Much has been written about Leonard Bernstein, a musician of extraordinary talent who was legendary for his passionate love of life and many relationships. In this work, Mari Yoshihara reveals the deeply emotional connections Bernstein formed with two little-known Japanese individuals, which she narrates through their personal letters that have never been seen before. Dearest Lenny interweaves an intimate story of love and art with a history of Bernstein's transformation from an American icon to a world maestro during the second half of the twentieth century. The articulate, moving letters of Kazuko Amano--a woman who began writing fan letters to Bernstein in 1947 and became a close family friend--and Kunihiko Hashimoto--a young man who fell in love with the maestro in 1979 and later became his business representative--convey the meaning Bernstein and his music had at various stages of their lives. The letters also shed light on how Bernstein's compositions, recordings, and performances touched his audiences around the world. The book further traces the making of a global Bernstein amidst the shifting landscape of classical music that made this American celebrity turn increasingly to Europe and Japan. The dramatic change in Japan's place in the world and its relationship to the United States during the postwar decades shaped Bernstein's connection to the country. Ultimately, Dearest Lenny is a story of relationships--between the two individuals and Bernstein, the United States and the world, art and commerce, artists and the state, private and public, conventions and transgressions, dreams and realities--that were at the core of Bernstein's greatest achievements and challenges and that made him truly a maestro of the world. Dearest Lenny paints a poignant portrait of individuals connected across cultures, languages, age, and status through correspondence and music--and the world that shaped their relationships.

Comprehensive guide for foreign students of Japanese who wish to write letters as part of their day-to-day experience in Japan. With samples, common expressions and set phrases, and english translations. Suitable for self-study, building vocabulary and developing reading and writing skills.

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This work compiles some 120 letters from Japanese citizens to General Douglas MacArthur during the postwar occupation of Japan (1945-1952). These letters evoke the unfiltered voices of people of all classes and occupations during the tremendous upheaval of the early postwar period.

These letters tell the story of a young American woman of Japanese descent who was stranded in Japan during World War II. They chronicle her turbulent life from her arrival in Japan through her experiences as a civilian employee of U.S. forces in the first years of the American occupation.

It was once said of the scientist and diplomat Jeffries Wyman that he tried to raise his children, after their mother's death, by writing them letters. In 1950, Wyman spent six months in Japan--giving scientific lectures, meeting notables, searching out traditional villages, and writing intense, keenly observant letters to his then-college-age children. Published for the first time, these letters offer a candid and startling depiction of Wyman's experience in postwar Japan. His letters to his daughter Anne offer an unusual perspective on Japan at a time when most Americans there got a far less intimate view of Japanese life. Wyman embraced the culture of a country that welcomed him, from the lowliest peasants to the Emperor--a country where his epiphany in a tea garden would later define the future of allosteric biochemistry.