The history of Japanese-American soldiers who fought for the United States in World War II is well-documented, but the story of an American-Japanese pilot who served in the Japanese Imperial Army remains virtually unknown -- and almost unbelievable.
Yet it's true. The flier was the son of an American woman and Saburo Kurusu, the Japanese diplomat who, in a bizarre twist of fate, was in Washington working for peace on Dec. 7, 1942, as Japanese bombs were raining down on Pearl Harbor.
The Kurusu family's truly extraordinary situation is the seed from which Otohiko Kaga cultivates his novel "Riding the East Wind." He's changed their last name to Kurushima and altered the destinies of the son, Ken, and Saburo, but the rest of the story seems to stick to the facts.