Book by Risa Shimoda

This is a story of persistence and passion, qualities that were baked into my dad when he was a tiny kid and which others will likely find inspiring. The book was made possibly by the exhaustive written notes written by Midori's wife, my mom, fearing they would be lost as my dad started a 20 year Alzheimer's journey. I hope you love the read.

Midori Shimoda would have been the last person to have described his life as anything other than ordinary. Yet, how do you describe as ordinary a life that included:

A three-week long, trans-Pacific, ocean crossing without family or friends at the age of nine;
A perilous evacuation from California in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor followed by “adoption” by a rogue Mormon family in Utah;
Two arrests and subsequent incarcerations for suspected espionage/treason;
An internment that followed the incarcerations; and
“Visits” from the FBI for ten years following the end of World War II.
And, that’s not to mention that his most extraordinary life intersected with, among others: Grace Kelly, Fay Wray, Ansel Adams, J. Edgar Hoover, William Randolph Hearst, Betty Hutton, Gloria Swanson and Twiggy.