NOTES: WHEN MY NAME WAS KEOKO

Chapter 1 – Sun-hee (1940)

·0 Main characters are Sun-hee (10 years
old), Tae-yul (13 years old), Abuji (father),
Omoni (mother), Uncle
·1 Story is set in Korea in 1940
·2 The Japanese took over Korea in 1910
·3 We learn that the Japanese want to
completely take away Korean culture and
that they have implemented many laws for
Koreans. A few are listed:
·4 All school lessons are in Japanese
·5 Japanese & Korean children are in
separate classes
·6 Newspapers are printed in Japanese
·7 Koreans can’t study Korean history or
tell folktales
·8 Koreans must learn & speak Japanese
·9 Korean flag can’t be posted anywhere
·10 We also identify men and women’s roles in
society. Men are in business, women are
at home.
Chapter 2 – Tae-yul
·11 Sun-heeand Tae-yul and all Koreans must
take Japanese names
·12 Uncleis outraged about this new law, but
Abuji is calm and takes time to think
·13 Abuji
chooses the last name Kaneyama
which means gold mountain
·14 Each
character chooses a letter randomly
to determine his or her first name
Chapter 3 – Sun-hee
·15 Sun-heeremembers the family sitting
around listening to the Olympic Games on
the radio when she was six. The Korean
runner won, but the official announced him
as a Japanese runner with a Japanese
name.
·16 Sun-hee
had a dream in which her uncle
was beaten (foreshadowing)
Chapter 4 – Tae-yul
·17 Uncle
comes home and he has been beaten
because he changed the flag and athlete’s
name in the newspaper talking about the
Olympic victory.
·18 Uncle
draws the Korean flag for Sun-hee
and Tae-yul, who have never seen it. He
 tells them to always remember the flag
and that one day, it will fly again.

Chapter 5 – Sun-hee
·19 Sun-hee
explains Korean & Japanese
names in this chapter, and she explains the
Japanese alphabets and system of writing,
Kanji.
·20 Sun-hee (a.k.a. Keoko) excels at Japanese,
so some of her classmates pick on her and
call her “chin-il-pa” which means “lover of
Japan.”
·21 Abuji
tells Sun-hee that the Japanese
borrowed elements of language and Kanji
from China just like Korea did, so she
should not feel bad about doing well in
school. She is not chin-il-pa.
Chapter 6 Tae-yul (1941)
·22 We
learn that Tae-yul does not like school,
and he only does well enough to pass.
·23 He
likes mechanical things and working
with his hands.
·24 Tae-yul
is more like Uncle while Sun-hee is
like Abuji.
·25 Tae-yul finishes up his bicycle project.
Chapter 7 – Sun-hee
·26 Sun-hee’s
family hears news of a war in
Europe involving a man named Hitler.
·27 Ricesupplies for the family are low
because the Japanese take most of their
rice to feed the Japanese army fighting
China in a war of their own.
·28 The
Japanese order all Rose of Sharon
trees, a national symbol of Korea, be dug
up and burned. They are to be replaced
with Japanese Cherry Blossom trees.
·29 Omonihas Sun-hee and Tae-yul dig up one
Rose of Sharon tree to keep hidden in
hopes that she will be able to plant in
again one day.
·30 Wealso learn that Sun-hee has the
required short hairstyle the Japanese have
outlined for all girls.
Chapter 8 – Tae-yul
·31 Underthe Japanese government, Koreans
can’t get loans so many Korean businesses
are failing and being sold to Japanese
buyers.
·32 Uncle
and Abuji are arguing about
something that Sun-hee and Tae-yul are
not sure about. Abuji is worried about
 something, and he does not agree with
what Uncle is doing.
·33 Uncle
begins welcoming Japanese
customers at his print shop, and we start
to wonder if he is chin-il-pa.

