Edokko: Growing Up a Foreigner in Wartime Japan

Little did Constantine and Lydia Shapiro know that as their families each fled from war, revolution, and anti-Semitism in early 20th Century Russia that they would meet in Berlin and fall in love. As Hitler rose to power, they again faced persecution. Realizing the danger of remaining in Europe, they continued their odyssey, first to Palestine, and ultimately to the relative safety of China and Japan. In 1931 Tokyo, their son Isaac was born. The first eleven years of his life were relatively stable, except for the intimidating influence of his father, a strict disciplinarian. But the sudden onset of World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor altered the course of the family's life yet again. They moved from city to city in war-torn Japan, surviving privations and the bombing of Japan by the United States. The subsequent US occupation led Isaac to be befriended by a US Marine Colonel from far-off Arkansas. Colonel (later Lieutenant General) John Calvin "Toby" Munn gave Isaac ("Ike")