Tamiko Nimura
@tnimuraTamiko Nimura is an Asian American writer living in Tacoma, Washington. Her training in literature and American ethnic studies (MA, PhD, University of Washington) prepared her to research, document, and tell the stories of people of color. She has been writing for Discover Nikkei since 2008.
Tamiko just published her first book, Rosa Franklin: A Life in Health Care, Public Service, and Social Justice (Washington State Legislature Oral History Program, 2020). Her second book is a co-written graphic novel, titled We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration (Chin Music Press/Wing Luke Asian Museum). She is working on a memoir called PILGRIMAGE.
Updated November 2020
Stories from This Author
A Partial and Personal Timeline of Asian American Men on Stage and Screen
May 9, 2023 • Tamiko Nimura
Teahouse of the August Moon (1979) I’m dressed in a long dyed-purple tunic that comes down to my knees, with a wide white sailor collar. I am in third grade in Roseville, California. My dad Taku has refused to let the costuming department dye my hair. My hair is still auburn, though I’m supposed to be an Okinawan child in the late 1940s. Together my dad and I are in a college production of Teahouse of the August Moon at …
Barbed Wire, Guard Tower, Tar Paper Barracks, Roll Call
March 9, 2023 • Tamiko Nimura
The Tule Lake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum is miles from the Tule Lake camp site. It’s a small one-story building that feels almost like a portable classroom. When I walk in there’s a tall counter on the left, a wall of leaning shelves on the right with a few books, and, just past the shelves, a display about the camp. It’s a modest room with utility carpet and fluorescent lights overhead. Like other descendants that are here on the pilgrimage with …
Manzanar, Diverted: An Appreciation
Feb. 7, 2023 • Tamiko Nimura
Manzanar, Diverted trailer Dear Ann, What a road you’ve traveled since I saw an earlier version of Manzanar, Diverted in our Tacoma basement years ago, pre-pandemic! I’m so thrilled to see that the film is traveling widely at festivals, received a national PBS airing. And I’m inspired by the fact that your team is still working with communities around the country to raise awareness of this intersectional history of Indigenous peoples, Japanese Americans, rancher families, environmental justice activists, and water …
Love and Reckoning: A Meditation On Family Photos
Dec. 6, 2022 • Tamiko Nimura
In my childhood home in Roseville, California, we had a room we called “the den.” It was not the formal living room, where we had two couches, a fireplace, and a glass-topped coffee table. “The den” was a place for watching TV and listening to records from my dad’s impressive record collection; he’d had a tansu built specifically for that collection, with record-size compartments painted black inside and room for speakers at each end. Every day, I would pass by …
Writing on the Wall—Text for Resisters: A Legacy of Movement from the Japanese American Incarceration
Nov. 8, 2022 • Tamiko Nimura
It was a warm summer day in August 2022, but I could feel my feet and hands growing colder, a scratch in my throat developing. I was sitting at my youngest daughter’s desk while she was trying to sleep. My husband and oldest daughter had contracted COVID-19 and were isolating in our basement. Some sunlight was reaching into my daughter’s bedroom over my left shoulder while I sat at her white laminate IKEA desk. I could feel myself almost getting …
Sansei Granddaughters’ Journey Exhibit at Tanforan Detention Center Site
Aug. 4, 2022 • Tamiko Nimura
In 2018, five Sansei women artists traveled to Manzanar’s annual pilgrimage in order to honor their family histories of wartime incarceration. Each of them had worked with this history in some form in their wide-ranging art careers, but this journey was special. In order to chronicle their experiences, they created a documentary, Sansei Granddaughters’ Journey. Now the five artists (Ellen Bepp, Shari Arai DeBoer, Reiko Fujii, Kathy Fujii-Oka, and NaOmi Judy Shintani) are bringing their art, their documentary, and their expertise …
Karen Maeda Allman's Life in Punk Rock - Part 3
May 29, 2022 • Tamiko Nimura
Read Part 2 >> LIFE AFTER PUNK ROCK Tamiko Nimura (TN): So well this is a good chance, I think, to ask about the groups that have come along later like Sleater-Kinney, like Bikini Kill, like the Linda Lindas….I just wanted to know your take on them and just hear how you must feel to see them on the rise. Karen Maeda Allman (KMA): I thought it was really exciting and anyway I guess I should've known it's inevitable…But I guess …
Karen Maeda Allman's Life in Punk Rock - Part 2
May 22, 2022 • Tamiko Nimura
Read Part 1 >> LIFE IN PUNK Tamiko Nimura (TN): It's so fantastic to hear about this I just remember reading [and] doing a little bit of googling on you and of course you know all your bookselling stuff comes up, but it was like yeah there is this picture of you and your “armor” at the Smithsonian, and I thought, “wait a second.” Can you tell me about this, about your armor, and what it was like to put it …
Karen Maeda Allman's Life in Punk Rock - Part 1
May 15, 2022 • Tamiko Nimura
In the literary world, bookseller Karen Maeda Allman is widely known and respected for the bestselling authors she has brought to the Seattle area, for her advocacy for BIPOC authors, as well as for the literary prizes she has judged. I have known Karen personally for a few years now, and always felt comfortable in her calm and assertive presence. Imagine my delight when I recently found out that Karen had a previous life as the lead singer and lyricist …
“A Deep Collective Feeling”: Emily Akpan, Black-Nikkei Activist Hero
March 29, 2022 • Tamiko Nimura
Emily Akpan is a Black-Nikkei activist living in Brooklyn, New York. She has been active in many social justice struggles, including Tsuru for Solidarity and New York Day of Remembrance. In March 2022, she was kind enough to take time to answer some questions for Discover Nikkei’s Inspire Forward: Nikkei Heroes Under 30 series. Her story is inspiring and provides insights and help for aspiring activists. * * * * * Tamiko Nimura (TN): Congratulations on being selected as a “Nikkei …
