In the Eye of the Wind: A Travel Memoir of Prewar Japan

by Martin Baenninger and Ron Baenninger

Yokohama, a quiet fishing village when Commodore Matthew Perry arrived with his gunboat diplomacy in the mid-1800s, was quickly transformed into a bustling port for international trade. The change brought affluent foreigners to the city but also mobilized Japanese nationalist hostilities. It was in this setting that Ron and Martin Baenninger's Canadian mother and Swiss father met in 1933. Relying on Ron's early memories, their mother's diary, and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0773534970
• ISBN13: 9780773534971
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Length: 201 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

looking at another world

A world in which ships and boats are the means of travel for most people in both peace and wartime. In this memoir from prewar Japan there is little ferocity displayed by the Axis or Allies. The result is oddly reassuring.

The Eye of the Wind by Ron and Martin Baenninger

Brief Review of Baenninger's THE EYE OF THE WIND Ron and Martin Baenninger's memoir of their parents , Hans from Switzerland and Ethel from Canada, is a love story, an adventure story, and a vivid glimpse into the lives of foreigners living in pre-war Japan. The leisurely life of non-Japanese in that almost forgotten era, centered at the Yokohama Yacht Club. The Club was a memorable spot where Hans and Ethel, two attractive young adults met and where they returned to live after a long honeymoon cruise. Ethel's diary, full of colorful detail (the shrimp, in an exotic sauce, was served by a white gloved waiter), long, hand-written letters from both, plus Han's sharp memory when an elderly gentleman prompted Ron and Martin to put the story together. The Baenninger's trip home with their young son Roni, on the last ship leaving Tokyo after the attack on Pearl Harbor, is full of excitement and suspense. The final dangerous leg of that journey from London to Halifax, across the North Atlantic, where German U Boats were sinking American ships bringing supplies to England, was a perilous adventure. From the deck of their ship, when Roni is five years old, he sees a city lit up for the first time. As Roni wonders at the sight, readers recall the darkness that the world endured "for the duration" as World War II ran its course. An adventurous love story to unfold in the midst of that dark war is a refreshing read.