Mary Sunada

jsunada

Mary has been married for 40 years to John Sunada and they have two sons, James and David. Mary is retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District after 36 years of teaching. She is a member of the Orange County Buddhist Church, the Japanese American National Museum, and the “Go for Broke” National Education Center. She enjoys volunteering for the Nikkei Socials, Long Beach Coin Club and the Cerritos Senior Center. Her interests are in fishing, dancing and traveling with family and friends.

Updated September 2020

identity en

Nikkei Chronicles #10—Nikkei Generations: Connecting Families & Communities

Our Old Family Albums

By Mary Sunada
9 Sep 2021

Since my mother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer dementia and her passing, I have been looking through some old family albums with pictures glued onto the pages or fitted inside photo corners. I was amazed to see so many baby photos of myself with Mom, Grandmother, and my cousins, but only a few of Dad. No one ever talked about Dad to me. He was just a ghost in my family album. My eyes happened to focus on a page without pictures, just four black photo corners and other pages with pictures of people that I did not recognize. I wanted to ask Mom questions about these photos but never did. I w…

sports en ja es pt

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

Fishing Four

By Mary Sunada
22 Sep 2020

My last fishing trip to the High Sierras was on Sunday, July 7, 2019. This was our annual family vacation away from our hectic life in the city. We would call ourselves the fishing four. My husband, John, started the fishing family tradition. He grew up fishing in Fresno. He never forgot the joy of fishing with his dad. Once his sons, James and David, were old enough to hold a fishing pole, he taught them how to fish the High Sierras. Now, it has become a Japanese tradition in our family. James and David were automatic members of the fishing four while I became an honorary one. John, James, …

community en

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

Kizuna 2020: My Birthday Wish

By Mary Sunada
23 Jul 2020

As I celebrated my 72nd birthday on January 1, 2020 with my family, we greeted each other with Shinnen Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu (Happy New Year) and toasted with sparkling apple cider. My family started the day with ozoni (soup with rice cake). Our dining table was full of osechi ryori (Japanese New Year’s Day food) inside two-tier lacquer boxes called jubako. All day long we ate our favorite Japanese foods. My husband would eat his inari sushi, futomaki sushi with renkon (lotus root), gobo (burdock root), and salmon. My oldest son loved sashimi with hot rice and satoimo (taro roo…

identity en

Nikkei Chronicles #8—Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

A Moment in Time

By Mary Sunada
13 Sep 2019

As I gazed upon my mom’s old wooden hand mirror, I found that time has not been kind to my face. There were noticeable lines across my forehead, wrinkles around the corners of my mouth and dark spots of old age. Whenever I held my dad’s old broken wrist watch against the windowpane, I noticed that time had stopped at 10:30 a.m. The face on the watch was made of glass which was dome shaped and tinted yellow with age. The numerals on its face were from 1-12, 13-24 by the hour and 5-60 by the seconds. No wrist watch band was found whatsoever. I had always wondered if Dad’s w…

identity en

Nikkei Chronicles #7—Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

A Promise

By Mary Sunada
23 Aug 2018

Almost 60 years ago, a promise was made by a girl who was ten years old. I was that little girl and remembered that day very clearly. My best friend, Leslie, came over to play and told me a secret. She said that the man I called “Pop” was not my biological father. I felt hurt and anger towards my mom because I heard it first from a friend. Now, I understood why I had emotions of not belonging, being unhappy, and always feeling lonely. I wanted to know why Mom did not talk about my father. Was he bad, did he hurt or abandon us? With these unanswered questions, I made a promise to…

Submit an article

Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Mary Sunada

Nikkei Chronicles #10—Nikkei Generations: Connecting Families & Communities

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

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

Nikkei Chronicles #8—Nikkei Heroes: Trailblazers, Role Models, and Inspirations

Nikkei Chronicles #7—Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

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

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

Tad Nakamura’s Art and Activism

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

The Child of a Thousand Generations

A 100 del Gran Terremoto de Kanto: Un ejemplo de la solidaridad de México y América Latina

Where Dreams Come True—The Works of Debbi Michiko Florence

Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 3

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #Over 25% Body Fat: "Super-Heavy..."

Home Leaver: A Japanese American Search for Belonging

Chapter 6—Three Nuns

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

Nikkei Chronicles #12

Growing Up Nikkei: Connecting with Our Heritage

Get updates

Support this project

A project of the

Major support by

Where Dreams Come True—The Works of Debbi Michiko Florence

Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 3

Journal Entry #Over 25% Body Fat: "Super-Heavy..."

Chapter 6—Three Nuns

The Life of an American Sign Language interpreter — Part 2

The Life of an American Sign Language interpreter — Part 1

An Unsent Letter to My Nisei Grandpa–Part 2 of 3

Losing a True and Trusted Friend

Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 2

Journal Entry #Around 80,000 Words: "Novel Novels..."

David Mura’s Work Continues to Push Readers to Question the World

In Their Own Voices: Understanding Heart Mountain through Oral Histories

The Readmission: Toyohiko Kagawa’s 1950 US Tour

Wisdom Grown Wild: A Conversation with Filmmaker Rea Tajiri — Part 3

Chapter 15 (Part 2) — Nisei’s Political Involvement in the Japanese American Citizens League

Journal Entry #5 Hail Marys and Isopropyl: "Bad Juju..."

Japanese Family Protocols

Chapter 5—Japan as Number One

Susan Miyagi McCormac Leads JapanCulture•NYC: Sharing Her Passion for Japanese Culture and Japanese Life in New York City

Tribute to Amy Uyemastu: After — Part 3

Exposing America’s “Secret Weapon” — Part 1

No More Euphemisms: My Mother Was a Hostage

Tribute to Amy Uyemastu: After — Part 4

Dr. Jiro Takai's Journey of Becoming From the Soo to Nagoya University — Part 1

A Dream Deferred, A Dream Fulfilled

Journal Entry #4 Body Types: "Poor, Poor Pitiful Ken..."

Chapter 15 (Part 1 ) — Nisei’s Political Involvement in the Japanese American Citizens League

Preserving Legacy and Artistry: A Behind-the-Scenes Look into the Henry Sugimoto Collection

Artist and Documentarian: The Life of Kango Takamura

Bridging the Past and Present: Preserving History Through the Tanaka Photo Studio Collection

Nikkei Incarceration

EO9066’s ‘Coerced Prison Work(ers)’

Journal Entry #6 More Noises: "Onomatopoeia Mania..."

An In-Depth Examination of the WRA’s Legal System

Stephen Nelson Makes History as New Dodgers Announcer

Journal Entry #24 Hours: "Some Days are Too Long..."

Frozen Hair, Work Stoppages, and Other Lesser-Known Stories from Heart Mountain - Part 2

A New Take on Madama Butterfly Updates Puccini’s Opera for Modern Times

WTF — Not the What, Why, or When, It’s the How

Darcy Tamayose on Exploring Hauntings by Ghosts, Grief, and Guilt

Wisdom Grown Wild: A Conversation with Filmmaker Rea Tajiri — Part 1

Rice, Race, and Growing up Hafu

Journal Entry #Lumenø: "The Stygian Box..."

Coming Home: My Family’s Journey to Ireichō