"Tokyo Dreaming" by Emiko Jean

Tokyo Dreaming (May 31, 2022) by Emiko Jean.

*This is a sequel book.*

Currently living in Japan, Japanese-American and overnight-princess Izumi Tanaka is at a crossroads. Some parts are great. Her once-bodyguard-turned-boyfriend is amazing (Akio Kobayashi), and she’s got her stinky dog, Tamagotchi, living with her. She’s overcome imperial scandal, salacious press and the “Shining Twins,” her conniving cousins Akiko and Noriko. It doesn’t ease the amount on her mind, though. Should she take a gap year or attend university right away? If university is the route, how will she decide which tame, apolitical major to pursue? Is her relationship with Akio the relationship? If that’s not enough, the Imperial Household Council does not approve of her parents’ engagement. Her mother’s background isn’t classy enough, her job not reputable enough, and the press continues to paint Izumi in a less-than-desirable light. Izumi wants her parents’ engagement to lead to a wedding that the council approves of, and she’s ready to become the perfect princess to win the council over. This includes obtaining a tutor to prepare for the EJU (The Examination for Japanese University Admission) and improve her Japanese language skills, both written and spoken. Is it a coincidence that her tutor, Eriku Nakamura, is something of a prodigy and only scion to a shipping magnate? Can Izumi rise above royal expectations while maintaining the person that she is?

            It doesn’t take being a royal to know what it is to be pulled in different directions. Follow your heart and your mind or conform to expectations that make you feel like you’re missing pieces of yourself? The way in which Jean presents Izumi’s conundrum never feels forced, and the word pictures she creates for us - of Japan and bits of history, but also a teenager trying to figure things out - are woven together so well that detritus doesn’t sneak through. Relationships are a theme to the story, those of family, friends, new friends and romantic bonds. (There is a love scene, but it’s easily overlooked for those who prefer to avert their reading eyes.) The plot is evenly-paced and does not read as muddled or all over the place. “Tokyo Dreaming” isn’t only a sometimes cheesy, sometimes cringey, royal teen romance, but a story with substance in which you watch a young woman navigate her path between her actual self and her royal self. And that kind of growth in anyone is pretty momentous.

            Book One: Tokyo Ever After

"Tokyo Ever After" by Emiko Jean

Tokyo Ever After (May 18, 2021) by Emiko Jean.

It’s not always a walk-in-the-park being a person of color in mostly white Mount Shasta, California. Fortunately, Izumi Tanaka isn’t alone, for she has the best friends of their self-dubbed AGG (Asian Girl Gang): Noora, Hansani and Glory. Izumi has been raised by her single mother and it’s a book on rare orchids that gives Izumi and Noora a clue as to who her father might be. What she’s not expecting is for her dad to be Crown Prince Makotonomiya Toshihito, first in line to become emperor of Japan. According to Hansani, he’s “the Asian George Clooney,” “Pre-Amal and twins,” adds Glory. So, SURPRISE, Izumi is an American-born, American-raised, Japanese princess! Her Imperial Highness (HIH) Princess Izumi travels to Japan to meet her father and the royal family. Being a princess isn’t all fancy gowns, glittering tiaras and a graceful wave. Nope. Feisty, irreverent Izumi is feeling really basic in a country that she thought she’d sidle right into (because she blends in). It isn’t only the thousands of years of tradition and innumerable cultural differences she must navigate, but catty cousins, a ferocious press, a mulish but annoyingly attractive  Imperial guard named Akio Kobayashi, and learning an entirely new-to-her language. At home, Izumi doesn’t feel “American” enough, but in Japan, she doesn’t feel “Japanese” enough. Will this Lost Butterfly fly? Or will she crumble under the overwhelming weight of royalty?

            Move over, Princess Mia. There’s a new princess in-residence! While princess stories can induce eye rolls, I found “Tokyo Ever After” to be a fresh, vibrant YA novel with a headlining female who’s spunky and relatable, learning to blend her American upbringing with her Japanese heritage. Readers receive a modern fairy tale that is part “The Princess Diaries” and part “Crazy Rich Asians.” It’s a royal romp with an easily-navigable storyline, and it will have appeal that’s beyond Asian-only readers. There’s laughter and tears, structure and chaos, sumptuous detail and mouthwatering food. There are castles and drama, swoony confessions of affection and crushing deception. I’m actually pleased by how solid this story is. It’s not a story littered with glitter; it has personal growth and depth.