It leads to her not recognizing the young man in charge of her protection, Akio, and instead of admitting this mistake she chooses to dislike him for expecting her to have read the brief. On the long plane ride to Japan, Izumi neglects to read the carefully put-together brief that would have given her cursory understanding of her security detail, the royal family, presumably expectations and protocols, and so on and so forth. She also does what she wants when she wants to darn the consequences or forethought to the clear as day pitfalls. She’s impulsive, rarely serious, and incredibly dramatic. Obviously, tensions arise and it starts with her bodyguard Akio who will later become her love interest.įrom the start of Tokyo Ever After, Izumi’s personality jumps off the page. Izumi knows little Japanese, isn’t familiar with Japanese customs, and is very clearly American from her attitude to her irreverence. But that’s not quite the case there either. She’s considered to be too Asian for white Americans, and so she figures Japan will be the place she belongs. Tokyo Ever After, at its core, is a young adult book about finding yourself. Tokyo Ever After tries to be too much of everything

Her support system which includes her mother Hanako, her dog Tamagotchi, and her Asian Girl Gang–Noora, Hansani, and Glory–are what’s been keeping her afloat despite her deep-seated yearning to know her absent father.Ĭue a little accidental rummaging through her mother’s things which produces a poem signed by the man himself plus some Googling on Noora’s part, and voila: Izumi not only finds out who her father is but that she’s also a princess of Japan. Her heritage marks her as a foreigner despite the very fabric of the United States being weaved by all races, ethnicities, and nationalities.

Izumi, who goes by Izzy because it’s easier for her white peers, is American like the rest of Mount Shasta, but she’s treated differently because she’s Japanese. It’s a predominately white town that’s split between hippies, Confederate flag owners, and everyone else who doesn’t fall into either party. In Emiko Jean‘s Tokyo Ever After, Izumi Tanaka is a California girl who lives in Mount Shasta.

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