Asha (Japanese name, "Asako") was born in 1928 as the eldest daughter to father, Anand Mohan Sahay, and mother, Saty Sahay. Anand was based in Kobe, Japan from where he had begun to agitate for India's independence movement. Next in command to R.B. Bose (also known as "Bose of Nakamuraya," a famous bakery in Tokyo), he had also served as the Cabinet Minister of "Azad Hind" (Provisional Government of Free India).

"One of the things that strongly gripped me about Asha’s story was that it's a narrative about the inner strength of an Indian—in particular, of a woman—who had survived turbulent times in a foreign land. Born to and raised by parents, Anand Mohan Sahay and Saty Sahay, names people have rarely heard of in Japan, Asha was living in the space between the two countries of Japan and India. She was also vigorously pursuing her dream—at times bravely, at times with anguish—of contributing to the liberation of her motherland. And even after India achieved independence, she never lost that zeal."
(Excerpted from the afterword)

While Asha was still attending the Showa Girls' High School (the forerunner of Showa Women's University), after graduating from an elementary school in Kobe, she first met the Indian nationalist, Subhas Chandra Bose, who had arrived in Japan to drum up support for the Indian National Army (INA). At that time, inspired by Bose, a charismatic leader, she promised to dedicate herself to the cause of the Indian independence movement, resolving to join INA. In May 1945, she went on to become assigned to its women's regiment, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, but its operation was terminated due to Japan's defeat in World War II. The following year, she joined her father in Singapore, before stepping onto the soil of India, her motherland, for the first time in her life.

This book reconstructs Japan-India relations during the prewar and postwar days, as seen through the eyes of one remarkable independence activist, digging deep into an invaluable archive of documents, such as memoirs and a heretofore undisclosed diary, in addition to interviews with the protagonist herself, Asha (Asako) Sahay, and with those related to her. Ultimately, the work is a nonfiction masterpiece bringing a fresh perspective to the history of Japan-India relations through the story of the incredible odyssey of the Sahays and their daughter, Asha (aka Asako)—a schoolgirl from Kobe who threw herself into the independence movement of her distant motherland, India.

Table of contents
Prologue Going to war
Chapter 1 The story of the father and mother: Born to Indian activists
Chapter 2 Moving to Tokyo: Admittance into Showa Girls' High School
Chapter 3 Turning point: Enter Subhas Chandra Bose
Chapter 4 Moving south: From schoolgirl "Asako" to private "Asha"
Chapter 5 Enlistment: Asha and the women's regiment of the Indian National Army
Chapter 6 Desperation and confusion: The fall of the Indian National Army
Chapter 7 In the motherland: Indian independence and a new life in Bihar
Epilogue Somewhere between "Asha" and "Asako"
Afterword
Notes
References
Name index
Subject index