Kumiko Makihara's recently published memoir "Dear Diary Boy" might well come with a trigger warning for parents of school-aged children in Japan. Many will be able to relate to the references to heaps of homework, judgmental parents and teachers, long lists of things that children must bring to school each day and the frustrations of getting kids to comply with parents' demands.
Makihara, the daughter of a well-known Japanese business executive and descendant of prominent early industrialist Baron Yataro Iwasaki (her son's namesake), spent 2½ years at a primary school in the United Kingdom before her family relocated to Tokyo, where she attended public school. She later graduated with a B.A. in languages from International Christian University and earned an M.A. in American studies from the University of Hawaii.