Nao Yasutani
Nao Yasutani is a sixteen-year old Japanese girl who writes of her life in a diary. She has had a difficult life that includes being bullied by her classmates when her family moves from California to Japan. She contemplates suicide. Nao’s great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun, gets Nao to talk about her life and encourages her to write her diary. Nao gets her life back on track and leaves Japan for a high school in Montreal. She dreams of being a writer and writing her great-grandmother’s story.
Ruth
Ruth is a novelist living on a small island in Canada. She finds Nao’s diary washed up on the beach on her small island. Ruth becomes obsessed with the lives of Nao, her father and her great uncle. She is upset by her mother’s death and fears getting Alzheimer’s like her mother. The diary helps Ruth escape into someone else’s life to escape her grief.
Haruki #2
Haruki #2 is Nao’s father. He is a computer scientist. He lives with his family in California until he loses his job. He then moves his family to Japan where he and his wife were born. He is named after his uncle Haruki #1. He attempts to kill himself several times because he feels that he has shamed his family.
Nao’s mother
Nao’s mother is the only family member to thrive in Japan. She must earn money for the family and finds success with a publishing company. She sees the difficulties her husband and daughter are experiencing and turns to Jiko, Nao’s great-grandmother for help. She knows that she cannot help her family on her own.
Jiko
Jiko is Nao’s great-grandmother. She is a feminist, poet, writer, nun, and mother. Jiko is one hundred and four years old. She helps Nao to understand the Japanese culture and gets Nao to talk about what has been happening to her. She is an important figure in her great-granddaughter’s life.
Reiko
Reiko is Nao’s nemesis. She is the one who leads the attacks on Nao at school. Nao wishes her harm and dreams of stabbing Reiko in the eye. When Reiko comes to school the next day with a patch over her eye, Nao believes she has superpowers and can harm people with her mind.
Haruki #1
Haruki #1 is Nao’s great-uncle. He was a kamikaze pilot during World War II. He was drafted into the war when he was a college student. He did not believe in war and does not want to kill anyone. Rather than crash into a ship, he crashes his plane into the ocean.
Oliver
Oliver is Ruth’s husband. His illness leads the couple to leave New York and take up residence on the small Canadian island. Oliver is the logical person in he and Ruth’s relationship. He reigns in her obsession and keeps her grounded.
Muriel
Muriel is Ruth and Oliver’s friend. She wishes that she had found the Hello Kitty lunchbox with Nao’s diary. As an anthropologist, she can help Ruth with her research into Nao’s life.
Benoit
Benoit was a friend of Ruth’s mother. He translates Haruki #1’s secret French diary.
