The true story of how a 14-year-old boy from 19th century-Japan became the first Japanese person to come to the United States and the important role he played in opening his country to westerners. A School Library Journal Best Book and ALA Notable Book. Illustrations. nAny person who leaves nthe country to go to another nand later returns nwill be put to death. nThis was the law in Japan in the early 1800s. When fourteen-year-old Manjiro, working on a fishing boat to help support his family, was shipwrecked three hundred miles away from his homeland, he was heartbroken to think that he would never again be able to go home. So when an American whaling boat rescued him, Manjiro decided to do what no other Japanese person had ever done: He went to America, where he received an education and took part in events that eventually made him a hero in the Land of the Rising Sun.n