Alden M. Hayashi
@aldenmhayashiAlden M. Hayashi is a Sansei who was born and raised in Honolulu but now lives in Boston. After writing about science, technology, and business for more than thirty years, he has recently begun writing fiction and essays to preserve stories of the Nikkei experience. His first novel, Two Nails, One Love, was published by Black Rose Writing in 2021. His website: www.aldenmhayashi.com.
Updated May 2024
Stories from This Author
Sansei Fear of Failure
July 17, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Years ago, a management headhunter called me about a job opening at a small but prestigious journal. I was excited about the prospect of working for that organization until I heard the exact position: publisher. In my career as a writer and editor, the highest managerial job I had had was that of executive editor, which was two levels below that of publisher. (As executive editor, I reported to the editor-in-chief, who reported to the publisher.) I told the headhunter …
Finding the Right “Keiko” — Part 2
June 29, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Read Part 1 >> When I arrived at The Plaza, I found Aunt Emiko watching a game show on a large TV in the community room. I was relieved that she recognized me right off and seemed elated for the company. “Let’s go to my room,” she said, “we’ll have more privacy there.” In so many ways, Aunt Emiko seemed like her old self, my beloved aunt who had always made me feel like the most special person in the …
Finding the Right “Keiko” — Part 1
June 28, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Author’s note: After my mother had passed and my brothers and I were cleaning out her house, I was overcome with such intense grief—unrelenting waves upon waves of sadness compounded by a lacerating guilt for all the things I should have told her while she was still alive. To deal with those intense emotions, I’d often write in my journal, and those notes would later become the basis for this fictional short story, “Finding the Right ‘Keiko.’” * * * …
Life Lessons of Mottainai
April 21, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
Like many Sansei, I heard the admonishment “mottainai” countless times in my childhood. The Japanese word, which basically means, “too good to waste,” was the mantra of frugality in our household. Whenever I was about to throw something away that might potentially be of future use, my parents would scold, “Mottainai!” The word was always pronounced as a sharp rebuke with an exclamation point: “Don’t be wasteful!” So, gifts were unwrapped carefully so that the ribbon and paper could be …
When We Enable Racism
March 17, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
In my novel, Two Nails, One Love, the narrator—Ethan Taniguchi, a middle-aged Sansei man—remembers a distressing episode from his younger days. He was working at a restaurant in New York City, where his manager instructs him to always seat Asian customers at the undesirable tables near the restroom because they’ll be less likely to complain. As Ethan would later recall, “for months, I obeyed my manager’s ugly, repugnant orders and always seated Asians near the restroom, even if other tables …
The Search for Truth: Piercing Three Layers of Deception
Feb. 8, 2023 • Alden M. Hayashi
For years I have wanted to write about my family and ancestors to preserve stories of the struggles they faced as immigrants to the United States from Japan. But I kept putting it off, always assuming that there would be lots of time for that later in my life, especially after I had retired. Then, my father passed away in 2009, followed a few years later by my mother. Their deaths left me bereft, and as I struggled with grief …
Black Mermaids and Nikkei Superheroes
Nov. 3, 2022 • Alden M. Hayashi
The recent uproar over Halle Bailey, a Black actress, playing the Little Mermaid brought back a painful memory of mine from eight years ago. I was attending the annual Carnival parade in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and the theme that year was “Comic Book Capers.” So I decided to go as my favorite comic book superhero: Spider-Man. At the parade, I noticed this young boy who was also dressed as Spider-Man and, when he first saw me from across the street, I …
Sansei Natsukashii
July 19, 2022 • Alden M. Hayashi
During World War II, my Nisei mother and her family were sent from Honolulu to a concentration camp in Arkansas, and from there they were deported to Japan, where they lived in Iwakuni. In the first photo, taken in the late 1940s, my mom is on the very left, with a young girl in her lap, and you can see Iwakuni’s famous Kintaikyo in the distance. My mother had such a deep attachment to the centuries-old bridge, which stood gracefully …
Was It Racism?
Feb. 22, 2022 • Alden M. Hayashi
Last summer my brother was riding a public bus in Palo Alto, California, and, when the driver stopped to let him off, the rear exit door ended up situated right in front of a large tree. My brother, who was visiting from Hawaii, had to make a quick decision: should he shout to alert the driver, or just suck it up and cautiously slide his body around the obstruction. Not wanting to make waves, he opted for the latter. But …
Excerpt from Two Nails, One Love
Oct. 3, 2021 • Alden M. Hayashi
I’m not the type to wallow in a bad situation. I’m more apt to pack my things and move on. Much of this comes from my mother, who never looks backward and is as averse to self-pity as anyone I’ve ever known. Whenever she suffers a major setback or disappointment, she shakes her head, mutters “shikata ga nai”—a Japanese saying that roughly translates to, “it can’t be helped”—and then deals with the problem as best she can, or she pivots …
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