Naomi Hirahara
@gasagasagirlNaomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries, which have been published in Japanese, Korean and French, feature a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. Her first historical mystery, Clark and Division, which won a Mary Higgins Clark Award, follows a Japanese American family’s move to Chicago in 1944 after being released from a California wartime detention center. A former journalist with The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, Naomi has also written numerous non-fiction history books, including the award-winning Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America's Edge (co-written with Geraldine Knatz) and curated exhibitions. She has also written a middle-grade novel, 1001 Cranes. Her follow-up to Clark and Division, Evergreen, was released in August 2023 and was on the USA Today bestseller list for two weeks.
Updated October 2024
Stories from This Author
Fighting for My Kanji
Nov. 19, 2024 • Naomi Hirahara
Under much protest I attended Japanese-language school every Saturday starting from the time I was about six years of age to my high school years in Los Angeles County. I’m part of Barack Obama’s largely unknown Jones generation, which bridges baby boomers and Generation X. I went to school with an unsightly head gear (what torture!) with clothing sewed by my mother from Simplicity patterns. It was a time in which made in Japan meant cheap transistor radios. It was …
A Vision Takes Root: The Legacy of Judy Nishimoto Ota and the San Pedro Firm Building
March 24, 2023 • Naomi Hirahara
I experienced an early defining moment when I was a young twenty something reporter at The Rafu Shimpo in 1986. Before that, I had lived a relatively sheltered life, graduating from South Pasadena High School and then going on to Stanford University in pristine Palo Alto. A nine-month stint in Tokyo followed in trendy neighborhoods of Kichijoji and Musashisakai. But now I was going to work six days a week in the middle of Downtown Los Angeles, Little Tokyo, adjacent …
Chapter Twelve—The Reveal
Nov. 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
I was familiar with the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. It was where my ex, Stewart, taught some art classes in a conference room which overlooked a courtyard and a Chinese garden. I was amazed when Stewart first took me there. In the middle of a large boulevard in Pasadena was a re-creation of a Chinese imperial palace. What was it doing here, of all places? I learned that it had been commissioned in the 1920s by an antiques dealer, …
Chapter Eleven—Sparkling Sea
Oct. 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
I stood in front of the open storage unit, my hands on my hips. I felt like I was an Olympic athlete who had accomplished a marathon or swim relay race. All I had done was clear out a full container at EZ Storage. Well, almost cleared it out. There was still one bag in the corner. Sycamore, my daughter, was at my side, as she had been through this whole project. Today was Saturday, one day before the last …
Chapter Ten—Smell the Roses
Sept. 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
I found the e-mail for my client, Ryan Stone, and began typing him a message. Dear Mr. Stone: I know that I’m two days away from my deadline to clear out your storage unit. I’m close to finishing but I regret that I’ll have to drop the project. You can imagine that attempting a project of this size during a pandemic is quite a challenge. I’m discovering that it has been a strain on me and my daughter. I know …
Chapter Nine—Hurricane Popcorn Days
Aug. 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
“Mom, we need to make some hurricane popcorn.” My daughter Sycamore and I had designated Thursday our movie night. We watched animation, most recently old episodes of Dragon Ball, the Japanese version from my childhood when I was Sycamore’s age. I was amazed how all these streaming channels could resurrect old shows from the past. It was strange to see the episodes again as a mother. The protagonist, the monkey-tailed Goku, seemed too naughty at times. What was I teaching …
Chapter Eight—Zip A Dee Doo Dah
July 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
I couldn’t believe it, but we could now see the back of the storage unit. Well, at least one corner. We had only five days to go before I had to completely empty it out. Next was a black box. My daughter Sycamore and I had come prepared with a box cutter and I carefully guided the blade along the center seam. We flipped open the flaps. Bubble wrap. A lot of it. Whatever was inside must be fragile. Sycamore …
Chapter Seven—No-knead Bread
June 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
“Do you think this Ryan Stone is a real person?” my daughter Sycamore asked me as we took a break from her Zoom class to make some no-knead bread. This was our fourth attempt at baking bread during the pandemic. So far our previous baking adventures were failures. I miscalculated the yeast for Indian naan and ended up with enough for a second plain loaf of bread. (I gave my naan a C+ and the bread a D.) Our milk …
Chapter Six—Mikasa Man
May 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
My ten-year-old daughter, Sycamore, had officially become my wing woman. Or should I say wing girl. She was definitely my top—and well, only—assistant in terms of my cleaning business, Souji RS. Every day after her Zoom classes she was ready to go to my client’s storage unit in Pasadena to see what “treasures” we could unwrap and dispose of. I had only six more days to complete my task and the container was still about halfway full. The next set …
Chapter Five—Smell of Water
April 4, 2021 • Naomi Hirahara
I only had seven days to get rid of everything in my client’s storage locker. So far, I had disposed of—no, preserved—some historic family photographs from World War II as well as given away vintage car parts to life-long friends who like to restore old vehicles. Next were dark green trash bags filled with I don’t know what. Sycamore was out of Zoom school early and accompanied me to the locker. She had already grown so much that spring of …
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