Joanna Boese
@JoannaBoeseJoanna Boese works as a sensory technologist in the food and beverage industry. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, is married and has one daughter.
Updated October 2021
Stories from This Author
Geta, giri and going to Japan
Oct. 11, 2021 • Joanna Boese
My mother, Naomi Boese (née Taguchi), grew up in Tsuyama, Okayama-ken, Japan. Her mother was a housewife and her father was a postal official. Mum was the youngest of four children; the eldest was a girl, and two boys followed. Mum completed high school but her family couldn’t afford to send her to college, so she joined the staff at the US military base in Iwakuni. She met my father, Selwyn Boese, sometime between 1955-57, when he was on discharge …