Amy Uyematsu

lasansei

Amy Uyematsu is a sansei poet and teacher from Los Angeles. She has six published collections, including her most recent, That Blue Trickster Time. Her first poetry collection, 30 Miles from J-Town, won the 1992 Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. Active in Asian American Studies when it first emerged in the late 60s, she was co-editor of the widely-used UCLA anthology, Roots: An Asian American Reader. Her essay, “The Emergence of Yellow Power in America” (1969), has appeared in numerous publications.

Amy was a poetry editor of Greenmakers: Japanese American Gardeners in Southern California (2000). In 2012 Amy was recognized by the Friends of the Little Tokyo Branch Library for her writing contributions to the Japanese American community. Amy taught high school math for LA Unified Schools for 32 years. She has also taught creative writing classes for the Little Tokyo Service Center.

Updated January 2023

culture en

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Stone Songs

By Amy Uyematsu, traci kato-kiriyama
19 Jan 2023

Happy New 2023, everyone! What better way to begin than with the beauty of poetry and prose from Amy Uyematsu and her most recent collection, That Blue Trickster Time (What Books Press). Here, we have three selections from a wise and fiery collection with a life force she breathes through her words of the inanimate, the historical, the body, the memory that sings, dances, and cries throughout—enjoy! —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * * Amy Uyematsu is a Sansei poet and teacher from Los Angeles. She has six published collections, including her most…

culture en

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Year-ending

By Amy Uyematsu, Tamiko Nimura, traci kato-kiriyama
18 Mar 2021

As we survey the past year of lockdowns and quarantines that started here in the States by mid-March, 2020, we take stock of a wide spectrum of revelations and experiences over the last twelve months. From new personal practices and experiments in the arena of safer-at-home, to illness and loss, further exposure of inequities and suffering, uprising and reckoning, community unlearning and building—we share the works of two artists who give us a glimmer of their lives through poetics about this last year, oriented to the pandemic. Veteran author Amy Uyematsu returns to the column with ju…

culture en

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Inspiration

By Amy Uyematsu, G Yamazawa, traci kato-kiriyama
20 Aug 2020

Hello Discover Nikkei network! I am beyond thrilled this month to bring this pair of poets to the Nikkei Uncovered poetry column. LA-born and raised, veteran Sansei poet and our inaugural feature for the column back in 2016, Amy Uyematsu returns to us with a beautiful piece about Tanko Bushi (that had me yearning ever more for Obon this summer). And first time with this column, we have National spoken world champ and hip hop artist, G Yamazawa out of Durham, North Carolina with one of my favorite pieces that I hope you all will have the pleasure of someday experiencing through his live perfor…

war en

My E.O. 9066 Stories: Frank Kikuchi, Manzanar DJ

By Amy Uyematsu
13 Mar 2020

On April 12, 2017, I interviewed Frank Kikuchi, a local Nisei who currently lives at Hollenbeck-Palms Retirement Community. Frank, now 93 years young, was a disc jockey at Manzanar, where he was confined from 1942 through 1945. Frank and Archie Miyatake were good friends and became a DJ team. These are excerpts from a longer interview. * * * * * Amy (A): How old were you when you went to camp? Frank (F): I was 17. A: When did you begin doing your DJ work at Manzanar? F: About a year after I got into camp, and I got to be friends with Archie Miyatake. A: What kind of music did you …

culture en

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Location

By Amy Uyematsu, Hiroshi Kashiwagi, traci kato-kiriyama
15 Dec 2016

For the column’s inaugural post, we wanted to begin with the theme of place, location, and community and to highlight two veteran poets—Hiroshi Kashiwagi, Nisei poet based in San Francisco since 1962, and Amy Uyematsu, Sansei poet and native Angeleno. We are excited to begin with two writers who dedicate much of their creative focus and livelihood to poetry and who have had an influence on so many. Cheers to what their poetry uncovers… —traci kato-kiriyama * * * * * Born in Sacramento in 1922, writer and actor Hiroshi Kashiwagi was incarcerated at Tule Lake Segre…