Chapter 9 – Sun-hee

·34 Sun-heeintroduces her friend, Jung-shin

(they play the string game together)
·35 Sun-heeand her friend visit Uncle, who
acts strangely after he learns that Jung-
shin’s father works at the bank. He scans
the street nervously.
·36 Tae-yul
announces that the Japanese
attacked America (1941). Abuji fears that
hard times are ahead for Koreans.
·37 After
Sun-hee meets Tomo in his yard, we
understand that he likes her. He lets her
hold the airplane and he tries to make her
feel better.
·38 Sun-heeand all of the other school
children have to watch a movie at school
that shows “what Americans are like.” The
movie is a cowboy western in which
cowboys are shooting Native Americans.
 The school used it as propaganda to scare
the children into thinking that Americans
hate and kill people with dark hair.

Chapter 10 – Tae-yul (1942)

·39 1942 – Tae-yul sees an airplane for the

first time and is scared at first, but then
he was fascinated
·40 Thewar was going well for the Japanese &
life was happier and even better for the
Koreans for now.

Chapter 11 – Sun-hee

·41 Japan
enacts new laws for Koreans
including required neighborhood
associations. There are 10 families in each
associate and they must be ready in a
moment’s notice to assemble in the street
in case of wartime emergencies.
·42 Mrs.
Ahn is an elderly neighbor who is all
alone. She is beaten in this chapter
because she doesn’t know Korean, and she
cannot count to six when she is called
 upon in the neighborhood association
meeting.
·43 Omoni and Sun-hee help Mrs. Ahn after the
beating, and Sun-hee teaches her to count
to five in Japanese. Mrs. Ahn doesn’t want
to know more because all she had left was
her thoughts and she would not give the
Japanese anymore than five numbers.

Chapter 12 – Tae-yul (1942-1943)

·44 Studentsgot a rubber ball at school. Tae-
yul saw this for what it was: a bad deal.
The Japanese took everything from the
Koreans, and all they got was a toy ball.
·45 Tae-yul’s
friend’s brother had been forced
to join the Japanese military.
·46 The
Japanese took away all of the radios,
blankets, and warn clothing (to send to the
war effort).
·47 Two
Japanese guards took away Tae-yul’s
bicycle, and Tae-yul was mad at Abuji for
doing nothing. (Although, we understand
that Abuji probably just saved his son from
something bad like a beating or prison.)

Chapter 13 – Sun-hee
 ·48 Sun-heeknew that something was wrong
with Tae-yul. He was mad and sad, and
every time he was around Abuji, things
were tense. Then she saw him walking
to school and she knew what was
wrong…his missing bicycle.
·49 Uncle
was always working, and he acted
even more strangely than before. He
was very secretive and nervous.
·50 Sun-hee
meets Tomo in the street one
day on her way to Uncle’s and she
understands that he is trying to warn her
about her uncle.
·51 Sun-hee
runs to her uncle and she gives
him the warning. He is ready and has a
plan, which surprises Sun-hee.
·52 Uncle
hugs Sun-hee and tells her how
proud that he is of her. Uncle tells her to
get Tae-yul to tell her all that he has told
him. He tells her that she acted bravely
and he says good-bye to Sun-hee,
sending her home.
Chapter 14 – Tae-yul
·53 Sun-heetells her parents that Uncle had
left. Her parents do not act surprised.
Abuji says that they do not know anything
 thanks to her Uncle and that no one should
leave the house.
·54 Sun-heetold her brother about the
meeting with Tomo. Tae-yul tells Sun-hee
that Uncle was working with the
underground Korean resistance to print
Korean newspapers and that he was only
pretending to be chin-il-pa to avoid
suspicion.
·55 Tae-yul
says that Uncle’s work is important
to keep the Korean culture alive under
Japan’s rule because if they win, there
won’t be any Korean culture.
·56 Therewas a neighborhood accounting
meeting at night, which is odd. The
Japanese want to collect all metal from the
families for the war effort.
·57 Tae-yulgets angry at Sun-hee because he
feels like she warned him for nothing and
made him leave for no reason. There is no
sign of trouble yet.

