Books: “Yokohama Yankee: My Family’s Five Generations as Outsiders in Japan”
By Brangien Davis February 26, 2013
This article originally appeared in the March 2013 issue of Seattle magazine.
When Seattle Business magazine Editor Leslie Helm began the process of adopting a Japanese child in 1991, he and his wife, University of Washington Japan Studies Program Professor Marie Anchordoguy, had no idea their quest to have children would lead to an intimate acquaintance with Helms forebears. In his new book, Yokohama Yankee: My Familys Five Generations as Outsiders in Japan (Chin Music Press; $16.95), Helm traces his family history to his German great-grandfather, Julius, whose search for a new life in 1869 landed him in Japan, where he launched a stevedoring and forwarding businessand took the unorthodox step of marrying and having children with his Japanese housekeeper. Helms extended family has lived in Japan ever since. And while the continued intertwining of German, Japanese and American families through genetics, customs, circumstances, laws and remarkable twists of fate is a running theme, at the heart of the memoir is a relatable story of love, lost and found, through the generations. Leslie Helm will speak at Town Hall Seattle on April 3 (6 p.m.), at Elliott Bay Book Company on April 26 (6 p.m.) and at the Wing Luke Asian Museum on May 18 (4 p.m.). Find more information at lesliehelm.com