Submit an article

Discover Nikkei

Japanese migrants and their descendants

Amy Uyematsu

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Series this author contributes to

Narumi Ogusuku—Ubiquitous Nikkei Artist

Two Worlds: The Life and Photography of Wakaji Matsumoto

Part 1—Wakaji’s Beginnings

The Power of Irei

Digging up Ways to Honor Her Ancestors—Kyoko Oda and Ireichō

Niki Nakayama: How a JA Angeleno Conquered the Rarefied World of Japanese Kaiseki Cuisine

My Name is Neal

Journal Entry #10, 18, and 1958 are Good: "Best Numbers..."

アメリカの日本語媒体

第12回 全米に行き渡るインターネットラジオ『さくらRADIO』

Book review: Beyond the Betrayal, The Memoir of a World War II Japanese American Draft Resister of Conscience

Of Inomatas and Kingis: The Story of a Remarkable Family

Child Labor and Generational Business

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

Get updates

Support this project

A project of the

Major support by

Journal Entry #10, 18, and 1958 are Good: "Best Numbers..."

Book review: Beyond the Betrayal, The Memoir of a World War II Japanese American Draft Resister of Conscience

Of Inomatas and Kingis: The Story of a Remarkable Family

Child Labor and Generational Business

Living, Dying and Passing It On — Alan Nishio Family at Ireichō

Part 1: Yone Hara

Journal Entry #Per 24 Hour Cycle: "Internet Inaction..."

A Vision Takes Root: The Legacy of Judy Nishimoto Ota and the San Pedro Firm Building

Aloha, France — Part 2

Aloha, France — Part 1

Finding Forgiveness: Director Stafford Arima on Bringing the Award-Winning Memoir to the Stage

When We Enable Racism

Postwar Japanese Emigration to the Dominican Republic — Part 2: The Japanese American Response

In Remembrance of the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami: An Interview with The Hidden Japan’s Derek Yamashita—Part 1

Seiichi Higashide — A Man With Three Homelands

Futon, Shoyu, and More: Japanese Words Incorporated into the Vocabulary of Brazil

Remembering Them—Tsuchiya Family Honors Elders Through Ireichō

Yoshie Fujiwara and Japanese Americans I: A Night at the Opera

Setsuko Moriya — Part 3

Redress: A film about the Office of Redress Administration

Journal Entry #2/14/23: "The Most Dangerous Day..."

Manzanar, Diverted: An Appreciation

Ancestry and Toxicity: Breaking Free From Old Patterns and Toxic Relationships

Surrender

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

Barbed Wire, Guard Tower, Tar Paper Barracks, Roll Call

Dutch Leonard - The Ballplayer who challenged Fresno's racism

Toronto Japanese Canadian Duo Releases Groundbreaking EP

Yasuko Aratani—She Never Stopped Dreaming

Tokita Tales—Only in America

Journal Entry #My Top 6: "Holy Crappy Cartoon, Batman!"

Being Blasian

Bill Mauldin – An Artist with a Cause

70th Anniversary of Fukuoka Kenjinkai Mexico

A Letter to My Community Urging Protection of Minidoka

Thomas Takashi Nakahara

In Remembrance of the Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami: An Interview with The Hidden Japan’s Derek Yamashita—Part 2

Tea with my Ancestors

Lessons Realized

American Dream

Journal Entry #Only 2 Choices: "Do or Not Do..."

Our Man on the Hill: Sidney Yates — Part 2

OBITUARY - Juan Pollo Restaurant Founder Albert Okura, 71

Ask a Historian: How Did Alaska Natives Wind Up Inside Japanese American Concentration Camps?

Celebrating a Century: Nisei War Veteran and Esteemed Journalist Frank Moritsugu Turns 100

Journal Entry #At Least 4500 Years Old: "Infinite Bands..."

第12回全米に行き渡るインターネットラジオ『さくらRADIO』