Paul Brinkley-Rogers

When serving as a seaman aged 19, Brinkley-Rogers met Kaji Yukiko, a sophisticated, highly intellectual Japanese, who was on the run from her vicious gangster boyfriend, a member of Japan's brutal crime syndicate, the yakuza. Trying to create a perfect experience of purity, she took Rogers under her wing, sharing their love of poetry, cinema and music and many an afternoon at The Mozart Cafe. Brinkley-Rogers, now in his seventies, re-reads Yukiko's letters and finally recognises her as the love of his life, receiving at last the gifts she tried to bestow on him. Reaching across time and continents, Brinkley-Rogers shows us how to reclaim a lost love, inviting us all to celebrate those loves of our lives that never do end.

Please Enjoy Your Happiness

"Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Paul Brinkley-Rogers has lived an adventurous life all over the world. But there is one story he cannot forget: that of his haunting love affair with a mysterious older Japanese woman in 1959. Paul was a sailor aboard the USS ShangriLa that longago summer when he met Kaji Yukiko in the seaport of Yokosuka. A fierce intellectual, Yukiko shared her astonishing knowledge of literature, film, and poetry with Paul and encouraged, even demanded, that he use his gifts to become the writer he is today. When a member of the yakuza, Japan's brutal crime syndicate, attempted to kidnap Yukiko, Paul realized that there was much more to her--and to Japan in the devastating wake of World War II--than he saw at first glance."--Front jacket flap.

Please enjoy your happiness

"Please Enjoy Your Happiness is a beautifully written coming-of-age memoir based on the English author's summer-long love affair with a remarkable older Japanese woman. Whilst serving as a seaman at the age of nineteen, Brinkley-Rogers met Kaji Yukiko, a sophisticated, highly intellectual Japanese woman, who was on the run from her vicious gangster boyfriend, a member of Japan's brutal crime syndicate, the Yakuza. Trying to create a perfect experience of purity, she took him under her wing, sharing their love of poetry, cinema and music and many an afternoon at the Mozart Café. Brinkley-Rogers, now in his seventies, re-reads Yukiko's letters and finally recognizes her as the love of his life, receiving at last the gifts she tried to bestow on him. Reaching across time and continents, Brinkley-Rogers shows us how to reclaim a lost love, inviting us all to celebrate those loves of our lives that never do end"--Publisher description.

Paul Brinkley-Rogers

About

Books

Join the club