Chapter 15 – Sun-hee
·58 Sun-hee
feels extremely guilty for
misunderstanding Tomo and his warning
about the metal. She feels responsible for
 Uncle leaving, although we think it would
have had to happen sooner or later.
·59 Abujitries to make her feel better by
telling her that he would have had to
escape at some point, and if he hadn’t
made it out in time, he could have been
beaten or worse.

Chapter 16 – Tae-yul
·60 Thereis another neighborhood
accounting. The Japanese announce that
there is a traitor among them. They have
found out about Uncle.
·61 Thepolice take Abuji in for questioning.
Everyone is worried because Abuji is gone
so long and they fear for his safety.
·62 Abuji
comes home unharmed because he
did not know anything about Uncle. Uncle
did the family a favor by not telling them
anything about the resistance.
·63 Guards
are posted at Sun-hee’s home
watching the family and following them.
·64 Tae-yul
misses his Uncle and has so many
questions about him.
·65 The
Japanese announce that they are
going to build an airstrip outside of town.
 Tae-yul volunteers to help work to build it.
Abuji agrees to let him work on the airstrip
and put his studies off until it is finished.
(His studies are important to Abuji, but he
is just learning about Japanese culture and
serving the empire.)
·66 Work
on the airstrip is much harder than
Tae-yul expected, but he is still excited
about planes.

Chapter 17 – Sun-hee (1943-1944)

·67 Theonly news that Koreans got was from
the Japanese, meaning that it could be
censored!
·68 At
school, Sun-hee must collect rocks and
make bamboo weapons and practice for
fighting. Students were expected to fight
American soldiers if needed.
·69 Koreans
were not Japanese no matter
what; they wanted America to win the war.
Would Americans know the difference
between Koreans and Japanese?
·70 Leaflets
were dropped from American
planes. Sun-hee & Tae-yul both hid one for
Abuji to read. The paper said that America
knew that Koreans were not their enemies
 and that Korea would not be bombed. The
note was from General MacArthur.
·71 Sun-hee starts writing in a diary for Uncle,
to let him know what happens while he is
gone.
·72 1944– Classes stop and everyone prepares
for the war. Girls 16 and older are chosen
to go to Japan to “work in a factory in
Japan to make clothes for soldiers,” but
Sun-hee and Tae-yul do not believe this.
·73 Jung-shin’ssister, Hee-won, is chosen to go
to Japan then put back in line. Sun-hee
thinks that it is because Jung-shin’s family
is chin-il-pa. Jung-shin always plenty of
rice, new clothes, new things…it must be
true.

Chapter 18 – Tae-yul
·74 Soldiers
bust into the family’s courtyard at
night to look for Korean writings, but all
that they find is Sun-hee’s diary. The
guard thought it was junk.
·75 Tae-yul
remembers the story of their
grandfather. He was a scholar for the royal
court and very proud of his top knot and
jade scholar pin. Japanese soldiers came
to his house one night to take his pin and
 they cut his hair. Uncle was little and Abuji
was not there to do anything. In the
courtyard tonight, Tae-yul also did nothing
just like Uncle and his father. He finally
realizes that there is nothing that could be
done and he understands his father’s
helplessness in this situation and the one
with his bicycle.

Chapter 19 – Sun-hee
·76 Sun-hee felt proud about owning up to the
ownership of the diary. When the officers
the previous night had about it, she said
that it was hers without hesitating.
·77 Abujisaid that he was sorry about her
diary being burnt, but that the Japanese
could take the paper and destroy it but
they could never take her thoughts.
·78 Sun-hee hopes that the Americans will win
the war because that means freedom for
Koreans.
·79 “Ifwords weren’t important, they wouldn’t
try so hard to take them away.” (p. 107)

Chapter 20 – Tae-yul
 ·80 Therewas another neighborhood
accounting meeting where the Japanese
guard told a story about Japanese
kamikaze pilots. Tae-yul was fascinated
with the story. He was impressed that
pilots would be so brave that they would
be willing to die to help win the war.
·81 Tae-yul
talks to a Japanese guard about the
kamikaze pilots and we get the idea that
he is very interested in the military.

