traci kato-kiriyama
@traciakemitraci kato-kiriyama is a performer, actor, writer, author, educator, and art+community organizer who splits the time and space in her body feeling grounded in gratitude, inspired by audacity, and thoroughly insane—oft times all at once. She’s passionately invested in a number of projects that include Pull Project (PULL: Tales of Obsession); Generations Of War; The (title-ever-evolving) Nikkei Network for Gender and Sexual Positivity; Kizuna; Budokan of LA; and is the Director/Co-Founder of Tuesday Night Project and Co-Curator of its flagship “Tuesday Night Cafe.” She’s working on a second book of writing/poetry attuned to survival, slated for publication next year by Writ Large Press.
Updated August 2013
Stories from This Author
(R)evolving
Nov. 28, 2024 • Liana Nakamura , traci kato-kiriyama
For this month, we are so grateful to present poetry in three languages—Portuguese, Japanese, and English—from the wonderful poet, artist, librarian, Liana Nakamura, of the “land of persimmons” Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil. The translation in Japanese was provided by Nodoka Nakaya, and the translation in English is provided by the author. Liana’s poem “the street market” keeps us in and moves us through the of the minutiae of the day, returning us to the circular ending, to begin …
Grappling
Oct. 17, 2024 • Jason Finkelman , traci kato-kiriyama
I recently had the great privilege of being hosted as a George A. Miller Visiting Artist at the University of Illinois and thus being able to spend time with artists Jason Finkelman and his wife, dancer/choreographer Cynthia Oliver. We had an informal salon of sorts at their home and I was able to witness brief touches of their art, when we came to this poem, written by Jason, who is a Nikkei Jewish musician and artist in Urbana, Illinois. As …
Minidoka
Sept. 19, 2024 • Lawrence Matsuda , traci kato-kiriyama
This month calls back Minidoka survivor Lawrence Matsuda into the Nikkei Uncovered poetry column and has inspired me to begin, from time to time, presenting columns with poetry related directly to a singular site of incarceration. Mr. Matsuda’s poems on Minidoka come from the perspective as a child in the camps and, from tears to night terrors to indelible scars, this is poetry that is not is easy to take in…and I am grateful for what it reveals and insists …
Recollections
July 18, 2024 • Christine Kitano , traci kato-kiriyama
This month, we are so delighted to feature poetry by writer and professor Christine Kitano, with two pieces from her latest chapbook Dumb Luck & other poems (Texas Review Press). Her pieces have us reflecting on the paths of the past that lead us to exactly where we are now, and the things we may hold in our bodies, our memories, despite the passage of time. I am excited that we get to feature Professor Kitano this month and look …
Burning
June 20, 2024 • Mariko Fujimoto Rooks , traci kato-kiriyama
We hope this finds everyone well and able to find rest and rejuvenation amidst all of daily grinds and strife that too easily abounds. I’m always grateful to provide some poetry, as a balm and as hopeful fire for our greater work in the world. This month is of course no exception—from the wondrous Mariko Rooks, community health practitioner and creative, we share their poem on the “carcinogenic caverns” of time, on “...war and cigarettes...”—taking us on a search through …
Remembering through Fire
May 16, 2024 • Matthew Mejia , traci kato-kiriyama
Recognizing the intersectionality and many-layered aspects of our community, we’re excited this month to present poet, educator and writing warrior, Matthew Mejia. Based in Hacienda Heights and hailing from Indigenous, Mexican, and Japanese ancestry, Matthew takes us through two streams of consciousness, orienting us to the gifts of dreaming, of surviving beyond the fire of struggle, of remembering all of it. Enjoy… — traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * Matthew Mejia is an American poet and an award-winning professor …
Hoping for a Rainbow
April 18, 2024 • Curtiss Takada Rooks , traci kato-kiriyama
We are overjoyed to again feature Dr. Curtiss Takada Rooks in this springtime edition of the Nikkei Uncovered poetry column. Professor and Los Angeles-based creative, Dr. Takada Rooks offers us two wondrous and personal pieces of memory, homage, and hope - inviting us to recall the songs of our families, learn those of another, and lean into the love that is sometimes offered to us by a simple, storied kneading of dough. Enjoy... —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * …
Between Query and Legacy
March 28, 2024 • Susan Hayase , traci kato-kiriyama
This month, we feature the fierce and insightful voice of San Jose-based Susan Hayase. While I am most familiar with Susan in intergenerational community organizing and activist spaces, I am grateful always to read her writing, as she has so much to share and teach us. Here we present pieces of both query and homage, from three distinct grandparents of Susan’s to the singular Alan Nishio. Enjoy… —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * Susan Hayase was a part of …
Remembrance
Feb. 15, 2024 • Carolee Okamoto , Kathy Nishimoto Masaoka , traci kato-kiriyama
In the spirit of “remembrance” with Day Of Remembrance programs happening all around the country — we feature personal tributes by two Sansei writers, Carolee Okamoto, based in Washington, and Kathy Masaoka, based in Los Angeles. Carolee’s poem honors the warrior within her grandmother, a samurai’s daughter and a farmer’s wife. Kathy’s essay pays homage to her late, older sister Judy Nishimoto and the influence of her passionate, determined, and powerful spirit. Enjoy... — traci kato-kiriyama * * * * …
Half-empty/half-full
Jan. 18, 2024 • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura , traci kato-kiriyama
As we welcome 2024, we welcome another new writer to the Nikkei Uncovered space. We have three pieces of prose and poetry from Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, a Bloomfield CT based writer. The pieces here remind us of the transition through the in-between, what is at once behind and in front of us…the things of the past we might begin to let go of as we grasp onto them in the present moment. As we enter into a new year, we by …
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