Sayonara America

Sequel to Ichiro’s Odyssey

by George J. Thomas

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Sayonara America – the sequel to Ichiro’s Odyssey.
It’s 1950 and war rages over the Korean Peninsula. Carl, a U.S. fighter pilot, crashes and is imprisoned in a North Korean POW camp. His trials and tribulations lead to his decision not to return to the U.S. but to remain in Japan. Ichiro, a Japanese war veteran, wins a Fulbright scholarship to study in California, where events during his WWII service come back to haunt him. The career paths of Carl and Ichiro converge in Japan. A Cold War espionage plot is uncovered, then the Vietnam War engulfs Carl, and a natural disaster intervenes in Ichiro’s life.
An exceptional tale of the turmoil of 1950’s political life in America, and the resurgence of post-war Japan.

A Word from the Author

It’s 1950 and war rages over the Korean Peninsula. Carl, a U.S. fighter pilot crashes and is imprisoned in a North Korean POW camp. His trials and tribulations lead to his decision not to return to the U.S. but to remain in Japan. Ichiro a Japanese war veteran wins a Fulbright scholarship to study in California, where events during his WWII service come back to haunt him. The career paths of Carl and Ichiro converge in Japan. A Cold War espionage plot is uncovered, then the Vietnam War engulfs Carl, and a natural disaster intervenes in Ichiro’s life. An exceptional tale of the turmoil of 1950’s political life in America, and the resurgence of post-war Japan.

‘With beads of perspiration on my face and trembling physically I woke with a start, suddenly aware of my sweat-soaked pyjamas. The nightmare flooded back into my mind. An attack on all sides by MiGs and the certainty I was about to die. I got up washed my face and found a book to read, hoping it would calm me down.’

Carl, a U.S. fighter pilot’s bad dreams are realised when he crashes and is imprisoned in a North Korean POW camp. On his release, the obsessively anti-communist U.S. authorities treat him so unfairly, he decides to remain in Japan.

Ichiro a Japanese war veteran wins a Fulbright scholarship to study in California, where events during his WWII service come back to haunt him. The career paths of Carl and Ichiro converge in Japan, then war engulfs Carl once again, this time in Vietnam.

An exceptional drama of the turmoil of 1950’s/60’s political life in America, and the resurgence of post-war Japan.

(George J. Thomas, July 2018)