
Alden M. Hayashi
@aldenmhayashiAlden M. Hayashi is a Sansei who was born and raised in Honolulu but now lives in Boston. After writing about science, technology, and business for more than thirty years, he has recently begun writing fiction and essays to preserve stories of the Nikkei experience. His first novel, Two Nails, One Love, was published by Black Rose Writing in 2021. His website: www.aldenmhayashi.com.
Updated May 2024
Stories from This Author

A Name Fraught with History
Aug. 29, 2024 • Alden M. Hayashi
I was barely a day old when my Nisei parents had a big fight over me. I had just been born in Honolulu and, after deciding that “Alden” should be my English first name, they argued over what my Japanese middle name should be. My father wanted “Makoto” to honor a priest in Hiroshima whom he respected, but my mother was adamantly opposed. After much wrangling, my father eventually prevailed and “Makoto,” which means truth or sincerity, became my middle …

A Belated Reparation—Part 2
Aug. 12, 2024 • Alden M. Hayashi
Read Part 1 The next four years were a blur. I should have suspected that something was wrong with Dad when he abruptly stopped volunteering at our neighborhood church, the Kotohira Jinsha. He told me that he just wanted to take a break from helping out, but one day when I was shopping at Marukai, I ran into Mrs. Watanabe, a long-time friend of my father’s who also was a member of that church. She asked how Dad was doing, …

A Belated Reparation—Part 1
Aug. 11, 2024 • Alden M. Hayashi
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Although the following short story is fiction, it is based on my mother’s battle against the Department of Justice to receive her reparation and apology for having been incarcerated at the Jerome concentration camp in Arkansas during World War II. I dedicate this story to those who worked tirelessly for the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, and I am especially thankful to everyone who fought for the individuals like my mother, who had been expelled …

A Profound Silence
June 13, 2024 • Alden M. Hayashi
One of the most famous—if not the most famous—works in classical music is Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. The opening of that masterpiece is iconic. There’s silence, and then those explosive four notes: ta, ta, ta daaannnnn! When I first played the symphony, our conductor emphasized that the most important part of that dynamic opening is the silence (the anticipation) before the notes, and not the notes themselves. And that’s exactly how Beethoven intended it to be because those four notes start …

Unlocking Family Mysteries
Nov. 22, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Ever since I could remember, a large, colorful tapestry of the Great Torii of Miyajima was displayed prominently in the living room of my Nisei parents’ house. Visitors couldn’t help but notice it when they entered our home in Honolulu. As a kid, though, I never thought much about that artwork; to be honest it was like wallpaper that was always silently there, unnoticeable in the background of my youth. Over the years the tapestry became badly faded from exposure …

The Poker Table—Part 4
Oct. 30, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Read Part 3 >> It was late in the afternoon, almost five o’clock, when Dad and I dropped off Tanaka-san and Lynne, so I called Mom to tell her we were running late because, with freeway traffic in Honolulu, it could be a while before we were back at my parents’ place across town. As I merged onto the freeway, I couldn’t help but think about Lynne. How odd it was, her insisting on joining us for lunch. I really …

The Poker Table—Part 3
Oct. 23, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Read Part 2 >> That Saturday, when I arrived at my parents’ house to pick up Dad, he was already sitting outside, waiting for me with two large paper bags. “Sorry, am I late?” I asked. “Look at what I picked this morning,” he said, pointing to the two bags. Inside were white Piri mangoes from his tree as well as several jabong, a type of grapefruit with the sweetness of oranges. “Wow, Tanaka-san is gonna love these!” I didn’t …

The Poker Table—Part 2
Oct. 16, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Read Part 1 >> Today, talk of his poker gang’s tanomoshi has made Dad uncharacteristically nostalgic, prompting him to reminisce about this group of seven lifelong friends who, over the years, had dropped to six and then five, with the deaths of Morimoto-san and Fukuda-san. The surviving members continued to play until Tokunaga-san had to bow out because of stomach cancer, which required months of brutal chemo and radiation treatments. The group remained in limbo until he had passed, prompting …

The Poker Table—Part 1
Oct. 9, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Author’s note: My late Nisei father did indeed have a poker gang of his best friends who would meet monthly, always on a Saturday night, for decades, but this fictional short story—“The Poker Table”—is only loosely based on them. * * * * * Mom and I were in the kitchen that Sunday morning, preparing lunch, when we heard the crash from outside, followed by an angry round of expletives in both English and Japanese. My father might let out …

No More Euphemisms: My Mother Was a Hostage
Aug. 9, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Decades ago, when I was studying for my degree in journalism, I had an extremely tough professor. He was a gruff, cynical curmudgeon who constantly berated us for failing to scrutinize any statements made by politicians, government officials, and others in power. “When interviewing them,” he advised, “always, always, ALWAYS bring your bullsh*t detector with you.” I got a “B” for that class (my first “B” ever in school), mainly because I wasn’t adept at investigative journalism. I couldn’t always …
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