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Profile
KRISTINE OHKUBO is a Los Angeles-based author whose work emphasizes topics related to Japan and Japanese culture. While growing up in Chicago, she developed a deep love and appreciation for Japanese culture, people, and history. Her extensive travels in Japan have enabled her to gain insight into this fascinating country, which she shares with you through her writings.
Her first book, a travel guide to Japan, was published in 2016. In 2017, she released a historical study of the Pacific War written from the perspective of the Japanese people, both those who were living in Japan and in the United States, when the war broke out. Two years later, she supplemented her earlier releases with the story of an infamous twentieth century geisha, who was both a victim and an aggressor, struggling amidst a strict patriarchal culture and a rapidly changing social system. In 2019, she followed up her 2017 release, The Sun Will Rise Again, with a book titled Sakhalin. The work examines the far-reaching impact the island changing hands had on its inhabitants and resources, and culminates with the tragic events which took place in August 1945. In 2021, she released a book that was quite a departure from her previous releases. Still focusing on Japan's history and culture, the work introduces readers to rakugo, Japan's 400-year-old art of storytelling. Through a series of anecdotes, biographical information, interviews, and rakugo scripts, the author explains why this traditional art form has endured for many years.
Her most recent book delves deeper into the unique and mysterious world of rakugo. In it, she presents the stories behind the storytellers. In the world of rakugo, sometimes the stories which surround the storytellers entice the public as much as the ones they tell on stage.
As an author, Kristine believes that writing from other cultural perspectives encourages empathy and understanding, and at the same time it broadens our knowledge of the events that have unfolded over the years.