Chapter 21 – Sun-hee (1945)

·82 Sun-heethinks that there is nothing
beautiful left because of the war. She tries
extra hard to think of beautiful things and
funny things her uncle would say to make
her happy.
·83 Jung-shinwouldn’t speak to Sun-hee at
school because she was ashamed of her
chin-il-pa family, but Sun-hee tried to still
be her friend; it wasn’t Jung-shin fault.
·84 Tae-yul
wants to speak to Abuji alone one
night to tell him that he joined the Imperial
Japanese Army and that he was leaving for
training tomorrow.
 ·85 Abuji
is furious at Tae-yul and Omoni is
hysterical and sad. Sun-hee is also mad
and sad because of the fact that Tae-yul
could die in the war.
·86 Tae-yul
says that the Japanese are losing
the war anyway and that he will not cause
them to win. He will, however, be helping
his family because they will get more food
and nicer clothes if he enlists.
·87 Sun-heeleaves the house upset, but Tae-
yul goes after her to tell her that he knows
that Uncle is still alive and still working for
the resistance.

Chapter 22 – Tae-yul
·88 Tae-yul
is taken from the airstrip and
“asked” to go with a policeman in a car to
town. He is taken to the police station
where he meets with an officer about his
uncle.
·89 The
officer tells him that even though his
uncle is a traitor, the Japanese need to talk
with him because he is a smart man and
they need to use his skills. The man told
Tae-yul that they wanted him to set up a
meeting with his uncle and that they won’t
hurt him. (Yeah right!)
 ·90 Tae-yulgets out of the situation by telling
the officer that he joined the Imperial
Army, and he leaves the meeting and goes
straight to the enlistment office. He
doesn’t want to be around for the Japanese
to use him to get to his uncle.

Chapter 23 – Sun-hee
·91 Sun-hee realizes that Uncle’s work with the
resistance must be helping because Tae-
yul tells her about the Japanese soldier
saying that, “Your uncle is a problem for
us.”
·92 Tae-yultells Sun-hee that he will write
letters to her and the family, but that the
letters will be censored because Japanese
officers will also read them. It would be
her job to read between the lines to find
his true meaning.
·93 Tae-yul
told Sun-hee not to be sad about
him and Uncle; she should fell proud about
what they are doing. The next morning,
Tae-yul leaves for the military.
·94 Sun-heewas very sad to lose Tae-yul like
she lost Uncle, but she turns to her diary
to comfort her.
Chapter 24 – Tae-yul
·95 Tae-yul
was waiting at the train station,
keeping his things from home close to him.
·96 Thetraining camp was just outside the city
of Seoul. He gets there and gets a haircut,
uniform, and a reassigned kit bag.
·97 Heis always tired. He works, goes to
school, and trains all of the time.
·98 Soldiers get punished and beaten all of the
time if they do not do everything perfect.
Tae-yul tried very hard to do everything
right. He vows to make it through the very
tough training. He will not let them (the
Japanese) win.

Chapter 25 – Sun-hee
·99 Japanese soldiers brought rice and fish to
Sun-hee’s home because of Tae-yul’s
service in the army. Omoni hates the idea
of getting the food because none of it is
worth Tae-yul being gone. Sun-hee tells
her that Tae-yul is proud to help his family
and she should appreciate it.
·100 4 weeks since Tae-yul left – Abuji
brings in a letter from Tae-yul. The letter
tells about training and camp. Omoni is
 thankful for all of the training because that
means that Tae-yul is safe and not fighting
in the war.
·101 Sun-hee sees through the written
words to understand Tae-yul’s meaning.
She realizes that military supplies are low
and that the troops must not have the
necessary equipment available to train
with. Things were not as good as Tae-yul
had said they were.
·102 Abuji, Omoni, and Sun-hee put
together a car package to send to Tae-yul.
They include persimmon jam, a scarf, and
letters.

