Silvia Lumy Akioka is a Brazilian Sansei. She was a dekasegui at age 17, and on another occasion, she was an Exchange Student in Fukuoka Prefecture, when she published the series "The Year of a Brazilian Across the World" (Portuguese only) - it was her first contact with Discover Nikkei. She is an admirer of Japanese culture, and she also likes blogging about other themes. She was in Los Angeles volunteering for Discover Nikkei in April 2012, and she has been an official consultant for the project for 6 years.

Updated February 2019

Tim Asamen is the coordinator of the Japanese American Gallery, a permanent exhibit in the Imperial Valley Pioneers Museum. His grandparents, Zentaro and Eda Asamen, emigrated from Kami Ijuin-mura, Kagoshima Prefecture, in 1919 and settled in Westmorland, California, where Tim resides. He joined the Kagoshima Heritage Club in 1994, serving as president (1999-2002) and as the club's newsletter editor (2001-2011).

Updated August 2013

Linda Cooper is a communications consultant and freelance writer with more than 30 years of experience as a public relations practitioner, U.S. Senate press aide and journalist. She holds a BA in journalism and political science from Mississippi University for Women. Cooper lives in Tennessee. Her best friend Brenda is a registered nurse at a medical research facility and lives nearby with her family.

Updated September 2019

Sergio Hernández Galindo is a graduate of Colegio de México, where he majored in Japanese studies. He has published numerous articles and books about Japanese emigration to Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America.

His most recent book, Los que vinieron de Nagano. Una migración japonesa a México (Those who came from Nagano: A Japanese migration to Mexico, 2015) tells the stories of emigrants from that prefecture before and after the war. In his well-known book, La guerra contra los japoneses en México. Kiso Tsuru y Masao Imuro, migrantes vigilados (The war against Japanese people in Mexico: Kiso Tsuro and Masao Imuro, migrants under surveillance), he explained the consequences of conflict between the United States and Japan for the Japanese community decades before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

He has taught classes and led conferences on this topic at universities in Italy, Chile, Peru, and Argentina as well as Japan, where he was part of the group of foreign specialists in the Kanagawa Prefecture and a fellow of the Japan Foundation, affiliated with Yokohama National University. He is currently a professor and researcher with the Historical Studies Unit of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Updated April 2016

A native of Paraná, with a History degree from the State University at Londrina (UEL) and an Education degree from the Center for Higher Studies of Londrina (CESULON), she’s a retired teacher from the city and state school system. Thanks to a grant from the Japanese government and the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture, she attended Hiroshima University from 1987–1989. She belongs to the staff of the Hikari Group of Londrina, whose mission is to keep Japanese culture alive; she works as the photo editor on their website.

Updated September 2016

Rio Imamura, a U.S. citizen for close to 30 years living in New York City and Southern California, returned to Japan upon retirement in 1994. His Japanese translation of Dear Miss Breed written by Joanne Oppenheim was published by Kashiwa Shobo, Tokyo in 2007.

Updated February 2012

Teiko Kaneko was born in Ishikawamachi, Fukushima Pref., Japan. She married in 1973 and immigrated to New Brunswick, Canada, with her scientist husband. Teiko relocated to San Diego, California, in 1977. She taught at Minato Gakuen from 1985 to 2001. She currently serves as secretary at the San Diego Japanese Southern Baptist Church.

Updated June 2016

He works as a Technical and Commercial Consultant, Product Development, Analyst and Business Manager and Corporate Accounts in the areas of information technology, consulting, assessment, technical assistance and consultative marketing of software and hardware, with specialization in the elaboration and consultative sale of software projects. Strategic security intelligence, electronic surveillance and images.

Jorge Nagao was born in Vera Cruz, in the state of São Paulo, in 1952. He lives in São Paulo. In the 1980s, he contributed to Folha de S. Paulo’s humor section and to the popular satirical weekly Pasquim. Since 2010, he has been a columnist for the newspaper Nippak/Brasil, and is part of the crew at www.algoadizer.com.br.

Updated November 2014.

Carolyn Nakagawa is a playwright and poet living on unceded Indigenous territory known as Vancouver, Canada, where she was born and grew up. She is currently working for the Nikkei National Museum, and writing a full-length play about The New Canadian newspaper and its legacy for present-day Japanese Canadians.

Updated February 2019

メキシコ生まれ日系メキシコ人二世。筑波大学卒業後、ボストン大学大学院進学。国際関係学修士。現在はロサンゼルスでReiyukai Americaにて事務局長として勤務。

（2015年10月 更新）

Udê, a.k.a. Hudson Okada, was born in the city of Matão, São Paulo, on Aug. 2, 1979. Since 2005, he lives in the city of São Paulo’s Liberdade district. He is part of the Jornal Nippak team of collaborators. As a writer, he has won several literary contests – including an honorable second place in Brazil’s Sesc-DF Prize for Literature, in the short stories category.

