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
A New Gateway to the Past: The Seward Park Torii Project in Seattle
March 18, 2016 • Tamiko Nimura
A Southern friend of mine once told me that she moved to the West Coast because it was a place of destiny-making, a place where one could begin anew. But one of the first questions that she asked was, “Where do you all keep your history? Where is your Williamsburg?” If you’re from the West Coast, born and bred like me, the answer is “often deeply sedimented, less on display, often less carefully preserved.” Here, to me, the work of …
A North American Nikkei Explores South American Nikkei Cuisine
Feb. 12, 2016 • Tamiko Nimura
A set of chopsticks wrapped in bright ribbon, decorated with Portuguese words. A spray of pink cherry blossoms against a persimmon-red background. These two images open Luiz Hara’s cookbook Nikkei Cuisine: Japanese Food the South American Way, published in 2015. They preview the content and sensibility of the book: a deep appreciation for Japanese elements in a South American environment. Like his book’s subject, Hara contains multiple geographies and identities: Brazilian-born, Italian-Japanese descent, London supper club chef, Cordon-Bleu trained, ardent …
The Secret “American Japanese” Garden in Seattle
Feb. 5, 2016 • Tamiko Nimura
On the way to downtown Seattle, there’s a freeway sign advertising a tourist attraction that’s always intrigued me: “Kubota Garden,” it says. I asked my friend, native Seattleite and Beacon Hill boy Omar Willey about it. “You’d know about it if you went to St. Paul school, which was the next block up,” he tells me, “but you could drive up Renton Ave. for years and never see it.” After years of living in the Pacific Northwest, I finally got …
Little Kunoichi Is Kid-Tested, Kid-Approved
Jan. 15, 2016 • Tamiko Nimura
A children’s book about a tiny ninja girl—do I need to say anything else? There are tiny watercolor ninjas hiding among cherry blossoms and scaling castle walls. There’s a marvelously detailed “I Spy” matsuri (festival) scene, filled with onigiri, taiko drums, sumo wrestlers, and characters from Japanese fairy tales. And there’s a family pet ninja bunny. Overall, Seattle author and illustrator Sanae Ishida has been overwhelmed by the positive response to her book Little Kunoichi, published in April 2015 from …
The Feast that Makes a Family
Jan. 1, 2016 • Tamiko Nimura
There’s gravel crackling under our car wheels as we drive up my Auntie Nesan’s driveway. After we come to a stop, my husband Josh and I unbuckle our two little girls out of the backseat. We walk up to the house, trailing blankets and stuffed animals, and I tap on the screen door. “Happy New Year! Come in!” my eighty-something aunt answers cheerily. After hugs and exclamations (“the girls are getting so big!”), we ask if we can bring anything …
‘How Does Anybody Become An Artist?’: An Interview with Allen Say
Dec. 21, 2015 • Tamiko Nimura
Renowned writer and illustrator Allen Say has authored over 15 books, mostly for children. Though he may be best known for his picture books for young readers, including the Caldecott-winning Grandfather’s Journey, he’s also begun to write hybrid memoir/graphic novels. The first of these, Drawing from Memory, tells the story of three crucial years in his life as he was becoming an apprentice to a famed cartoonist in Japan. The sequel to this book, The Inker’s Shadow, was just released …
Piecing Together the Past: Restoring a Japanese American Bath House
Dec. 8, 2015 • Tamiko Nimura
At one end of the porch of the Neely Mansion there’s a pile of broken bottles, ceramic shards, muddy pieces of metal. About twenty yards away, there’s a charred piece of wood attached to a small house. I am thinking about a conversation I’ve just had with Linda Van Nest, president of the Neely Mansion Historical Association, who has taken me on a short tour of the house. “What’s that Japanese word,” she asks me, “when you are taking the …
Some Of My Favorite Nikkei Books, Part II: For Middle Grade and Young Adult Readers
Nov. 19, 2015 • Tamiko Nimura
After school this week, the kids at my daughters’ elementary school are rushing over to the library. They’re clutching wrinkled envelopes filled with checks and dollar bills and carefully counted change. They throw down their backpacks by the computers and head straight for cardboard booths. It’s book fair week. As a librarian’s daughter, one of my favorite days growing up was the arrival of the book fair booths in the library at school. So this year, I volunteered to work …
Experiencing Seattle Opera’s An American Dream
Oct. 6, 2015 • Tamiko Nimura
The lights flicker once, and people begin to move from the lobby into a long line. “Why all this drama?” the White woman behind me is asking. “They’ve never done this before, why are they going through our bags now? We have had enough of going through security.” The Seattle Opera staff member, dressed in a sober maroon jacket, answers her. “It’s part of the pre-show experience,” she says. I look ahead to the long table, the security guards in …
Some of My Favorite Nikkei and Japanese American Children’s Picture Books
Sept. 23, 2015 • Tamiko Nimura
Growing up in a family of voracious readers and three librarians, I was incredibly lucky to have books—almost as many as I wanted. I’ll never forget coming back from our trip to Japan to find that my auntie had left me the entire Anne of Green Gables series on my desk. One day I looked at our family bookshelf and realized that on a full shelf were loaned books that my dad had brought home from the university library where …
