Chiana Fujiwara is a fifth generation Japanese American, fifth generation Mexican American, and second generation Chinese American college student from southern California majoring in Psychology. Having strong connections to Japanese American Internment during World War II, she has since developed a passion for further researching the stories of her family as well as the general period and its impacts at large. Other hobbies include ancient Chinese poetry and everything that has to do with history.

Updated October 2023

After graduating from International Christian University, Keiko Fukuda worked at a publishing company for an information magazine in Tokyo and moved to the U.S. in 1992. She served as Editor-in-Chief of a Japanese information magazine in Los Angeles until 2003 and transitioned to freelance work that same year. She conducted interviews with various people and reported on topics such as education in the U.S. and Japanese food culture. In 2024, she relocated her base to her hometown of Oita and has continued her reporting and writing online. Website: https://angeleno.net　

Updated October 2024

Javier García Wong-Kit is a journalist, professor, and director of Otros Tiempos magazine. Author of Tentaciones narrativas (Redactum, 2014) and De mis cuarenta (ebook, 2021), he writes for Kaikan, the magazine of the Japanese Peruvian Association.

Updated April 2022

Enrique Higa is a Sansei (third-generation or grandchild of Japanese immigrants) from Peru. He is a journalist and Lima correspondent for International Press, a Spanish-language weekly paper published in Japan. He is also a co-editor and writer for Kaikan magazine, published by the Japanese-Peruvian Association.

Updated July 2024

Kyra Karatsu was born and raised in Santa Clarita, CA. She is currently a first-year Journalism student at College of the Canyons in Valencia, CA and hopes to transfer to a university after the completion of her AA degree. Kyra is a Japanese-German Yonsei and enjoys reading and writing about the Asian American experience.

Updated January 2021

Chris Komai is a freelance writer, who has been involved in Little Tokyo for more than four decades. He was the Public Information Officer of the Japanese American National Museum for over 21 years, where he handled public relations for the organization’s special events, exhibitions and public programs. Prior to that, Komai worked for the Japanese-English newspaper, The Rafu Shimpo, for 18 years as a sports writer, sports editor, and English editor. He still contributes articles to the newspaper and writes for Discover Nikkei on a variety of topics.

Komai was Past Board Chair for the Little Tokyo Community Council and is currently First Vice Chair. He also serves on the Little Tokyo Public Safety Association board. He has been a member of the Southern California Nisei Athletic Union Board of Directors for basketball and baseball for almost 40 years and sits on the Board of the Nikkei Basketball Heritage Association. Komai earned a B.A. degree in English from the University of California at Riverside.

Updated December 2019

Yuki Nakandakari is a Peruvian chef who has directed the restaurants “Chalaco's” in Philadelphia, “Pisco” in Baltimore, “Ocopa” in Washington DC and the “Lima's Chicken” chain, among others. He is currently promoting the first Cevicheria Pop-Up concept in the USA with “Ceviche Brothers”. Host of the first Peruvian Talk-Show in the US “Loreando Entre Causas”. Contributor to influential radio stations, magazines and newspapers in the United States, as well as winner of various recognitions for his professional career. He has participated in gastronomic fairs such as “Perú Fusión” NJ and “Perú to the World Expo” NY, where he was distinguished on the list of “Top Peruvian Chef in the USA 2021” and the TV program Sabor & Fusión by SurPeru. Member of the 2022 Board of Directors of the Peruvian American Chefs Association PACH.A. and Culinary Director of Top Peruvian Chef. The prestigious international gastronomic guide Michelin included it in its 2017 Washington DC edition.

Last updated September 2022

Meiry Mayumi Onohara received a degree in Letters and Accounting from the Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil, and she is currently a Master’s student in Accounting at the same university. She is a Nisei on her father’s side and a Sansei on her mother’s side. Her father is from Saga-ken and her mother’s family came from Kobe. She used to be a Portuguese language teacher, but today she manages the family business.



Updated May 2022

Roberto Oshiro Teruya is a 53-year-old Peruvian of the third generation (Sansei); his parents, Seijo Oshiro and Shizue Teruya, both came from Okinawa (Tomigusuku and Yonabaru, respectively). He lives in Lima, the capital of Peru, where he works in the retail clothing business in the city's downtown. He is married to Jenny Nakasone and they have two children Mayumi (23) and Akio (14). He has a deep interest in continuing to preserve the customs inculcated by his grandparents, including cuisine and the butsudan, and hopes his children will do the same.

Updated June 2017

David Sato is a Sansei born and raised in Southern California. His father was a General Practitioner in Little Tokyo. His mother was raised in Hawaii and married his father just prior to being shipped to the camps in 1942. Sato felt fortunate in his opportunity to become a cardiologist in Burbank, where he practiced for 36 years. He now runs a Multi-specialty Medical Group for Providence Health and Services.

Updated August 2022

Mya Sánchez Penedo is a Peruvian communicator with a major in journalism. In 2022, it obtained second place in the Reduction of Inequalities category of the first Responsible Journalism Contest. She has worked as a gender journalist in the independent media La Antígona. Currently, he is a Press Assistant at the Peruvian-Japanese Association.

Marsha Takeda-Morrison is a writer and art director living in Los Angeles who drinks way too much coffee. Her writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Parents, Genlux, Niche, Mom.com, and other lifestyle, education, and parenting publications. She also covers pop culture and has interviewed the likes of Paris Hilton, Jessica Alba, and Kim Kardashian. While she spends a lot of time in Hollywood she has never had plastic surgery, given birth to an actor’s child, or been on a reality show. Yet.

Updated May 2023

Chuck Tasaka was born in Midway, B.C., but he spent most of his life growing up in Greenwood, B.C., the first Japanese Canadian Internment site. Grandfather Isaburo lived in Sashima, Ehime-ken, immigrated to Portland, Oregon in 1893, then to Steveston and came with his wife Yorie to settle on Salt Spring Island in 1905.  They decided to return to Sashima permanently in 1935. Chuck’s father Arizo was born on Salt Spring Island but lived in Sashima during his youth. His mother was born in Nanaimo, B.C., but was raised in Mio-mura, Wakayama-ken. Chuck attended University of B.C. and became an elementary teacher on Vancouver Island. After retiring in 2002, Chuck has spent most of his time researching Japanese Canadian history and he is presently working on the Nikkei Legacy Park project in Greenwood.

Updated September 2024

Cody Uyeda is a fourth generation Japanese American living in Southern California. He has a BA and JD from USC and an Ed.M from HGSE, and currently works in educational research and the Asian American nonprofit space.

Updated July 2022

Arturo Wakabayashi is a civil engineer. He is a third generation Nikkei, born in Lima. Paternal grandparents are immigrants from Shigaken , and maternal grandparents are immigrants from Yamagataken.

Last updated September 2022