traci kato-kiriyama

traciakemi

traci 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

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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Explosión

By José Natsuhara, traci kato-kiriyama
18 Aug 2022

Este mes, nuevamente con la ayuda de la mamá de mi pareja (una artista nikkei nacida y criada en Perú), llegué a apreciar este poema por su intensidad, escrito por el poeta nikkei radicado en Lima, Perú, José Natsuhara. Una fuerte imaginería abunda a lo largo de este poema, lleno de imágenes impresionantes, de lo cotidiano a una mayoría de edad sobrenatural... Un poema al ataque. Disfruten... —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * José Natsuhara es un poeta nikkei de Lima, Perú, director de la plataforma de poesía…

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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Gnawing

By W. Todd Kaneko, traci kato-kiriyama
21 Jul 2022

This month’s feature comes to us from Grand Rapids, Michigan, with selections from This Is How the Bone Sings, a poetry collection by Todd Kaneko. These pieces resonated at a gut level for me—they poke and prod, nudge and whack, muse and gnaw at our past through a present lens that is close, sometimes overwhelmingly close, to the ghosts, the land, the sentient cries. This beautiful writing points us toward Minidoka as much as it positions us firmly in the wonder of all places and people who have had to endure disappearance, silence, and reckoning. Enjoy... — traci kato-kiri…

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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Recuerdo y laberintos

By Kazuko Kikushima, traci kato-kiriyama
16 Jun 2022

Este mes nos complace presentar a la poetisa y psicóloga peruana Kazuko Kikushima. Una vez más, la madre de mi pareja me ayudó a entender la belleza y profundidad de este poema, una conmovedora pieza que hace un llamado al recuerdo de un ser querido y las cosas que llamamos y soltamos en el laberinto de las relaciones complejas. ¡Disfruten! —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * Kazuko Kikushima es psicóloga y comunicadora. Sus mayores referentes en la poesía son Jose Watanabe (Trujillo, Perú) y Gustavo Pereira (Punta de Piedras, Venezuela). …

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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Baachan

By Shizue Seigel, traci kato-kiriyama
19 May 2022

This month, we are happy to present two poems from San Francisco-based writer and visual artist, Shizue Siegel. As the founder/director of Write Now!, Shizue amplifies many voices throughout the Bay Area, and here we are honored to share her voice with pieces about her Baachan. Through this writing, we are treated to her history and endeared cultural context, the many layers of compassion from and for a grandmother, the images of Shizue's childhood and the resilience of her Baachan's love and strength...enjoy. —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * Shizue Seigel is a Sansei writer an…

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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Murmurs and Bones

By Lee Ann Roripaugh, traci kato-kiriyama
21 Apr 2022

We are honored to present three pieces here from South Dakota State Poet Laureate (2015-2019), Lee Ann Roripaugh. A personal and clanging reflection on the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami and earthquake, these poems are stunning murmurations of memory hitting against bone, of shadows that never quite evaporate, of ghosts alive and well in our presence. Enjoy… —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * Lee Ann Roripaugh’s fifth volume of poetry, tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 (Milkweed Editions, 2019), was named a “Best Book of 2019” by the New York Public Library, selected as a…

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Japanese migrants and their descendants

traci kato-kiriyama

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

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