Patricia Takayama
Patricia Takayama is a writer of fiction. Her first short story collection is titled, The Winter of Melancholy. Her second collection, The Currents of War, is due out later 2023. Both are works of historical fiction based on the lives of real people.
Patricia was raised in California. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Hastings College of the Law. She lived in Tokyo for three years where she taught English at a business college while she studied the Japanese language. After law school she received a fellowship to continue her language studies at the Inter-University Center in Tokyo.
Updated March 2023
Stories from This Author
Sansei
Dec. 20, 2018 • Janice Iwanaga Yen , Patricia Takayama , traci kato-kiriyama
As a younger Sansei/older Yonsei, I've been reflecting a lot on the big sisters and cousins of the Sansei generation who have raised or influenced many of us in our activism, community involvement, and understanding of ourselves as connected to others. This month, we feature pieces of generational and personal reflection from two Sansei - writer Patricia Takayama from the San Fernando Valley, and NCRR founding member, Janice Yen, who is based in Los Angeles. Enjoy! —traci kato-kiriyama * * …
What's in a Name?
Aug. 12, 2014 • Patricia Takayama
My parents named me Gorobei Yoshida. It is an old fashioned name. My mother said I was named after her grandfather, who was a respected man in our village back in Japan, but my uncle says, that was the name of my mother’s favorite movie star as a teen. Most of my friends call me Goro, at least, the ones who can pronounce my name properly. My father’s Mexican helpers have nicknamed me Gordo. My father is a gardener. My …
