Tamiko Nimura
@tnimuraTamiko Nimura is an Asian American writer living in Tacoma, Washington. Her training in literature and American ethnic studies (MA, PhD, University of Washington) prepared her to research, document, and tell the stories of people of color. She has been writing for Discover Nikkei since 2008.
Tamiko just published her first book, Rosa Franklin: A Life in Health Care, Public Service, and Social Justice (Washington State Legislature Oral History Program, 2020). Her second book is a co-written graphic novel, titled We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration (Chin Music Press/Wing Luke Asian Museum). She is working on a memoir called PILGRIMAGE.
Updated November 2020
Stories from This Author
Resistance at Tule Lake—Talking with Filmmaker Konrad Aderer
Jan. 29, 2018 • Tamiko Nimura
In these difficult political times, resistance appears every day—from marches to political organizing to Star Wars movies to hashtags. But for many within the Japanese American community, resistance remains a difficult and painful topic. Yonsei Konrad Aderer’s latest documentary, Resistance at Tule Lake, seeks to address that topic, focusing on the most controversial of the ten long-term concentration camps by the War Relocation Authority. Back in 2015 (and 2013), Aderer spoke with Discover Nikkei writer Norm Ibuki about the film …
Taking Tacoma's Japantown Online
Dec. 12, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
“I live on the edge of Tacoma’s historic Nihonmachi and as I crossed it on my way to downtown, I often wondered what stories lay dormant in the vacant, grassy lots. Today, between the empty slope and the massive convention center, who could know there was once a thriving Japan Town there?” —Tony Gomez, Education Director, Broadway Center of Tacoma How can you show people entire neighborhoods that have vanished? In our smartphone day and age, as they say, there’s …
"Witness to Wartime" and The Hope of Another Spring - The Long-Hidden Work of Issei Artist Takuichi Fujii
Nov. 14, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
The women were standing just about eye level with me, their faces sketched on the wall by Issei artist Takuichi Fujii. They were standing in front of barracks at Minidoka, but in the picture they seemed—and felt— at an arm’s length away. One woman had her hand up to her face, as if wiping away tears. The other woman had her hand covering her mouth, the kind of involuntary gesture you make when your breath is taken away, when you …
A Day of Remembrance to Remember in Puyallup, Washington
Oct. 11, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
September 4, 2017 was the first day of the Washington State Fair. For the Seattle-area Japanese American community and allies (and beyond) it was a commemoration, a reunion, a pilgrimage. And with close to 1500 attendees, it was the biggest Day of Remembrance I’ve ever seen. I’ve parked my car and I’m walking next to the Washington State Fairgrounds—though I’ve lived in Washington for almost twenty years, this is my first visit to the Fair. Along the path to the …
A Remarkable Nisei Love Story: Tacoma’s Kimi and George Tanbara
Sept. 7, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
In past columns for Discover Nikkei, I’ve written about the challenges of finding Japanese American history in Tacoma. I know that, as with so many stories of Japanese Americans, there is much more to tell. So it was a pleasure and an education to be at Dr. George Tanbara’s life celebration on August 5, 2017. The Tanbaras represent an important part of Tacoma’s Japanese American history: not only before the war, but in their resettlement and community service. Although I …
A Chiura Obata Painting Comes “Home” to Topaz
Aug. 16, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
“It feels right,” says Jane Beckwith, director of the Topaz Museum in Utah. “It feels like the painting is coming home.” She is talking about a new donation, a Chiura Obata work coming to the Topaz Museum from Bainbridge Island in Washington State. How Obata’s painting reached Bainbridge Island, and who donated it, is still a mystery. Every year, the Bainbridge Island Rotary holds an auction and rummage sale. The event began in 1960, to purchase land for the Bainbridge …
Camp Memorials, Silence, and Restlessness: A Dialogue with Brandon Shimoda - Part 2
June 9, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
Read Part 1 >> May 15, 2017 Hi Brandon, I wonder if we both answer questions by adding to them, by writing more into them, by turning them into something else. Yes, very much so. Thank you for writing and responding so eloquently to “How It Feels to Inherit Camp.” And the ending is absolutely about historiography—for all of us to have the questions of writing history feel more transparent. I think one of the reasons that people don’t like …
Camp Memorials, Silence, and Restlessness: A Dialogue with Brandon Shimoda - Part 1
June 8, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
2017 has been a Year of Remembrance in the Japanese American community, commemorating 75 years since the signing of Executive Order 9066. Many Days of Remembrance events have been planned around the country, with more events to come. It’s a year that has made me wonder about the long-term effects of memorials and memory. For whom are memorials important? When are they useful? When are they unsatisfying? I reached out to the Sansei/Yonsei writer Brandon Shimoda, who I’ve known from …
Following the Path, Listening to Footsteps: A Day of Remembrance for Tacoma
May 8, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
I am thinking about paths, footsteps, gravel, listening, memory. When I visited the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial wall a few years ago, I was fascinated by the architectural design details that I heard—all lovingly told by Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community president Clarence Moriwaki. The memorial is strategically placed next to the very same path where the first Japanese Americans walked on their way to the ferry terminal for their wartime forcible removal. The memorial wall winds next …
An Inclusive Legacy of Peace: The Nikkei History of Jean's House of Prayer
April 24, 2017 • Tamiko Nimura
Next to a Philly cheesesteak drive-up booth in downtown Tacoma, there’s a wood-frame two-story house, surrounded by vacant lots on either side, facing a desolate parking lot. From the street, even despite the presence of the “peace pole” in the front yard, 1414 Tacoma Avenue doesn’t look like very much. But as luck would have it, I approached “Jean’s House of Prayer” from the back—from the left backyard, in fact—and so I saw Jean right away. A life-size mural of …
