurai, the first Japanese person to come to the United States had more adventures than the hero of many a swashbuckler. "With insight and flair, Blumberg relays Manjiro Nakahama's (1827–1898) story, handsomely illustrated with period drawings," said <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW. Ages 8-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Jan.)

School Library Journal (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Gr 4-8 This incredible story of a teen rescued from a deserted island encompasses 19th-century whaling history, Japanese isolationist policy, and the age-old yearning for home. An affecting saga, profusely illustrated. (Feb.)