Tamiko Nimura: My Writing Portfolio

As a freelance writer, I write about issues that interest me including (but not limited to) books, food, family, race, diversity, education, yoga, fine arts, and Asian America.

As an editor, I’ve provided developmental editing for two book manuscripts. I’ve copy-edited articles, history books, websites, newsletters, and other direct mass mailings. I’ve coached college and high school students in a number of writing assignments and contexts. I worked as managing editorial assistant at an academic journal for two years, which gave me a strong understanding of the editorial and publication process. As a former educator, I always try to encourage writers by pointing out the best parts of their writing, and then asking questions or making suggestions for making their work even stronger.

I’m always looking for interesting opportunities to work with interesting people and organizations. Please feel free to send me a message (kikugirl at kikugirl dot net) if you’d like to work with me or know more about my work.

Current Projects (Fall 2017)

• For a fourth year, I am writing a commissioned yearlong series on being Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest for Discover Nikkei. (The series began in 2014 and will continue into Summer 2018)
• I am doing some consulting, research and writing for Artifacts Historic Preservation Inc. in Tacoma, Washington. Current project: Japanese American agriculture on Vashon Island, Washington.
• Along with poet and editor Alan Lau, I am editing a book of arts essays over the last 40 years for the International Examiner.
• I write occasionally for The Seattle Star as well as the International Examiner.
• I provide social media support (website maintenance, copywriting, blogging, Facebook, newsletter) for Source Yoga in Tacoma and University Place, Washington.
• I have just completed two topics related to Japanese American history in Pierce County for HistoryLink, the Washington state online encyclopedia. One is the history of Tacoma’s Japantown.

Food Publications, Literary Magazines, and Anthologies

• Interview with Stephanie Han, Kartika Review (Sept 2017)
• D is for Daughter, Full Grown People (June 2016)
• Break, Burn, Hoard: For An Atlas of Lost Afro-Asian Worlds (with Vince Schleitwiler) (Spring 2016)
• “David Ishii, Bookseller: A Bookstore of Our Own,” Ghosts of Seattle Past, forthcoming
• The Sunday Rumpus Interview: A Roundtable on Writing, Editing, and Race. The Rumpus (March 2016) (co-written with Jennifer Niesslein, Lisa Factora-Borchers, Patrice Gopo, Deesha Philyaw)
• Love Songs and Love Songs, Full Grown People (June 2014)
• The Feast That Makes a Family, Edible Seattle (January/February 2014). Reprinted in Discover Nikkei
• My Log Cabin Sukiyaki Song, Remedy Quarterly (Issue 7, December 2011). Reprinted in the Nikkei Chronicles Itadakimasu series, October 2012. Reprinted in the Nikkei Voice (Canada, March 2013). Also translated into Spanish and reprinted in the Perú Shimpo (February 2013), and Alternativa Nikkei (Argentina, April 2013), and translated into Japanese and reprinted in the Nikkey Shimbun (Brasil, April 2013).
• How It Feels To Inherit Camp, Kartika Review (Spring 2011). Republished in the anthology New California Writing 2012 (Heyday, April 2012) and the Kartika Review Anthology 2011.
• Response to Andrei Kozlov’s “The Boxer,” Crosscurrents Literary Review (Spring 2011)
  

Web Writing Portfolio

The Seattle Star.net (Culture, Literature, previews, events)

