Kyra Karatsu

kyra.karatsu

Kyra Karatsu was born and raised in Santa Clarita, CA. She is currently a first-year Journalism student at College of the Canyons in Valencia, CA and hopes to transfer to a university after the completion of her AA degree. Kyra is a Japanese-German Yonsei and enjoys reading and writing about the Asian American experience.

Updated January 2021

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Inspire Forward: Nikkei Heroes Under 30

Ancestry & Artistry: The Works of Annie Sumi

By Kyra Karatsu
22 Dec 2022

Japanese Canadian Annie Sumi is many things: songwriter, ethereal folk artist, and, recently, co-creator of the Kintsugi exhibition at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto. Providing creative insight inspired by family heirlooms, her work on Kintsugi weaves together the threads of her ancestry with her artistry as a musician. Ancestry Sumi originally hails from Ontario, Canada. Second-generation Scottish through her mother’s side, she recalls that she grew close to the songs and traditions that were brought to Canada from her grandparents’ hometown of Glasgow. &ld…

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Nikkei Chronicles #11—Itadakimasu 3! Nikkei Food, Family, and Community

Food for Thought—TikTok & Tamagoyaki

By Kyra Karatsu
17 Jun 2022

Like any good Gen Z-er, I’ve made my fair share of TikToks since I first downloaded the app two years ago. Most are silly and trivial and recorded primarily for my “impressive” following of 45 followers—the majority being school friends. Although it pales in comparison to the millions and even billions of views that top users (often dubbed “Content Creators”) regularly receive, the most popular TikTok that I ever made was, interestingly enough, a minute-long video of my dad and me making tamagoyaki. By the time I eventually privated it, th…

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The Times of Tulelake

By Kyra Karatsu
10 May 2022

Located near the Oregon-California border, the ghost of what once was one of California’s two internment camps now stands rather quietly against a backdrop of mountains and shrubs. But for much of the 20th century, Tulelake and the nearby town of Newell – where the Tule Lake Segregation Center stands – were no strangers to the bustle of human activity. A Japanese American relocation camp turned high-security segregation center turned homestead farming community, the Tulelake area has since evolved into a historically significant landscape for a varied miscellany of America…

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From Short Story to Stage Play: Masao and The Bronze Nightingale

By Kyra Karatsu
28 Apr 2022

After years of partnership and production, Dan Kwong and Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara’s Masao and The Bronze Nightingale has finally set stage at the CASA 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights. Based on Guevara’s short story of the same name, Masao and The Bronze Nightingale is set in post-war 1940s Bronzeville—a thriving African American community that sprouted in Little Tokyo after Japanese Americans were forcibly removed. As Japanese American jazz musician Masao Imoto (played by Michael Sasaki) navigates through the vibrant, multicultural L.A music scene and his love for the…

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To Build a Bridge

By Kyra Karatsu
18 Mar 2022

“Why do you want to marry him?” That is what my maternal grandfather asked my mother in the days leading up to her wedding. It was genuine, blunt, honest. Even today, it was a question that my mother recalls as one that stunned her into momentary silence. After a pause and some thoughtful reflection, she was finally able to answer his query. The matter was then put to rest, never to be spoken between the two again. Her father’s curiosity had been satiated. This was the year 2001, and the occasion was the betrothal of a Caucasian woman and an Asian man. At the…

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Japanese migrants and their descendants

Kyra Karatsu

Inspire Forward: Nikkei Heroes Under 30

Nikkei Chronicles #11—Itadakimasu 3! Nikkei Food, Family, and Community

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Nikkei Chronicles #11—Itadakimasu 3! Nikkei Food, Family, and Community

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書評：和泉真澄『日系カナダ人の移動と運動―知られざる日本人の越境生活史』

1992年渡米、目標は「アカデミー賞」— 俳優の井上英治さん

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Journal Entry #Lesson 3450: "Sharpen Your Pencils!"

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