Only a couple of days before the Japanese school years begins (April 1st) Lily arrives in Osaka, full of plans, dreams, and expectations. Lily has all planned out, living her best life for a year, blogging for her fans, in a dead-ringer for her favourite manga ‘Shinjuku Days and Nights’ version. To be honest, Lily is more interesting in strolling through Shinjuku, enjoy Tokyo’s street life and wear the total stylish uniform of the Koen Gakuin, the elite school where she will be filling in for her “exchange sister” Moemi Tanaka who is currently in her own study-abroad year in Italy. And Lily has a great plan: She is going to Japan in year-study-abroad program with the WorldFriends organization, something both her parents can come on board, it’s education after all. This is Lily Jennings story, sixteen-years-old Torontonian, open, modern, blogger and ready for adventure and escape her helicopter parents. “Edokko” by Loren Green is a wonderful timeless story aimed to younger readers, that would nevertheless, fully appeal to adult readers, will be instantly reconnect with her own inner teenager. I received a copy of Edokko in exchange for an honest review. The company that facilitates these trips did my head in though, haha. The main character feels like a real teenage girl and I just adored her journey from reacting like a frightened brat to really understanding what she's doing and falling in love with Japan, not just the idea of it.
This is a beautiful book with some wish fulfilment. she's able to recognise that how her father is acting isn't ok (he's an entitled white guy) and hints at the idea that she might grow up to be a better person than her parents are
What's really great about Edokko is how the main character changes as a person and is enriched by her year abroad in ways that you wouldn't expect. The company had no back ups for situations like this and led her along by the nose. I mean, she's sixteen and gets to go to Japan for a year and complains for the first half of the book!īut because I'm an adult, I have much more of a grasp on how it's really not her fault that she was told she was going to Tokyo and wasn't informed that something could change. I don't think I would have been as empathetic to Lily if I was her age.
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