鈥檚 book 鈥溾�� centers around three 鈥渉aafu,鈥� or half-Japanese, sisters who return to their childhood home on the coast of Japan when one of them, a Japanese pop star, becomes embroiled in a scandal.
Itami, like the sisters in her novel, is half Japanese, half British. She grew up in Tokyo and now lives in London.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 stop thinking about Japan,鈥� Itami said. 鈥淭he thing that I know is that I miss it the way that I miss a person, and I can鈥檛 really imagine missing anything else in that way.
10 questions with Emily Itami
Can you share your thoughts on Japan?
鈥淚 think that in a way, when you move away from a place, it鈥檚 easy to idealize it, and I am aware that that might to some degree be what I鈥檝e done with Japan.
鈥淚 really love to write about it because I want to be back there, I suppose, and write myself back into it. And it just kind of amazes me, Japan as a culture. I feel like it鈥檚 so extreme in so many ways, the way that it kind of is encourages you to keep your feelings under control, and everything has to be quite contained. It was interesting to think about feelings within that context.鈥�
We feel that tension between the sisters: pop star Ai, Rei, and Kiki and their great great grandmother. She can be very stern and seem unkind.
鈥淪he鈥檚 kind of the ultimate Japanese grandmother of a certain type. I鈥檝e definitely had conversations with people where they say that they recognize her. [She鈥檚] super critical, very opinionated, and she really wants to whip the new generation into line. And the new generation are not really having it because all of her old rules are unreasonable to them.鈥�
Kiki, one of the sisters, is a single mom of a little boy who is a quarter Japanese. He鈥檚 got blond hair, speaks fluent Japanese and there鈥檚 concern about how he might fit in. Can you talk a bit about being biracial?
鈥淚 grew up in Japan, so I suppose I was just always aware of being an outsider. I was very happy. I had a really wonderful childhood. But I was also really aware that, for example, in my piano lessons where I was the only kid who wasn鈥檛 fully Japanese, there would be people who would say behind their hands, 鈥榮he鈥檚 gaijin,鈥� 鈥榮he鈥檚 a foreigner,鈥� and stuff. And I think I just got used to living my life like that.
鈥淚 think it was only afterwards, and maybe when I came to live in London where it鈥檚 so diverse, that I started to look at my life [in Japan] sort of from the outside and notice how homogeneous I guess it had been and how much of an outsider I鈥檇 always felt.
鈥淎nd I was kind of interested in the fact that if you鈥檙e biracial, and maybe in particular in Japan where it is quite difficult to fit in and it鈥檚 a relatively closed society, you have the great privilege of coming from two cultures, but maybe also you kind of feel like you don鈥檛 fit into either of them.鈥�
You make casual references to things in Japanese sometimes, for example, the sisters passed a group of school children with their 鈥榬andoseru鈥�?
鈥淚t鈥檚 this backpack that all Japanese school children have. It鈥檚 massive. The inside of it is often almost kind of metal, so that not only can it hold absolutely everything, but apparently you can even hold it over your head so it would act as a shield in an earthquake or something like that.鈥�
I looked up Japanese words a lot, and that gave me these incredible images. For example, a character would explain that the Japanese word for fireworks is 鈥榟anabi鈥� or 鈥榝lower fire.鈥� You make me feel it.
鈥淥h, I totally wanted the reader to feel it. I mean, I kind of think maybe the way that I feel about Japan and everything I grew up with is a bit extra 鈥� I love it so much.鈥�
Even though there were times when you might not have been accepted fully by Japanese people?
鈥淵eah, I know sometimes I think it鈥檚 like Stockholm syndrome 鈥� I am aware that I probably do idealize it 鈥� I suppose because I have the privilege of not being in it all the time, I have the privilege of being able to love all of its wonderful aspects. And when I lived there, there were definitely things that hugely did bother me that I found really difficult.鈥�
Can you talk about Tokyo in particular?
鈥淚 think that in recent years, tourism to Tokyo and travel to Japan has just become so much, it鈥檚 exploded. But when I first moved back to London, I hardly spoke to anyone who鈥檇 ever even been there. It was like I was describing some kind of alien place that no one knew what I was talking about.
