Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column
Dancing in the Clouds

As a writer, Shō Tanaka's creative practice is grounded in a diasporic shimanchu (islander) consciousness. He is committed to cultivating space to tell difficult and complicated stories in hopes of dismantling the separation and stagnation that inform the world he was born into. His grandmother’s family(⼭城)immigrated to the Los Angeles area from Taminato, a village in the Yanbaru rainforest in northern Okinawa. His grandfather’s family(⽥中)emigrated from Buzen Shoe, Fukuoka to Lingít Aaní settling in Juneau, Alaska. Currently Shō resides on Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ Territory (Victoria, British Columbia).
Updated May 2021