The China Lover

by Ian Buruma

When Sidney Vanoven is sent to occupied Japan, in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, it is his dream posting. By day, he works in the censor’s office watching Japanese films; at night he immerses himself in the sensual pleasures of Tokyo.
His job leads him into the circle of the beautiful film star Shirley Yamaguchi, a passionate and indomitable woman, whose wartime secrets hint at deception and betrayal. As he becomes increasingly aware of her story, it seems to point at the dark heart of Japan itself.

Ian Buruma is currently Luce Professor at Bard College, New York. His previous books include Voltaire’s Coconuts, The Missionary and the Libertine,The Wages of Guilt, Inventing Japan, God’s Dust and Bad Elements, Occidentalism (Atlantic 2004) and Murder in Amsterdam (Atlantic 2006).