Meguriai: Nobuko’s American Journey

"Meguriai" in Japanese means "chance meeting." "Meguriai: Nobuko's American Journey" is about a Japanese girl named Nobuko who dreamed of studying in America just as her father had done in the early 20th century. Nobuko was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1927 to a U.S. educated father and at that time un-commonly free-thinking mother. After seeing smiling faces in old photos of her father's American friends in Ohio, she wanted to visit this magical country called America when she grew up. Nobuko majored in English to prepare herself for the life in America. The World War II was not in her equation Nobuko personally experienced the U.S. firebombing of Tokyo, but her dream ot going to America never wavered. To create friendship between the victor and the vanquished, the leaders of the U.S. occupation forces created a joint Messiah Chorus and called out to the universities in Tokyo. Nobuko and several of her friends at her college signed up hoping for the opportunity to practice English The choral group made up of 200 American and Japanese people, performed at the Hibiya Performance Hall accompanied by the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra on Christmas Day, 1945, four months after the war ended. The romance between Nobuko in the alto section and Earle in the base section blossomed and eventually led to their marriage in 1947. A year later they moved to Champaign, Illinois. "Nobuko's American Journey" is about how Nobuko learned to cope with the very different culture and values and to raise her bi-racial childen.