Chapter 26 – Tae-yul
·103 Tae-yul is still at training camp doing
his best to get by and acting like a good
soldier.
·104 He worries about having to actually go
to war and fight Americans. He doesn’t
want to do that and doesn’t know if he
can.
·105 Tae-yul gets the box from his family,
but the food has been stolen along the
way. The letters cheer him up, but he
missed his family.
 ·106 Week 7 – Tae-yul has to serve food to
the officers and he overhears information
about a new mission. The officers say that
they don’t think they will be able to find a
Korean brave enough to volunteer for the
assignment. This makes Tae-yul angry.
·107 The next morning, Tae-yul volunteers
for the special mission even though it may
mean the ultimate sacrifice. He leaves for
Japan in two days.
·108 . The officers say that they don’t think
they will be able to find a Korean brave
enough to volunteer for the assignment.
This makes Tae-yul angry.
·109 The next morning, Tae-yul volunteers
for the special mission even though it may
mean the ultimate sacrifice. He leaves for
Japan in two days.

Chapter 27 – Sun-hee
·110 Sun-hee got Tae-yul’s 2nd letter telling
the family about the special mission in
Japan, and she wonders why it is so short.
She reads over the letter over and over
until she figures out that Tae-yul will be a
kamikaze on a suicide mission.
 ·111 Sun-hee asks to talk with Abuji, and
she tells him about the letter and reading
between the lines. Abuji looks afraid for
Tae-yul’s future.
·112 Abuji & Sun-hee come up with an idea
to tell the government officials that Tae-yul
loved Uncle and his ideas and may not be a
trusted pilot in order to save him from the
suicide mission. Abuji goes to the
authorities and gives them information.

Chapter 28 – Tae-yul
·113 Tae-yul is excited about flying a plane
until he thinks about the mission and
crashing the plane. Tae-yul comes up with
a plan, although he doesn’t say what it is.
·114 He leaves for Japan and gets sick on
the boat ride over. (It’s his first time in a
boat on the sea.)
·115 The Japanese barracks are much nicer
than the ones in Korea. The rooms are
bigger, they have real mattresses, and he
gets a new uniform.
·116 Tae-yul learns all about planes and
flies a glider for practice. He loves it!
·117 One day during a speech from the
commanding officer, Tae-yul hears
something he has never heard before, the
CO is saying that Japan is losing the war.
Japan has lost nearly all of the territory
that it had gained and they have been
pushed back by the Americans. The only
hope they have left is in the air.
·118 Tae-yul finally gets to fly and it is
exciting. He is very good at being a pilot.
He gets assigned to be a bomber pilot.
·119 He gets rice, beans, and meat for
dinner. The meat is a big deal and
especially rare.
·120 Tae-yul has to put his finger nail
trimmings and a lock of hair in a special
box that he is given so that the army will
have something to give back to his
parents. He also gets to write uncensored
letters to his family. He is scared at the
thought of not being alive, then when he
thinks about never having a girlfriend or a
family he is just sad.
·121 The day he is supposed to leave, he
gets a ceremonial sword which he leaves
on his bed with his box and its contents.
 ·122 Tae-yul gets his last orders and then
he climbs into his plane and flies off saying
goodbye.

