A01=Kumi Taguchi
ABC Compass
Australian
Author_Kumi Taguchi
belonging
Category=DNB
culture
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
family
generational trauma
heritage
identity
Japanese
journalist
Kumi Taguchi nationality
memoir
Mother's Day gift
News Afternoons
News Breakfast
race
racism
SBS Insight
war
Product details
- ISBN 9781925750799
- Dimensions: 153 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 30 Apr 2025
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
- Publication City/Country: AU
- Product Form: Paperback
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In a beautifully crafted memoir of captivating emotional honesty, the SBS Insight host sets out to understand the dad she never really knew, and – along the way – herself.
Growing up, Kumi Taguchi thought her father was merely distant: reserved, obsessively frugal and – after her parents’ divorce – almost entirely missing. When he died, Kumi’s feelings about him and the Japanese heritage he had given her remained tangled.
But just because a parent has gone doesn’t mean they’re absent. Over time Kumi came to understand more about what made her father as he was, including his experiences as a child in wartime Japan and, above all, the culture she both loved and felt burdened by. She decided to travel to Japan to find the family home, and perhaps lay to rest some ghosts.
In this highly evocative journey of understanding, Kumi explores her divided self: the tension between duty and freedom; the people she’s felt drawn to and lost; and how to find your place when caught between two worlds.
Growing up, Kumi Taguchi thought her father was merely distant: reserved, obsessively frugal and – after her parents’ divorce – almost entirely missing. When he died, Kumi’s feelings about him and the Japanese heritage he had given her remained tangled.
But just because a parent has gone doesn’t mean they’re absent. Over time Kumi came to understand more about what made her father as he was, including his experiences as a child in wartime Japan and, above all, the culture she both loved and felt burdened by. She decided to travel to Japan to find the family home, and perhaps lay to rest some ghosts.
In this highly evocative journey of understanding, Kumi explores her divided self: the tension between duty and freedom; the people she’s felt drawn to and lost; and how to find your place when caught between two worlds.
Born in Melbourne, Victoria to her Japanese father and Australian mother, Kumi Taguchi grew up in rural New South Wales learning classical violin from the age of five. She has worked in the media for over 25 years in Australia and overseas, and is currently the host of SBS's Insight.