• C. Rosalind Bell, “Standing In the Middle of a Secret” [interview] (11/13/15)
• An Interview with Jaimee Garbacik, Curator of Ghosts of Seattle Past Project (8/6/15)
• “Infinity and Chashu Ramen: An Interview with Kerwin Berk” (8/29/14) 
• Yelp and Yellowface: Nikkei Protests and the Mikado in 2014 (7/25/14)
• Kickstarting Seattle’s Parks: The Star Interviews Omar Willey about ‘Natural Advantages’ (7/14/14)
• From “A Mess of Intense Moments” to Meaning: The Seattle Star Interviews Megan Sukys (1/24/14)
• The Retelling: Talking to the National Parks Service about Tule Lake (9/28/13)
• Of No-No Boy and No-No Boys: At the Seattle Japanese American National Museum Conference (7/25/13)
• Three Boxes, One Classroom: Another Argument for Food Banks (3/3/13)
• Series: “The Finest Work Songs: A Tour of Seattle Artists Working Together” (on Seattle-area artistic collaborations): (10/9/12) (10/15/12, Alan Lau and Susie Kozawa) (1/17/13, Jürg Koch and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring) (4/17/13, Gabrielle Nomura and The Relay Dance Collective); Joshua Parmenter and Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night (12/17/13); Rosalind Bell and “Miles of Words That Matter” (2/15/13)
• Life, Death, Computers, Books, Baseball: Seattle Star Interviews Laurie Frankel (8/4/12)
• Why Ichiro’s Departure Makes This Nikkei Girl Sad” (7/24/12). Reprinted (8/2/12) in Discover Nikkei, web project of the Japanese American National Museum.
• Series, “The Show Must Go On” (a “working artist” series about preparing for Drunken Telegraph, a storytelling show)  (4/10/12) (4/17/12) (4/27/12) (5/4/12) (5/16/12) (5/22/12) (6/1/12) (6/11/12) (7/6/12, includes link to audio)
• “From Puyallup to the Present: Day of Remembrance Events, 2012″(2/17/12)
• “Method Acting for Writers: Seattle Star Interviews Author Krys Lee” (2/7/12)

Discover Nikkei (Web Project of the Japanese American National Museum)

• Commissioned 4-year series on being Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest:
  • Recipe for an Improvised Girls’ Day (3/31/14)
  • This Is What It Means To Say Hanami in Seattle (4/30/14)
  • Celebrating the Child: Kodomo No Hi in Seattle (6/5/14)
  • The Fabric that Makes the Story: Interview with Dawn Yanagihara, Kiriko (7/23/14)
  • A Circuit Left Open: Thoughts from the Tule Lake Pilgrimage 2014 (9/5/14)
  • The Circles of Bon Odori  (9/16/14)
  • It’s Not Just About History: Visiting the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial (11/1/14)
  • Uncovering Tacoma’s Nikkei Past: The Japanese Language School Memorial (12/2/14)
  • A Tribute to My Oldest Nisei Auntie (1/6/15)
  • A Tour of Japanese and Japanese “Fusion” Bakeries in Seattle (2/13/15)
  • From Barbed Wire to Cherry Blossoms: Day of Remembrance 2015 in Washington State (3/24/15)
  • To Stand On Both Feet: Cathy Tashiro and The Dimensions of Mixed Race Identity (4/28/15)
  • A Lesson in Taiko–And Parenting (6/2/15)
  • “Just Good Theater”–An Interview with Aya Hashiguchi Clark, Tacoma Actress and Producer (6/30/15)
  • Pictures at an Asian American Exhibition: Roger Shimomura, “American Matsuri” at the Tacoma Art Museum (8/13/15)
  • Some of My Favorite Nikkei and Japanese American Children’s Picture Books, Part I (9/23/15)
  • Experiencing Seattle Opera’s “An American Dream” (10/6/15)
  • Some of My Favorite Nikkei Books, Part II: For Middle Grade and Young Adult Readers (11/19/15)
  • Piecing Together the Past: Restoring a Japanese American Bath House (12/8/15)
  • The Secret “American Japanese Garden” in Seattle (2/5/16)
  • A North American Nikkei Explores South American Japanese Cuisine (2/12/16)
  • A New Gateway to the Past: The Seward Park Torii Project in Seattle (3/18/16)
  • For the Sake of the Ancestors And The Children: The “Small But Mighty” Work of the Camp Harmony Committee (4/6/16)
  • Wabi-Sabi Stitches: Sanae Ishida’s Path to Sewing Happiness (5/11/16)
  • Bringing the Worlds of Nihonjin and Nikkeijin Together: An Interview with Lynne Kutsukake (7/25/16)
  • Tacoma’s Nihonmachi Is In the Heart (9/2/16)
  • Handmade in Camp: A Museum Pays Tribute to Nikkei History in Auburn, Washington (10/6/16)
  • Uncovering a “Lost” Japanese American Village in Bainbridge Island, Washington: A Behind The Scenes Interview with Floyd Aranyosi (11/21/16)
  • The Work And the Way Forward: A Tapestry of Post-Election Results from Seattle-Area Nikkei (12/6/16)
  • Camp History Is Not Bound By Time: Allegiance, Fighting for America, The Betrayed (1/17)
  • The Story of One Tacoma Issei, Shuichi Fukui: Journalist, Historian, WWI Veteran (2/17)
  • What Remains: A Tour of Tacoma’s Japantown (3/21/17)
  • An Inclusive Legacy of Peace: The Nikkei History of Jean’s House of Prayer (4/24/17)
  • Following the Path, Listening for Footsteps: A Day Of Remembrance for Tacoma (5/17)
  • Camp Memorials, Silence, and Restlessness: A Dialogue With Brandon Shimoda (Part 1 and Part 2, 6/17 and 7/17)
  • A Chiura Obata Painting Comes “Home” to Topaz (8/16/17)
  • A Remarkable Nisei Love Story: Tacoma’s Kimi and George Tanbara (9/7/17)

