If your parents are from a different country, your existence somehow feels incomplete until you have been where they came from. Throughout popular culture, there has always been some iteration of what happens when one comes home. In one of Billy Crystal’s stand-up specials for HBO, he went back to his grandparents’ Russia, which was both heartfelt and hilarious. One of my all-time favorite versions of this story was in the book and movie The Namesake.

It was a movie that is heartbreaking to watch now because it’s too close to home but gave readers and viewers what it means to live in that “hyphen.” The main character struggled at first with his name and eventually his identity. It wasn’t until he went to where his parents grew up, that his struggle became even more visceral. In Christine Mari Inzer’s Diary Of A Tokyo Teen, we find a Japanese American girl whose visit to the place where her mother was born becomes a series of adventures.     

We meet the author right before she is set to stay with her grandparents in the summer of 2013, as it was her first trip without her parents. As she arrives in Japan, her grandmother, whom she affectionately calls Baba, greets her and the first thing she wants to do is to go to her favorite burger chain, Mos Burger, one which she exclaims is the best burger in the world. Soon after arriving, she goes shopping with her Baba, and realizes that everyone there is fashion-forward making her the odd duck.  She also meets her cousins, Karen, and Taiga, who are both fluent in Japanese, making Christine even more of an outsider. What becomes the centerpiece of the book is her observations of popular culture, from the different television shows to high tech toilet, and even a store only sells condoms. As some of these places, she experiences “ vuja de”, seeing the same experiences, places, and people through different eyes and are completely different involvements, as her memory of when she saw it with her mother and now as she travels by herself, reinforces the fact she still is just a kid. As her time there with her Baba, experiencing everything Japan has to offer, has been transcendental. Even when her family comes, her time there becomes even more genuine.

Overall, a relatable graphic novel that is sure to connect with any reader of any age. The stories by Inzer are funny, sad, and relatable. The art by Inzer is beautiful. Altogether, a book which gives a tourist view of Japan while accomplishing that all-important “search for self”.

Story: Christine Mari Inzer Art: Christine Mari Inzer
Story: 10 Art: 9.1 Overall: 9.4 Recommendation: Buy