鈥淪o, [Tokyo] is such a contradiction because I know that when I lived there, there are a lot of things about it that make you feel very restricted. It鈥檚 quite conservative, actually. But on the other hand, within that, it鈥檚 got so much unbelievable freedom and potential and, you know, it鈥檚 the ultimate 24-hour city. There鈥檚 nothing that you can鈥檛 do when you鈥檙e there. There are so many independent businesses and people have these crazy ideas and they carry them out.
鈥淎nd one of the things that I love the most is that everyone is so determined to do everything that they do to the highest of standards, and that鈥檚 exactly the thing that makes you feel kind of stressed and restricted when you鈥檙e there as a worker, but also, if you鈥檙e living in it or visiting it, then it鈥檚 extraordinary.鈥�
Two of your characters go dangerously over the edge. The girl鈥檚 mom has some sort of breakdown. The youngest sister is a pop superstar, but lives in what sounds like indentured slavery in this pop group owned by a record label. Is that a reaction to some of the restrictions for women in particular?
鈥淵es, I definitely think so. Of course, things are changing, but yeah, it鈥檚 still very much a kind of a patriarchal society. There鈥檚 still quite a lot of traditional gender roles, and I think that the pressure to conform to societal norms and also to be able to contain yourself is extraordinarily high. I think that, generally speaking, the kind of attitude towards mental health is that you can control it through sheer force of will. And if you鈥檙e not able to do that, then it鈥檚 probably best undiscussed. I mean, that鈥檚 a slightly unnuanced view, but overall as a feeling that that definitely is a kind of societal view.
鈥淪o, of course, when things do become too difficult, they kind of tend to spiral because there鈥檚 nowhere to turn. And you know, Japan has historically one of the highest suicide rates in the world. So, with this society that I love so much, there are massive problems and it鈥檚 so difficult to live within it because of the standards and everything being so high.鈥�
Let鈥檚 go back to the biracial theme for a second. At one point Rei is talking about Hikaru, Kiki鈥檚 son, who can speak Japanese. She compares him to one of those dogs that鈥檚 been brought up by a goose and gets a terrible shock when it catches sight of its reflection in a puddle. Can you talk more about that sense that you have an image of yourself in your head, and may be shocked to see that you are not.
鈥淭hat is literally exactly what it is! It is surprising. I realized that whichever country I鈥檓 in, whether I鈥檓 in Japan or I鈥檓 in England, I tend to identify myself as being from that place, which is true, but also I forget that I鈥檓 not completely. So I am surprised.
鈥淚 went to a very diverse school in London and then when I went to university, and it was a slightly less diverse crowd, and I do remember literally having that that feeling of seeing photographs and just being surprised, being confused about who that person could be, and then realizing it was myself. So it always surprised me.
鈥淎nd I鈥檓 aware that wherever I go, I guess, particularly in Japan, people are always pointing out, 鈥榃ell, you鈥檙e not from here.鈥� And sometimes when I talk, or me and my sister when we鈥檙e talking, people will answer us in English even though we鈥檙e speaking to them in perfect Japanese, and I鈥檝e realized from talking to some other Haafu people that I鈥檝e met, that that that鈥檚 quite a common experience.鈥�
Turns out you are a puppy and not a goose.
鈥淵es, exactly.鈥�
Book excerpt: 鈥楰akigori Summer鈥�
By Emily Itami
When Kiki calls, with her usual impeccable timing, the ambient airport noises on my headphones are turned up full blast, and I only answer the phone in order to silence it. My boss, Llewellyn, has just told me I have three hours to put together a presentation that requires at least a week of prep. Llewellyn has spent our entire working relationship making wrong assumptions about me based on my Asian face, and I have never done anything to correct him. I definitely do not have time for a heart-to-heart with my sister.
