Naomi Hirahara
@gasagasagirlNaomi Hirahara is the author of the Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai mystery series, which features a Kibei Nisei gardener and atomic-bomb survivor who solves crimes, Officer Ellie Rush series, and now the new Leilani Santiago mysteries. A former editor of The Rafu Shimpo, she has written a number of nonfiction books on the Japanese American experience and several 12-part serials for Discover Nikkei.
Updated October 2019
Stories from This Author
Chapter Five—Kuninosuke Masumizu: Lightning in a Bottle
March 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara
“Kuni, place your bet,” the miner said, first in English and then in his native Portuguese. Kuninosuke Masumizu, called Kuni in this nighttime gambling den behind a Chinese store, was known for his facility with languages. He spoke Japanese, of course, and had picked up English faster than the other Wakamatsu colonists. His visits to the gambling den came in handy in exposing him to new languages. Five of them were assembled around a table, a metal square tray in …
Chapter Four—Kintaro and the Magic Koi
Feb. 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara
Serve the shogun with single-minded devotion. —Aizu samurai code of conduct Kintaro Ikeda was alone in this world, but that was not always the case. In Aizu-Wakamatsu, he had brothers, his parents, grandparents, and many aunts and uncles. And then the Boshin War came. Practically all were dead now or rotting in the hinderlands of Aomori, the northern part of Honshu. John Henry Schnell, the Prussian who had provided the warriors of Aizu-Wakamatsu with rifles and guns, had …
Chapter Three—Neko-chan
Jan. 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara
Nozomi chased her black cat through the fields of Wakamatsu Colony in Gold Hill. She still was not allowed to bring the cat inside of their home. “Kitanai,” her mother said, pushing Neko-chan out with the ends of a straw broom. Even though Nozomi was only seven, she was given a list of chores to do on the colony. Wash and clean dishes from meals. Help her mother with the laundry. Change the linens on the beds regularly and keep …
Chapter Two—Wheelbarrow Wars
Dec. 4, 2019 • Naomi Hirahara
Shinshi-san went into her second bedroom, the one filled with mulberry leaves, and checked on the status of her silkworms. Hundreds of white skinny caterpillars, thinner than her pinkie finger, had devoured thick layers of leaves that she had laid out last night. It amazed her that these creatures could eat so much, literally many times more than their actual weight. Some of the leaves were totally bare, only their thin veins remaining. How could she keep her babies alive …
Chapter One—Jou Schnell: Keeping House
Nov. 4, 2019 • Naomi Hirahara
Jou Schnell looked out her window of her small four-room, wood-framed house on Gold Hill. Through the walnut trees, dappled light streamed onto the dew-covered grass, a common sight during the last days of summer in California. Her nursemaid, Okei, was late. She was just a child herself. Only about seventeen. Jou remembered when she herself was seventeen, seven years ago, when the Tokugawa shogunate still held power over her childhood home in Japan. The magnificent Tsuruga Castle in Wakamatsu …
What spirits whisper...
Oct. 17, 2019 • Stan Yogi , Naomi Hirahara , traci kato-kiriyama
This month we are treated to two highly-lauded, accomplished writers and community heroes – Naomi Hirahara and Stan Yogi. Their pieces step out of each writer’s usual practice and into the poetry featured here (and we will surely feature more of their poetry in the future!). When I read through each of the poems we feature for this October issue of Nikkei Uncovered, I swear I can hear whispers of ghosts...a swirl of voices yearning to break free and be …
Chapter Twelve — Family Ties
Sept. 4, 2019 • Naomi Hirahara
“Just give it to me, Maki.” I hear Carrie’s voice behind me. I’m so relieved that she, Som, and Crowe have arrived. She walks and stands in front of me, her blue eyes laser focused on my face and I know that she means business. I have a government-issued gun in my trembling hands and I almost drop it. Luckily she has good reflexes and catches it. Agent Neela Bronstein is still yelling obscenities related to her palm wound. Blood …
Chapter Eleven — How to Sharpen a Knife
Aug. 4, 2019 • Naomi Hirahara
One of the first things Yudai, my boss at the sushi bar, taught me was how to properly sharpen my knife. He uses the traditional Japanese method of mizunoushi, or literally water stones. They are rectangular stones that look like the Japanese confection yokan. After soaking them in water for 12 hours, you remove the stones and sharpen your blade with them, scraping the blade against the stone’s surface at a 15 degree angle. Here in Carrie’s car, we don’t …
Chapter Ten — Double Crosser
July 4, 2019 • Naomi Hirahara
“What do you mean Yudai was behind this?” I can hardly get the words out of my mouth. Yudai is like my Japanese brother—only many times more because while my own blood relatives have stomped on my dream, Yudai made it possible for me to be a sushi chef. And Som, my coworker, is saying that our beloved boss may be trying to destroy us. “You’re out of your mind, Som,” Carrie says as she steers her car onto El …
Chapter Nine — Where’s Som?
June 4, 2019 • Naomi Hirahara
On my dead husband’s laptop is only one document, a letter addressed to me. Carrie glances at me and I nod. She double clicks on the “For Maki” file and a Microsoft Word document opens. Dear Maki: If you are reading this, I’m probably dead and you’ve been smart enough to stay alive. I’m so sorry that I’ve put you in such a terrible position. I wish I had some good advice for you, but you’ve seen where I’ve ended …
