culture en

Iced in Paradise - An Interview with Author Naomi Hirahara on her Upcoming Release

Naomi Hirahara, Japanese-American writer and Los Angeles local, is known for her thrilling (and award-winning) mystery novels featuring not only Asian American protagonists, but the ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Eleven — How to Sharpen a Knife

One of the first things Yudai, my boss at the sushi bar, taught me was how to properly sharpen my knife. He uses the traditional ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Ten — Double Crosser

“What do you mean Yudai was behind this?” I can hardly get the words out of my mouth. Yudai is like my Japanese brother—only ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Nine — Where’s Som?

On my dead husband’s laptop is only one document, a letter addressed to me. Carrie glances at me and I nod. She double clicks ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Eight — Try Tamago

I wait for Crowe to threaten to publicly expose my lies. I picture being kicked out of the dorm and being on the front page ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Seven — The Magic of Kitchen

The condo itself is one of those nondescript kinds all along Embarcadero in Palo Alto. It’s part of a larger complex with probably at ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Six — Pretender

I’m assembling a natto hand roll for a software engineer with Google, when a man in a motorized wheelchair enters Yudai’s Corner. He ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Five — Murder Menu

“The first official meeting of Yudai Investigations is called to order,” Yudai says as our fivesome make our way in a residential area of Mountain ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Four — Maki vs. the BGWAAM

Up to now, I’ve never felt that a group that I belonged to believed in me. When I left for America, my family thought ...

community en

Killer Roll

Chapter Three — Don’t Be a Bakatare

What attracted me to Kurt, you may wonder. It wasn’t that he was particularly good looking. I mean, he was tall, six-three, but he ...