Suzanne Kamata

Japan, Tokushima

Writer at Freelance

Author of Cinnmon Beach, Indigo Girl, Squeaky Wheels, The Baseball Widow, and more. Permanent resident of Japan.

Articles

The Baseball Widow

2 weeks ago | audiobooks.com | Suzanne Kamata

When Christine, an idealistic young American teacher, meets and marries Hideki Yamada, an aspiring Japanese high school baseball coach, she believes that their love with be enough to sustain them as they deal with cultural differences. However, Hideki's duties, and the team of fit, obedient boys whom he begins to think of as a surrogate family, take up more and more of his time, just as Christine is struggling to manage the needs of their multiply-disabled daughter and their sensitive son.
Review of Such a Pretty Picture

1 month ago | forewordreviews.com | Suzanne Kamata

Andrea Leeb Amazon KDP (273pp)978-1-64742-994-2 Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5 Such a Pretty Picture is a shocking memoir about surviving sexual abuse. Andrea Leeb’s powerful memoir Such a Pretty Picture explicates the long-term consequences of and process of recovery from abuse. As a graduate student and later as a university instructor, Leeb’s father was a respected member of society. In the privacy of his home, however, he molested his daughter.
What it’s Like to be Black and Married in Japan

2 months ago | medium.com | Suzanne Kamata

Japonica: the publication for everything Japan: culture, life, business, language, travel, food, and everything else. A review of “Words by Baye, Art by Miki”Baye McNeil is familiar to many readers and writers in Japan.
Review of Soft as Bones

2 months ago | forewordreviews.com | Suzanne Kamata

A Memoir Chyana Marie Sage House of Anansi Press (May 27, 2025) Softcover $20.99 (296pp)978-1-4870-1302-8 In her gritty yet lyrical memoir Soft as Bones, Chyana Marie Sage confronts generational trauma. Sage, who is of Cree, Metis, and Salish heritage, was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. Her earliest memories are happy ones of running wild with her sisters on her family’s land. She adored her father, Frank, a charismatic but ill-tempered drug dealer who taught her traditional stories.
Minato Sketches: Radioactive Wild Boar, Super Mario Kart and Mid-life Desire

Mar 7, 2025 | medium.com | Suzanne Kamata

A review of a novel by Sharon WhiteSuzanne Kamata·FollowPublished inJaponica Publication·3 min read·--Minato Sketches by Sharon White (published by Minerva Press)In Minato Sketches, Gigi, an American art historian recovering from a stroke, travels to post-COVID Tokyo to spend the summer teaching at a university. Her husband, also a scholar, and her two grown sons stay behind. Away from her family’s well-meaning but oppressive solicitude, Gigi can redefine herself.
How a Canadian missionary found spiritual transformation in Shikoku

Feb 23, 2025 | japantimes.co.jp | Suzanne Kamata

Shikoku, with its lushly forested mountains and dramatic coastline, has long been ignored by most foreign tourists. No bullet trains connect the southern island to Japan’s larger cities, and English is a relative rarity. Recent years, however, have seen a surge in visitors who have come to embark on the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage. David Moreton is among the foreign-born devotees of the historic route, with decades of research and experience under his belt.
Review of I Know What UFO Did Last Summer

Feb 17, 2025 | forewordreviews.com | Suzanne Kamata

Kevin Garone Temor Press (Mar 11, 2025) Softcover $12.99 (208pp)979-899132840-1 In Kevin Garone’s zippy novel I Know What UFO Did Last Summer, an alien-obsessed boy tries out his survival skills when a “spaceship” appears in a cornfield near his house. Twelve-year-old Marv, who lives in suburban Delaware, has just about memorized his guidebook on surviving an alien invasion (quotes from which precede each chapter).
Rusutsu Ski Resort

Feb 14, 2025 | travel.gaijinpot.com | Suzanne Kamata

Rusutsu Resort is a year-round vacation spot in Hokkaido. The six on-site hotels can accommodate up to 4,000 guests. More than 30 restaurants serve a variety of cuisines, ranging from Mongolian lamb to snow crab to sushi to Chinese, at a range of prices. While visitors can enjoy golf and the amusement park in warmer weather, in winter, its slopes attract skiers and snowboarders from within Japan and abroad.
Inspired by Japanese Dolls and a Celebration of Girls - Women Writers, Women's Books

Feb 10, 2025 | booksbywomen.org | Suzanne Kamata

By Suzanne KamataIn February in Japan, where I have lived for the past 35 years, households with young daughters display hina ningyo, beautiful ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, and various courtiers. The dolls are arranged on tiered shelves, with the Emperor and Empress on the top. The full set is expensive, costing thousands of dollars. Typically, they are gifted to baby girls by their grandparents, and they are rarely passed on from generation to generation.
A Japanese-Style School in Rwanda

Oct 17, 2024 | medium.com | Suzanne Kamata

This primary school in Kigali incorporates some of the best practices Towari Marie Louise learned in JapanSuzanne Kamata·FollowPublished inJaponica Publication·4 min read·--The gate to the Umuco Mwiza School in Kigali, Rwanda (photo by the author). Just beyond the blue gates of the Umuco Mwiza School in Kigali, Rwanda, there is an outdoor sink, much like those at schools in Japan.