• Eggplant Zucchini Okazu (Okazu Nimura-Style), (12/17/13)
• On Being Mixed: Snapshots from a Nikkei/Filipina Photo Album (translated into Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese) (10/28/13)
• The Retelling: Talking to the National Parks Service about Tule Lake (11/11/13)
• Of No-No Boy and No-No Boys: At the Seattle Japanese American National Museum Conference (9/12/13)
• For A Sister Getting Married: Sembazuru-1000 Cranes (6/28/13)
• Why Ichiro’s Departure Makes This Nikkei Girl Sad (7/24/12)

Seattlest.com (Ethnic food reviews, previews, Q&As, arts, and events)

• Taking Down-Dog To the Streets: Q&A With Stephanie Toby, Director of Operations at Seattle’s Street Yoga (12/20/11)
• The Politics of Adoption and Race: Seattlest Interviews Lisa Marie Rollins (11/11/11)
• Redistribution, Sherwood-Style: Robin Hood at Seattle Children’s Theater (10/27/11)
• ‘History Is A Story’: Seattlest Interviews Novelist Monique Truong (10/22/11)
• Seattlest Bites #4: Apricot Danish from Fuji Bakery (10/20/11)
• Acknowledging Chinese American History: Seattle’s Connections to Senate Resolution 201 (10/12/11)
• Top 10 Kid-Friendly Ways to Celebrate Fall in Seattle” (10/9/11)
• Q&A Preview of the Wing Luke’s Food Exhibit: “From Fields To Family: Asian Pacific Americans And Food” (10/6/11)
• “Latest Greatest Resale Shop Idea: Hosekibako (Jewel Box) in the ID” (9/28/11)
• ‘What About The Kids?'” Making Sandwiches During The Tacoma Teacher’s Strike (9/22/11)
• Seattlest Bites #3: Spicy Pork Torta at Marination Station (9/15/11)
• Nettletown Cafe Closin” (8/26/11)
• Seattlest Bites #2: Pampeana Empanadas (8/25/11)
• Seattlest Bites #1: Pupusas from Guanaco’s Pupuseria (8/19/11)
• The History of Teriyaki and Beyond: “Itadakimasu!” Exhibit at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center (8/12/11)
• A Few Ways to Celebrate Farmers Market Week (8/5/11)
• Desperately Seeking Singaporean Food in Seattle: Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s A Tiger In The Kitchen (And A Special Recipe) (6/29/11)
• Sunset Enters the SEA/PDX Food Fight (6/21/11)
• Maruta Shoten: Japanese American Grocery (and Picnic) Goodness (6/15/11)
• Q&As with Farmstead Meatsmith and Keren Brown (aka “Frantic Foodie”)