Updated July 2016

A native of Arapongas, Paraná, she has a Business Administration degree from the State University of Londrina (UEL). She is responsible for the administration of the website and fanpage of a wholesale jewelry and costume jewelry company in Londrina, taking photographs and producing videos to be posted on these sites. She participates in coordination of the Ishindaiko Group of Londrina (taiko). She is a staff member at the Hikari Group of Londrina, whose aim is to keep Japanese culture alive. She is responsible for the filming, production, and video editing on their site.

Updated June 2018

Paulistano, 26 years old, lives in the capital of São Paulo and studies Production Engineering. He likes movies, running in the park, swimming, working out at the gym. He is preparing to go to work in Japan.

Updated June 2016

Born in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, Claudio Sampei is a Chemical Engineer specializing in Business Administration, Business Management, and Environmental Education. In 1994, he held a scholarship from the Chiba Prefecture —in the water treatment field—but currently works as an executive in the travel industry. He holds posts in various community-oriented organizations, such as the JCI (Junior Chamber International), where he was President of the São Paulo Chapter and National Executive Vice President; he is Chairman of the Board of the ASEBEX (the Brazilian Association of Former Scholarship Holders in Japan), Vice President of the IPK (the Paulo Kobayashi Institute), Financial Advisor of the Pan-American Nikkei Association of Brazil (APNB), Second Secretary of the Chiba Kenjin Association of Brazil, and member of the Communications and Marketing Commission of Bunkyo (the Brazilian Society of Japanese Culture and Social Assistance).

Updated November 2014

Nilton Suenaga was born in Gabriel Monteiro, São Paulo, in 1987. He’s an architect and urban planner, having graduated from FAU-USP in 2010. From 2011–2015 he was a partner architect at SPBR Arquitetos and he’s currently one of the founding partners of Sabiá Arquitetos. Additionally, he is a professor of Architectural Language at Santa Cruz School and an illustrator responsible for the series [un] predictable são paulo, published on the Vitruvius online portal.

Updated October 2016

Mary has been married for 43 years to John Sunada and they have two sons, James and David. Mary is retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District after 36 years of teaching. She is a member of the Orange County Buddhist Church, the Japanese American National Museum, and the “Go for Broke” National Education Center. Her interests are in fishing, dancing and traveling with family and friends. She has written other stories for Discover Nikkei.

Updated October 2023

She was born in Bastos, one of the cradles of Japanese immigration. She is the mother of two girls and two boys, and a dedicated grandmother of three. She likes eating better than cooking, though her youngest son’s hobbies are both cooking and eating well. In her garden she has a sakura and each year she waits anxiously for the first buds to blossom. She has been an Evangelical Christian since the age of 18 and her biggest joy is to sing, praising God.

Updated September 2012 

Javier Takara (not his real name) is a Nikkei Sansei of Okinawan ancestry who was born in Lima in 1965. His paternal grandparents were from Kumejima and his maternal grandparents were from Itoman. In 1989, he went to Japan as a dekasegi. He currently lives in the city of Zama, in Kanagawa Prefecture. Visit his blog here.

Heriete Setsuko Shimabukuro Takeda, 61, a descendant of Okinawans, was born and lives in the city of São Paulo. She is married and is the mother of two children. Now retired, she uses her writing to rescue memories and reach horizons.

Updated October 2018

Chuck Tasaka is the grandson of Isaburo and Yorie Tasaka. Chuck’s father was 4th in a family of 19. Chuck was born in Midway, B.C., and grew up in Greenwood, B.C. until he graduated from high school. Chuck attended University of B.C. and graduated in 1968. After retirement in 2002, he became interested in Nikkei history. (Profile photo courtesy of Nelson photographer)

Updated October 2015

In 1995, she was born in Shizuoka, Japan. She moved to Brazil in 2004 and graduated from middle school and high school in São Paulo. This year she graduated from the Art Institute of São Paulo with a major in graphic design. Her hobbies are dancing, making sweets and playing with Lyca and Bruce, the two golden retrievers. Her goal is to serve for god through dancing and to become a graphic designer.

Updated September 2016

Born in Bebedouro, in São Paulo, Brazil, she has a Nursing degree from the University of São Paulo (USP). She worked as a professor at the State University of Londrina (UEL) until her retirement in 2010. She currently belongs to the staff of UEL’s FM Radio program “Tecer Idades” for this age group. She works as a volunteer in projects related to the field of aging, and she is a member of the board of directors of the "House of Support to the Family of Elderly Bedridden" in Londrina. She is a staff member at the Hikari Group of Londrina, whose aim is to keep Japanese culture alive. She is responsible for both the production and the written content of their site.

Updated June 2018