
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Park
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By:
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Gail Tsukiyama
About this listen
Gail Tsukiyama's The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.
It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks. But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold - and forge their own paths in a new Japan.
Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father's star pupil, Hiroshi.
©2007 Gail Tsukiyama (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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- By Wendy Agnes on 05-03-25
By: Durian Sukegawa, and others
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Silence
- By: Shusaku Endo
- Narrated by: Benno Fürmann
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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"Silence" (dt. Schweigen) ist der wichtigste Roman des gefeierten japanischen Autors Shusaku Endo. Er verursachte nach seiner Veröffentlichung im Jahr 1966 eine große Kontroverse in Japan. Shusaku Endo, ein japanischer Katholik, erzählt die Geschichte zweier portugiesischer Missionare, die im siebzehnten Jahrhundert in Japan versuchen, die dortige unterdrückte christliche Bewegung zu unterstützen.
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NOT IN ENGLISH
- By Kathy on 03-28-17
By: Shusaku Endo
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The Teahouse Fire
- By: Ellis Avery
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The fates of two women, one American, one Japanese, become entwined in this sweeping novel of 19th century Japan on the cusp of radical change and Westernization. The Japanese tea ceremony, steeped in ritual, is at the heart of this story of an American girl adopted by Kyoto's most important tea master and raised as attendant and surrogate younger sister to his privileged daughter, Yukako.
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Captivating
- By Pamela on 04-18-07
By: Ellis Avery
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The Brightest Star
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The beloved bestselling author of The Color of Air, Women of the Silk, and The Samurai's Garden returns with this magnificent historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong—the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood.
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A force!
- By elbgwn on 10-25-24
By: Gail Tsukiyama
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The Woman in the White Kimono
- A Novel
- By: Ana Johns
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man - an American sailor, a gaijin - and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.
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DO NOT LISTEN! Decent story, HORRIBLE narration!!!
- By David Meier on 05-07-20
By: Ana Johns
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The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World
- A Novel
- By: Laura Imai Messina
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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When Yui loses both her mother and her daughter in the tsunami, she begins to mark the passage of time from that date onward: Everything is relative to March 11, 2011, the day the tsunami tore Japan apart and when grief took hold of her life. Yui struggles to continue on, alone with her pain. Then, one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone booth in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone booth spreads, people travel to it from miles around.
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disappointed
- By Bequia on 10-13-23
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The Flower Boat Girl
- A Novel Based on a True Story
- By: Larry Feign
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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South China coast, 1801. Sold as a child to a floating brothel, twenty-six-year-old Yang has finally bought her freedom, only to be kidnapped by a brutal pirate gang and forced to marry their leader. Dragged through stormy seas and lawless bandit havens, Yang must stay scrappy to survive. She embeds herself in the dark business of piracy, carving out her role against the resistance of powerful pirate leaders and Cheung Po Tsai, her husband's flamboyant male concubine.
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Fetishization of an Asian woman by a white man
- By Mama Ishtari on 07-12-23
By: Larry Feign
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Free Food for Millionaires
- By: Min Jin Lee
- Narrated by: Jennifer Sun Bell
- Length: 25 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Casey Han: a strong-willed, Queens-bred daughter of Korean immigrants immersed in a glamorous Manhattan lifestyle she can't afford. Casey is eager to make it on her own, away from the judgements of her parents' tight-knit community, but she soon finds that her Princeton economics degree isn't enough to rid her of ever-growing credit-card debt and a toxic boyfriend. When a chance encounter with an old friend lands her a new opportunity, she's determined to carve a space for herself in a glittering world of privilege, power, and wealth—but at what cost?
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Worst narration ever
- By Mary on 05-25-20
By: Min Jin Lee
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Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
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Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
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The Kinship of Secrets
- By: Eugenia Kim
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1948, Najin and Calvin Cho, with their young daughter Miran, travel from South Korea to the United States in search of new opportunities. Wary of the challenges they know will face them, Najin and Calvin make the difficult decision to leave their other daughter, Inja, behind with their extended family; soon, they hope, they will return to her. But then war breaks out in Korea, and there is no end in sight to the separation. Miran grows up in prosperous American suburbia as Inja grapples in her war-torn land with ties to a family she doesn't remember.
