About Keiko the Fairy: Yonaguni
The third book of the Keiko series brings major changes for both Nick and Red, as they move to Tokyo. Nick enters Tokyo University on a scholarship awarded by the Empress of Japan to study Marine archeology. He meets an enchanting 85 year-old woman that teaches him many things about the power of love. He is immediately sent on a research boat to explore the “Great Garbage Patch” in the Pacific Ocean and an underwater monument, at Yonaguni, thought to be from an ancient culture thousands of years old. Red, although finding her own empowerment, enters a path of trouble. Her parents send her to visit family in the United States. After more trouble, she unexpectedly meets an Apache Medicine Woman that brings about profound personal healing and transformation for Red … not to mention a powerful realization about Japan’s connection to the Native American people.
Behind the Scenes
From 1989 to 1993, I lived in Tokyo, Japan as a language consultant. The first thing that became very apparent is that everything, and I do mean everything as the exact opposite of how I was taught to experience the world. It was the most difficult thing that I have had to do in my life. The culture is a treasure trove of history and fascinating discoveries. When the U.S. economy went into free fall in 2009, and all my advertising, marketing clients stopped spending money, I began to write this series to try and share with young people, and old alike, all of the extraordinary things I learned living in Japan. It took an additional three years of research to complete the books. It is extremely difficult to represent that culture to the American audience, I hope that I have both honored the Japanese, and created a work of interest for others. The President of Paramount Pictures, Animation, accepted the project for consideration, sadly it was not accepted, but who knows, it sure would make a cool Cirque du Soliel show, or featured animation…