Kiki starts talking with no preamble, but her words are lost, because the paralegal in the office opposite has just taken a personal call, and when I remove my headphones all I can hear is her announcing to somebody that Bloody Vagina has gone and done it again. From what I鈥檝e learnt from her calls, Vagina is her father鈥檚 newest wife. Meanwhile, Hikaru is talking over Kiki at her end, an insistent and rhythmic 鈥楳aMA, MaMA, MaMA鈥� that I don鈥檛 understand how Kiki can tune out. I have no idea why she can鈥檛 text me like a normal person. I go to close the door, and manage to drop the phone so it skitters across the corridor.
鈥楾urn on the news.鈥� The dictum floats up from the floor, the voice of a disembodied oracle.
I grab the phone before anyone hears anything else they don鈥檛 need to.
鈥榃hat do you mean turn on the news?鈥� I hiss, crouched down in front of one of the enormous flower arrangements that bloom incongruously across the office. 鈥業 live in London; I don鈥檛 have terrestrial television.鈥� Japan has twelve channels, and getting access to internet TV is like trying to break into the Pentagon. I think it鈥檚 a form of mind control.
鈥榃ell, go to the digital news outlet of your choice, then.鈥�
鈥業 have no digital news outlet of choice. The choice is liars or doomsayers so I鈥檝e stopped paying attention. What is it?鈥�
鈥業t鈥檚 Ai,鈥� Kiki says, and my stomach drops. I should have paid closer attention to the messages. 鈥楽he鈥檚 become a national disgrace and lost her job.鈥� I鈥檝e always admired that in Kiki 鈥� her ability to make all pieces of information sound equally neutral and matter-of-fact. I think the set lunch comes with a side salad. I think the person you were hoping to see is already dead. Sweet relief washes over me, followed quickly by irritation that my workday is being interrupted for someone who is still alive.
鈥楧on鈥檛 be over-dramatic.鈥�
鈥業鈥檓 not being over-dramatic. If you turned on the news you鈥檇 see.鈥�
鈥楩or f***鈥�* sake, Kiki.鈥� I look up to see one of the banking interns walking past, clutching coffees. 鈥楿nless she鈥檚 orchestrated a terrorist attack or murdered the emperor, the BBC is not going to be covering a story about a pop talent from Tokyo.鈥� I get up to return to my office.
鈥楽he鈥檚 not a talent, Rei, she鈥檚 an idol. She鈥檚 everywhere online. There are videos of them hanging around outside a brothel.鈥�
鈥楢 brothel? Who?鈥�
鈥楬er and Ichiro,鈥� Kiki says. 鈥榃ell, maybe not an actual brothel.鈥�
鈥榃ho the hell is Ichiro?鈥�
鈥楧on鈥檛 you know anything?鈥�
鈥楴othing current, as we鈥檝e already established.鈥� I sit back down at my desk.
It turns out our little sister, to the pearl-clutching horror of the Japanese public, has been caught doing the walk of shame with a married man. Not just any married man, but Suzu Ichiro, the president of Kansas Records, the biggest record label in the country, and my sister鈥檚 possibly erstwhile employer.
鈥業s he even hot?鈥� I ask, like it matters.
鈥楴o, obviously not 鈥� Hikaru, if you keep doing that, you鈥檙e going to shut your fingers in the drawer, and it will hurt 鈥� I mean, not that bad, for a suit. I guess the power might be attractive? He has quite nice eyes鈥斺��
鈥業t was kind of a rhetorical question.鈥�
Hikaru lets out a blood-curdling howl.
鈥業t鈥檚 OK, Hikaru, come here,鈥� my sister says, the tone of her voice changing not one iota. 鈥極h dear, does it hurt?鈥� I hear kisses, crooning noises that are almost obliterated by his fireengine wails.
鈥業 have to go, Rei,鈥� Kiki calls over the noise. 鈥楪oogle it!鈥�
Maybe it鈥檚 no bad thing that at that moment, Llewellyn sticks his head into the office and says that, actually, the client report needs to be ready in one hour, not three, and we鈥檙e presenting to the senior managers after lunch. I could swear he smirks as he says it. As he closes the door, my watch, an activity tracker that is never satisfied, orders me to 鈥楳ove!鈥� with a smiley face.
Excerpted from the book 鈥淜akigori Summer,鈥� provided courtesy of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 漏 2025 by Emily Itami. Reprinted by permission.
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