Our book club highlights voices and stories with a solid connection to Japan. For our next meeting, we chose "Kakigori Summer" by Emily Itami. A tale of three sisters divided by distance and circumstance. Ambitious Rei works in finance in London; Kiki is the single mother of a young son working in a retirement home in Tokyo, and Ai, the youngest, is a peripatetic Japanese music idol. When disgraced J-pop idol Ai seeks refuge in her family’s sleepy coastal town, she reunites with her half-sisters Rei and Kiki for one fragile summer of shaved-ice afternoons and salt-kissed breezes. As the three women share stories beneath the cicadas’ hum, long-buried truths about their mother’s death surface gently, like ripples on the tide. Warm, witty, and deeply moving, this tender tale of sisterhood, belonging, and second chances feels like a cool spoonful of melon syrup on the hottest day—simple, sweet, and impossible to put down.
Be sure to pick up a copy of the book and join us for an evening of casual discussion in a virtual space via Zoom! Registrations are limited, so grab a spot while you can!
This event is for JET alumni, JASC YPC members and friends.
Questions? Contact Joe at networking@jetaachicago.com
