Matthew Sueda
Matthew Sueda is a fourth-generation Nikkei from Hawai‘i. He has worked in government and aviation, and is passionate about bridging research and industry praxis to promote social good. With a background in Japanese literature and cultural studies, he loves a good story, and enjoys writing about history, mobility, and the evolving relationship between digital technology and society.
Updated February 2025
Stories from This Author
Where Stories Meet: Amy “Emiko” Hever on Heritage, Community, and Social Impact—Part 1
Nov. 11, 2025 • Matthew Sueda
Discover Nikkei spoke with Amy “Emiko” Hever, Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Trust, about her roots, cross-cultural upbringing, and work in philanthropy and professional sports. From her family’s early ties to New York’s Japanese community and experiences during World War II to her own years growing up in New Jersey and Tokyo, Hever reflects on how migration and transnational ties have shaped her perspective. In this conversation, she traces the common threads of a career spanning the …
Honoring Minnie Negoro: A Conversation with Hana Maruyama on Representation, Public History, and the Politics of Memory—Part 2
June 24, 2025 • Matthew Sueda
Read Part 1 Matthew Sueda (MS): What are some of the ways that your personal background and experiences have influenced your work and your engagement with these topics? I know you mentioned you were working at Heart Mountain, and a bit about your family ties to that history. Hana Maruyama (HM): I’m a Yonsei on my father’s side. His grandfather’s family was at Gila River and his grandmother’s family was at Heart Mountain. I feel that as a Yonsei, you …
Honoring Minnie Negoro: A Conversation with Hana Maruyama on Representation, Public History, and the Politics of Memory—Part 1
June 23, 2025 • Matthew Sueda
Discover Nikkei spoke with Dr. Hana Maruyama, Assistant Professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut, about her co-curated exhibition Minnie Negoro: From Heart Mountain to UConn, currently on view at the William Benton Museum of Art. The exhibition celebrates ceramicist and educator Minnie Negoro (1919–1998), a former Heart Mountain incarceree and the university’s first ceramics professor. Marking the sixtieth anniversary of UConn’s ceramics program, the exhibition traces Negoro’s path from wartime incarceration to Alfred University, …
From Japan to the Great Smokies: The Remarkable Life of George Masa
Feb. 19, 2025 • Matthew Sueda
Working with archives stretching “from Tokyo to Tennessee,” authors Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel have crafted the first comprehensive biographical account of Japanese photographer and conservationist George Masa—an enigmatic figure whose private life and background were long shrouded in mystery until their painstaking investigative work brought his story to light. George Masa: A Life Reimagined beautifully explores the intimacies of identity, history, and migration in the making of a life, offering a nuanced portrait of a man who was at …
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