Kate Iio

kateiio

Kate Iio was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Her father was born in Japan, her mother was born in Taiwan, and has an older sister, and two dogs. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2019 and is currently teaching English in Japan through the JET Program.

Updated July 2019

media en

Power of Our Stories

Campu, the Podcast: Reanalyzing Japanese American Incarceration in the 21st Century, How is it relevant today?

By Kate Iio
22 Dec 2020

Introducing Campu: a podcast that offers a fresh, raw, and insightful scope into the diverse experiences of Japanese incarceree daily life during World War II. Campu analyzes the political, racial, social, psychological, physical, and systemic barriers that Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans endured during this event in history. The podcast also goes above and beyond by identifying and discussing how a collection of these events have created a long-lasting impact on our history today. By bringing together various unheard anecdotes, life events, and history, this podcast creates a uni…

sports en

Nikkei Chronicles #9—More Than a Game: Nikkei Sports

Making a Splash: Nikkei Role Models in Swimming

By Kate Iio
7 Jul 2020

I joined a swim team in Southern California when I was 8 years old and before I knew it, swimming became the biggest part of my identity. If I wasn’t at school, I was in the pool. My weekends were reserved for swim meets from the early mornings to evenings. My conversations were always swimming-related because my friends were mainly swimmers. I gained nicknames from my teammates, and even schoolmates, such as “the Olympic swimmer” and “Kato” (I am actually called Kato more often than my real name). While I excelled in both school and swimming, I always favored …

community en

Power of Our Stories

50 Objects, 50 Stories: The Untold Stories of Incarcerated Japanese Americans during WWII

By Kate Iio
30 Aug 2019

“50 Objects/50 Stories of the American Japanese Incarceration” is a project made up of 50 objects that each give a raw, true narrative of the exclusion and confinement of 120,000 American Japanese during World War II. Objects owned by families, museums, and educational institutions have been researched, reviewed, and compiled to create a well-rounded representation of individual experiences in the internment camps. Stories that have gone untold for years are now presented in various forms of media such as articles, videos, and audios. I interviewed Nancy Ukai, the Lead Project …

community en

“Chapters” by Trevor Allred: The Power of Storytelling

By Kate Iio
11 Apr 2019

Trevor Allred is a founding part of Heritage Future, a nonprofit organization dedicated to storytelling as a tool for community betterment, and a moderator on the Creative + Cultural podcast. In “Chapters,” a five-part podcast series dedicated to stories surrounding the exclusion, forced removal, and incarceration of Japanese Americans with a paralleled narrative thread through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), he interviewed the following historical and active figures in the community offering multiple backgrounds and perspectives to the issue. Mary Adams Ura…

culture en

Finding His Identity: Mark Nagata on Being a Sansei and Kaiju vs Heroes

By Kate Iio
3 Jan 2019

Currently featured at the Japanese American National Museum is Mark Nagata’s Kaiju vs Heroes exhibition. Mark Nagata is a third-generation, Japanese American artist who was inspired by the Japanese kaiju toys from his childhood to pursue a career in freelance illustration and eventually start his first toy company called Max Toy Company. His work has left a lasting imprint on the Japanese community, but also his own identity. As a Sansei, Mark’s upbringing deviated from traditional Japanese culture so he never really considered himself as Japanese. Growing up in the 1970s with hi…

Submit an article

Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Kate Iio

Power of Our Stories

Nikkei Chronicles #9—More Than a Game: Nikkei Sports

Power of Our Stories

Series this author contributes to

Nikkei Chronicles #5—Nikkei-go: The Language of Family, Community, and Culture

The Chuo Gakuen School: The Seeds of Prestige for the Japanese Community in Mexico

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

Nikkei Chronicles #3—Nikkei Names: Taro, John, Juan, João?

The Child of a Thousand Generations

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 1: A Tragic Tale

Uka Sake: Closing the Circle on a Trans-Pacific Rice-Growing Legacy

A Sansei Selective Service Story

日本時間 ～日本語ラジオ放送史～ 《ロサンゼルス編》

第10回 尾座本導のサンデー毎日放送とラジオ小東京

10th Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

The Last Days of The Dandy Lion

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #Size 42-44: "Casual Commentary..."

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

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiempos pandémicos: teletrabajo y koden digital

Kizuna 2020: Nikkei Kindness and Solidarity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 e os heróis anônimos

香川県海外移民の父：今雪真一の情熱と功績

第３部：金子正則知事の南米訪問とその主な見解

NIMA VOICES

We Need Your Help!

Help us expand translations on Discover Nikkei.

Get updates

Support this project

A project of the

Major support by

Uka Sake: Closing the Circle on a Trans-Pacific Rice-Growing Legacy

A Sansei Selective Service Story

The Last Days of The Dandy Lion

Journal Entry #Size 42-44: "Casual Commentary..."

Chapter 2—Role Reversal

Mom Was Young Once, Too!

Color

Experience Okinawa!

Big Band Music is My Jam

One Thousand Cranes

Journal Entry #Even Just 1 Would Help: "Save Us!..."

Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest – Voice Actor Mayumi Saco Reads Aloud a Winning Story

Another Willard Scott Moment

Bertram Akira Tsunematsu

Paul Takagi: A Centenary Remembrance

Journal Entry #7 Whackadoodles: "Snow's Posse..."

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

Life Lessons of Mottainai

Part 4: World War I - Japanese Loyalty to the US

Making History: Remembering Nikkei Legacy

Journal Entry #First Coined in '56: "We Need Asimov's 3 Laws..."

History Lessons with Professor Masumi Izumi — Part 1: Family Background

Want to make authentic Japanese food? Just One Cookbook's Nami Chen is here for you

I Am a Rainbow! - Part 2

Excerpt form Atomweight — Prologue

On “Authenticity” in Japanese food

An excerpt from Unforgotten Voices from Heart Mountain: As American As Apple Pie—Yellowstone - Part 2

Chapter 1—Passing Time

Sakura of Wahiawā

Surrender — Part 2

Journal Entry #Lesson 6,141: "I've Got a Million of These..."

History Lessons with Professor Masumi Izumi — Part 2: Japanese American vs Japanese Canadian Internment/Incarceration

Chef Akira Hirose Feeds a Community with Food Fit for an Emperor

80 Years of the 442nd

Surrender — Part 3

I Am a Rainbow! - Part 1

Interview with Emi Sasagawa, Author of Atomweight

Journal Entry #More than 100,000: "50-100 Fall Out Per Day..."

An excerpt from Unforgotten Voices from Heart Mountain: As American As Apple Pie—Yellowstone - Part 1

Chapter 12 (Part 2): Nisei Education in Japanese Schools

Part 5: New Japanese Women as Comrades — Fujinkai

The legacy of Toyo Takata, Who Captured the Voice of Japanese Canadians

Bay Area Woman Turns Love of Softball into Coaching Career

Navigating With(out) Instruments: traci kato-kiriyama’s art for love, hope, and healing

日本時間～日本語ラジオ放送史～《ロサンゼルス編》

第10回尾座本導のサンデー毎日放送とラジオ小東京