Susan Choi

But that's what I did.

So our reasons for going were not that dissimilar to reasons that I ended up giving to the characters in the book, but much less cloak and daggery.

My father was a mathematics professor, and his university had a sister school relationship to university.

In Japan, my father had a complicated relationship to Japan, you know, as mentioned, because he was born in Korea during the period of the Japanese Empire, was like a colonized subject of this empire.

I think he had it inculcated in him to be very resentful of the Japanese, but he also had this, I think, even deeper love for Japanese culture and Japanese language, because Japanese language was the first language he was educated in at school.

It was the first literature he ever read.

So I think he was really torn.

He really wanted to go to Japan.

And so off we went for just a visiting professorship of my dad's.

How long were you there for?

We were there for like one semester in the summer, you know, like a little less than probably like six, seven months.

But it was like in a period of time that now as an adult,

wouldn't seem like a huge period, but I was nine and I'd never been, I mean, I'd never been out of the United States, but I'd actually never even been out of the Midwestern United States.

I'd never been further than Chicago, which was 90 miles away from the college town I grew up in.

And so Japan was

And it was, my mind was blown as a kid.

And also it was the 70s, so my parents did not really do a lot of handholding.

They just kind of stuck me in a Japanese school with, you know, Japanese kids who did not speak English, Japanese teachers who did not speak English.

I think my sensei spoke a little English, which is why I was placed in his class.

But it was a really sink or swim kind of culture shock.