Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka
Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka was born and raised in multicultural Boyle Heights. The Vietnam War and Asian American Studies at University of California, Berkeley in the late ’60s were important influences on her values. Since the 1970s, she has worked on youth, workers, and housing issues in Little Tokyo, and Japanese American redress. Currently Co-chair of the Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR), she served on the Editorial Team for the book, NCRR: The Grassroots Struggle for Japanese American Redress and Reparations, helped to educate about the camps through the film/curriculum, Stand Up for Justice, and worked on the NCRR 9/11 Committee to help build relationships with the American Muslim community through programs like Break the Fast and Bridging Communities.
She represented NCRR to support the rights of Korean and other minorities in Japan and is involved with Nikkei Progressives, Vigilant Love, and the Sustainable Little Tokyo project, and working on issues such as reparations for Comfort Women and Black folks, the rights of immigrants, and Little Tokyo’s future.
Married to Mark Masaoka, she has a daughter, Mayumi, and a son, Dan, and grandsons, Yuma, Leo, abd Keanu.
Updated February 2024
Stories from This Author
Remembrance
Feb. 15, 2024 • Carolee Okamoto , Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka , traci kato-kiriyama
In the spirit of “remembrance” with Day Of Remembrance programs happening all around the country — we feature personal tributes by two Sansei writers, Carolee Okamoto, based in Washington, and Kathy Masaoka, based in Los Angeles. Carolee’s poem honors the warrior within her grandmother, a samurai’s daughter and a farmer’s wife. Kathy’s essay pays homage to her late, older sister Judy Nishimoto and the influence of her passionate, determined, and powerful spirit. Enjoy... — traci kato-kiriyama * * * * …
Tribute to Amy Uyemastu: After — Part 5
Oct. 19, 2023 • Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka , Nina Chan , Keiko Ikari Miya , Janice Iwanaga Yen , Lynn Taise , traci kato-kiriyama
As we continue to pay homage to the great Amy Uyematsu, we wanted to feature a special collective poem that was just presented last weekend at the Japanese American National Museum at Amy’s Celebration of Life by five friends of Amy - her best friend Lynn Taise and four writers from Amy’s class in Little Tokyo — the Women Word Warriors (Nina Chan, Kathy Masaoka, Keiko Miya, Janice Yen). We provided prompts and questions for the group to consider, including a …
Tribute to Amy Uyematsu: After — Part 1
July 20, 2023 • Keiko Ikari Miya , Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka , traci kato-kiriyama
When first asked to curate the Nikkei Uncovered poetry column in 2016, the very first person I wanted to feature was the great Amy Uyematsu. Alongside the countless many, I am yet another poet/writer who holds so much sorrow with the loss of Amy after her long and fierce battle with cancer. She survived through many years, showing up year after year with her poetry and gracing the "classroom" even in retirement, to lead a special group of writers in …
Owed to Amy
Aug. 19, 2021 • Nina Chan , Miya Iwataki , Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka , Keiko Ikari Miya , traci kato-kiriyama
To borrow from the title of one of this month’s features, the theme for this month is all about paying homage to one of our most beloved writers, Amy Uyematsu. Amy has been writing and teaching for decades and is going through the fight of her life right now—and what is a community-based poetry column if not a platform to support the best energies and wishes possible for the better health of one of our own poets? You will see …
Mothers—affection, lost & found
Sept. 21, 2017 • Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka , Kurt Yokoyama-Ikeda , traci kato-kiriyama
This month, we take a somewhat different turn, in presenting some prose from longtime community organizer and LA-native, Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka, and a piece meant for the spoken word stage from Hawai‘i-born/Torrance-raised educator, Kurt Yokoyama-Ikeda. They both sent in pieces about their mothers and I found a yearning, discovery, and ode to their affection, however uniquely expressed over time. The pieces left me hoping they will continue to write and explore even more even about their mothers and how we …
Watershed Moment in Japanese American Civil Rights History: Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, commonly called the Commission Hearings of 1981
Nov. 18, 2013 • Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka
Back in 1981, VC (Visual Communications) and NCRR, then known as the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations, worked very closely together to record the events and activities of the campaign to win redress for Japanese Americans incarcerated in camps during World War II. People like Duane Kubo and Steve Tatsukawa, two of the early staff of VC, had participated in the fight against redevelopment in Little Tokyo and helped to link the work of VC to what was happening …