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Amazing story
- By Farrah Brown on 06-28-19
By: Eugenia Kim
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Memoirs of a Geisha
- By: Arthur Golden
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
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Perfect ---- in every way
- By Amanda on 02-08-06
By: Arthur Golden
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Night of Many Dreams
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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As World War II threatens their comfortable life in Hong Kong, young Joan and Emma Lew escape with their family to spend the war years in Macao. When they return home, Emma has developed a deep interest in travel and new experiences, while Joan has turned to movies and thoughts of romance to escape the problems of ordinary life.
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Like listening to someone read their diary
- By Connie on 07-23-13
By: Gail Tsukiyama
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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
- By: Lisa See
- Narrated by: Ruthie Ann Miles, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The thrilling new novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been abandoned and adopted by an American couple.
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***EXCELLENT*** Six stars if I could !!
- By ROBIN on 04-10-17
By: Lisa See
What listeners say about The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
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- Jacki Davis
- 01-01-25
Street of a Thousand Blossons
Beautiful story! Loved the Japanese culture. Loved the characters. The history was so interesting. Would highly recommend this book.
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- Anna E.
- 05-18-16
felt I was told story rather than seeing
The story was somewhat interesting, but wish the author had included more social-interpersonal cultural details. That way the characters would be more multidimensional and relatable. As it is the story is a little flat and plodding at times. I never could quite glimpse the inner workings and emotional makeup of the character.
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- Russell Ruiz
- 02-08-18
Amazing story!!!
Enjoyed the book and the narrator was excellent in delivering images to the theater of the mind! Was drawn in from the very beginning.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kailua Tutu
- 01-08-13
Enjoy it!
If you could sum up The Street of a Thousand Blossoms in three words, what would they be?
Love, sad, and interesting story
What did you like best about this story?
The grandmother, very strong lady!
What about Stephen Park’s performance did you like?
He was great!
If you could rename The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, what would you call it?
I would leave it just the way it is.
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Overall
- Victor
- 09-22-07
Great Audio Book
This is a new author to me, so I was a bit hesitant at first. I'm glad I decided to listen, as it was very enjoyable.
Also, I noticed quite a few similarities between this audio book, and the movie "Letters from Iwo Jima". A bit interesting, simply because of the number of times I recognized something in common between both stories (which both took place during WWII).
A great listen if you haven't already purchased it!
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20 people found this helpful
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- Susi Paulina
- 05-09-16
Unique story.
A bit hard to follow, yet a wonderful listen. The actual plot was not certain to me yet the details of Japanese culture and interesting and nicely written. I will listen to this again. And am planning read more from Gail Tsukiyama.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- L. Walker
- 12-13-07
Another great story from Ms. Tsukyama
Street of a Thousand Blossoms is the best Gail Tsukyama book I have read so far! Taking place in Tokyo prior to WWII, it follows the lives of two brothers raised by their grandparents as one becomes a Sumo champion and the other a famous artisan. Life in Japan leading up to, during the war and afterwards is brought to life in vivid detail through the lives of very well-developed characters. I enjoyed this book immensely and recommend it highly to anyone who loves historical fiction - this is as good as it gets, I think.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Gerald and Naomi
- 06-05-21
Bad pronunciation
Proper pronunciation of Japanese words would have made the story telling better. Overall good story.
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Overall
- Margaret
- 06-30-10
Vanilla, but beautiful vanilla
For evoking a sense of time and place and mood, I give this story 5 stars. It is beautifully written and very well read by the narrator. However, there really was no STORY or conflict or surprises. All the grandparents were sage and wise. All the parents were happily married. All the kids were good and succesful and followed their dreams. And any potentially messy plot points were neatly resolved with a kind word or two from someone, or a convenient outside event. As a mood study of Japan just before and after WWII, this book is very successful. As a story, it is not.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Linda Wanitschek
- 11-22-11
pure joy
I love the interpersonal relationships that Gail creates. the emotions are so strong. The joys are also so strong.. excellent relaxing book to enjoy.
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2 people found this helpful