Chapter 29 – Sun-hee
·123 Sun-hee is at home waiting for any
news about Tae-yul, Uncle, the war, or
anything.
·124 A month goes by and one day, Sun-hee
comes home from school to hear Omoni
screaming. Sun-hee saw officers at her
house and an open box lying open at
Omoni’s feet. There was a letter on the
ground that said, “To the family of the late
Kaneyama Nobuo.” Sun-hee knows that
the plan that she and Abuji came up with
hadn’t worked.
·125 Abuji comes home immediately and
they read the letter. The letter tells about
Tae-yul volunteering for the mission and
that he was sorry that they would miss
him. He signed it Kim Tae-yul, his Korean
name.
·126 Sun-hee and the family went through
the motions trying not to feel until there
was an afternoon accounting meeting. The
block leader waited until they were all
 there, then he spoke to them in Korean not
Japanese.
·127 He announced that the war was over.
The Emperor had surrendered to the
United States. Korea was free.
·128 Sun-hee is happy but also sad because
Tae-yul died just before the war ended,
just two months before it was over.

Chapter 30 – Sun-hee
·129 Sun-hee learns that the Americans had
dropped two bombs on Japan that
destroyed half the cities they hit. It had
happened on August 6 at Hiroshima and
three days later at Nagasaki, then, a week
later, the Emperor surrendered. The
American forces landed in Korea to
supervise the handover of the government,
and the Japanese had fled.
·130 Since hearing the news, Koreans
started to fight back against the Japanese
and there was chaos. The Americans were
trying to keep order.
·131 Sun-hee couldn’t believe how different
the Americans looked.
·132 Abuji came back from town one day
with a ration package that contained
canned food, crackers, rice, cigarettes, and
chewing gum.
·133 Food became more plentiful. They ate
better than they had in years.
·134 Japanese citizens were to be
evacuated. Tomo was among those
leaving. Sun-hee slipped out of the house
one day to go see him. Sun-hee realized
that Tomo was leaving the only home he
had ever known. Tomo told her he was
sorry about Tae-yul, and she couldn’t think
of anything else to say.
·135 Sun-hee waited and thought of Tae-yul
and hoped Uncle would return.
·136 An American brought a package to the
house one day. Abuji came home and
opened the package which was a letter
talking about her uncle. He had gone into
Manchuria to hide and he was trying to
return to Korea, but the Communists in the
northern part of the country were making
it difficult there. The letter says that they
had seized control and were not allowing
anyone to travel.
 ·137 We learn that Uncle hid in Mrs. Ahn’s
secret cellar for two nights before he
escaped. We also learn that Abuji had
written an article for one of the
newspapers about education and the
importance of Kanji and its Chinese origin.
·138 At the end of the chapter, Tae-yul
returns home!

Chapter 31 – Tae-yul
·139 Tae-yul tells the family of all that
happened to him. He told them that it was
too cloudy to fly his mission and that his
plan all along was to crash into the ocean
and miss his target completely. His
mission was canceled and he returned to
base only to be thrown in jail until the war
was over.
·140 Tae-yul is happy to be home, but he
doesn’t feel like he belongs. He doesn’t
know what he is going to do now.
·141 Abuji makes a comment about courage
and it doesn’t sit well with Tae-yul. Tae-yul
asks Abuji what he knows about courage
and storms out of the house. He thinks
that his father is a coward.
 ·142 Tae-yul thinks that since his mission
failed that he has done nothing just like his
father and he doesn’t know how to live
with that.
·143 Sun-hee comes to talk to Tae-yul late
one night to ask him if Uncle would want
him to act this way and be disrespectful to
Abuji. She shows him the article that Abuji
wrote. HE finally understands that Abuji
wrote articles once Uncle left.

Chapter 32 – Sun-hee
·144 Tae-yul and Sun-hee work to replant
the rose of Sharon tree be the front door
in a place of honor.
·145 Sun-hee says that she will sew a
Korean flag to put on the gate.
·146 Tae-yul thinks of running Uncle’s print
shop until he comes back.
·147 Sun-hee teaches Tae-yul some of the
Korean alphabet so that he can be a
successful printer.
·148 They plant the rose of Sharon tree as a
surprise for Omoni. Like them, the little
tree is free again.