The American Occupation of Japan 1945-1952: A Look Back

Against the background of the Occupation, a tragic love story unfolds that centers on an adventurous American merchant marine radio officer and the surviving daughter of a Japanese military family whose father and sons, killed in sea battles during World War II, studies under her Zen master in an attempt to gain peace of mind. Lily Blossom, as she's called, is imprisoned emotionally by a gloried past and tradition, and Ken Mason, the young man who suddenly appears in the Buddhist temple high on a hill in Dragon City where she lives, fall in love almost immediately. She grapples with the question of defying her mother's unyielding desire for her to marry a chosen groom within the month. Ken, meanwhile, clashes with his own awesome choice, which is, should he pursue her as if his life depended upon it (and, in the end, it does) or walk honorably away from his karma to allow hers to come to fruition, as her national customs, her parents' wishes, and her Zen Master have all arranged for her?