International Examiner (Asian American news, book reviews, profiles, and culture)

• Masahiro Sugano’s ‘Perpetual Irrelevance’ Shows The Off-Screen Labor Of A Meticulous Filmmaker (8/3/17)
• ‘Fred Korematsu Speaks Up’: A Gift For Young Readers and Young Activists (6/3/17)
• ‘Filled With Grace’ Opens with Vibrant Symposium (3/5/17) 
• Chris Higashi Reflects On A Life In Books, Her Next Chapter (12/26/16)
• Recent Picture Books Fit For The Young, or Young At Heart (12/24/16)
• ‘Community is Everything'” The CultureShock Collective Opens ‘High Blood’ Exhibit in Tacoma (11/28/16)
• ‘Sensei-Tional3″ Celebration Honors Retirement of Three Asian American Studies Professors (9/30/16)
• Against Forgetting Nagasaki and Nuclear War: An Interview with Susan Southard (8/4/16)
• Profile of artist June Sekiguchi (3/6/16))
• “How Does Anybody Become An Artist?”: An Interview with Allen Say (12/21/15) (Reprinted in Discover Nikkei)
• Little Kunoichi is kid-tested, kid-approved (12/17/15) (Reprinted in Discover Nikkei)
• “Paradox of Place” a beautifully curated exhibition (11/25/15)
• Muses Fashion Studio Matches Immigrants, Refugees with Opportunities (8/13/15)
• Better School Lunches, A Better World: UW Grad Student Christine Tran on School Nutrition (5/14/15)
• Roundup review of 4 Asian/Asian American children’s books (12/20/14)
• Profile of artist Fumiko Kimura (10/28/14)
• Infinity and Chashu Ramen: Nisei Actor Hiroshi Kashiwagi Roams The Streets of Japantown (9/5/14)
• Profile of artist Shin Yu Pai (8/2/14)
• Book review of On Such a Full Sea, by Chang-Rae Lee (1/12/14)
• Book review of The Valley of Amazement, by Amy Tan (9/21/13)
• Book review of The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng (8/7/13) (For Pacific Reader, IE’s Literary Supplement)
• Book review of The Mango Bride, by Marivi Soliven (8/7/13) (For Pacific Reader, IE’s Literary Supplement)
• Book review of Dear America: The Fences Between Us, by Kirby Larsen (6/20/12) (For Pacific Reader, IE’s Literary Supplement)
• Book review of Bitter In the Mouth, by Monique Truong (9/19/11)
• “Is the API Youth Movement We’ve Been Waiting For?” (9/7/11)
• Book review of Anshu (Dark Sorrow), by Juliet Kono (For Pacific Reader, IE’s Literary Supplement, 7/20/11)

Other Forums

• “Instructions To All Persons of Japanese Ancestry” (poem), Heron Tree, 12/11/16
• Tacoma Neighborhoods: Japantown (Nihonmachi), HistoryLink (10/16)
• Review of Kamome: A Japanese Tsunami Boat Returns Home (HYPHEN) (6/2/16)
• Review of Girl In Glass, HYPHEN magazine (2/9/16)
• The Tapestry of This Moment (On the Rago Arts Auction), Nichibei (6/11/15)
• A Smart Way To Boost Your Child’s Confidence, FamilyFun Magazine, April 2015
• Get On The Bus, ParentMap.com (8/18/14)
• I’ve been writing, reprinted on Avidly (4/25/13) (part of their series on the experience and labor of writing)
• As We Leave This Place” reprinted on LovedLettered (8/1/12)
• Storyteller in Drunken Telegraph: From Pine Plank to Living Tree (Tacoma, 6/5/12)
• Featured on KUOW (Seattle NPR affiliate), “Chicken Adobo Tastes Like Home” (original air date 9/24/11)
• Book review and profile, Shauna James Ahern (Arches Magazine, Autumn 2010)
• Finalist excerpt, SheWrites “Passion Project” nonfiction contest (2010)