Karen Kawaguchi is a writer based in New York City. She was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a Nisei father from Seattle. Her dad served in the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Service while his family was incarcerated at Minidoka. Karen and her family moved to the U.S. in the late 1950’s, living mostly in the Chicago area. In 1967, they moved to Okinawa where she went to Kubasaki High School. After attending Wesleyan University (CT), she lived in Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Seattle. She recently retired as an editor in educational publishing, having worked for Heinemann, Pearson, and other leading publishers. Karen began contributing articles to the Discover Nikkei website earlier this year, including pieces for Inspire Forward: Nikkei Heroes Under 30 and an article about the importance of preserving and sharing family history. She volunteers for Literacy Partners (adult ESL) and enjoys going to Japan Society, art museums, and botanical gardens. She feels fortunate to be able to draw deeply from the three cultures in her life: Japanese, American, and Japanese-American.

Kon'nichi' wa!

I am a Yonsei Japanese Canadian; a “hapa”. Researching my family history, I became fascinated and angered with the events of the WW2 internment of Japanese Canadians to the point that I eventually spent twelve years making a film about my grandmother’s experiences during the internment. The film is called Hatsumi and is used in classrooms across Canada to assist teachers to teach the internment chapter to Canadian history students. I am a lawyer by trade, the treasurer of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto and a member of the board of governors of the Japanese American National Museum in L.A..

I enjoy spending time at bookshops, taking nice walks, trying new recipes, and travelling to many different places in my free time. The most significant experience in my life was when I lived in Japan, 40 years ago.