About

Yay, gasagasa girls and guys unite! I'm Naomi and I've watched the Japanese American National Museum grow up from its temporary offices in what is now called the Arts District. I made one of the best professional decisions of my life when I decided to work for The Rafu Shimpo, the largest Japanese American newspaper in the U.S., as first a reporter and later an editor of the English Section. I'm a 2.5 or Nisei han; my mother is from Hiroshima, while my father was a Kibei Nisei. I spent a year at the Inter-University Center of Advanced Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo, so I can make my way in Japan. Since leaving the newspaper, I've been writing nonfiction books, mostly revolving the experience of Japanese Americans, mystery novels and middle-grade fiction. The third book in my Mas Arai mystery series, SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN, won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Paperback Original. As Mas Arai is a Kibei Nisei gardener, I'm so happy that his stories have reached a mainstream readership. My new mystery series involving a young female hapa bicycle cop made its debut in 2014 with MURDER ON BAMBOO LANE.