KPBS Midday Edition

'Gaijin' Explores The Experience Of Being An Outsider

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published November 9, 2020 at 2:10 PM PST

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

'"Gaijin" by San Diego Author Susan Sleeper

"Gaijin" Explores The Experience Of Being An Outsider

The feeling of being an outsider is the theme explored in San Diego writer Susan Sleeper’s story, titled “ Gaijin.”

The feeling of being an outsider is the theme explored in San Diego writer Susan Sleeper’s story titled “Gaijin.” It’s Sleeper’s first novel and it’s a coming-of-age tale that sheds light on the uncomfortable relationship between the residents of Okinawa, Japan and the American community living around the military base there.

Sleeper takes us into the mind of a woman in her early twenties who becomes intensely attracted to a Japanese student, a young man whose unexpected and unexplained departure leaves her obsessed with the idea of going to Japan. She applies for a job at a newspaper in Okinawa and, to her surprise, is hired. Finding herself in the midst of a cultural conflict between the native Okinawans and the American residents, she gradually becomes more aware of her own romanticized notions about Japan and about the young man whose allure drew her there.

Sleeper draws on her own experience of living and working in Japan to tell a story of sweet friendships that rise above cultural norms and divisions.

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Sleeper credits San Diego's strong writers' community, including San Diego Writers, Ink with helping her complete the project.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.