Author: Naomi Hirahara

In my mid-50s, I’m having the most fun that I’ve ever had with clothing. This is most unexpected as I thought by age 40, I would be wearing puffy sweatshirts with goofy illustrations. But as the marketplace has become more global, I don’t have to always leave my house...

(August 2018) WRITING WEDNESDAY: I had one essential story that I wanted to tell before I died–how the atomic bomb touched people like my Japanese American family. Through my Mas Arai mystery series, I feel that I completed this mission. So now what? Through nonfiction and journalism pieces, I’ve...

A stranger said we looked like twins. What do you think?...

(May 2017) WRITING WEDNESDAY: Writing as a long fulltime profession is exhausting. Mentally as well as physically. The latter may come as a surprise, because aren’t we just sitting in a chair typing? But the thing is, when you write you have to be 100% engaged in your work....

A favorite photo: Tulo waits at the top of the stairs by my husband’s custom-made bookcases....

Continuing with the streets of Little Tokyo from the Rafu Year Book, 1939-40. From right to left, Far East Cafe (Chop Suey), 347 E. First Street; Taiyo Drugs, 343 E. First Street; The Tanaka Co., 339 E. First Street; Kimura Brothers, 337 E. First Street; and Izuo Studio, 335...

I was a guest of honor with William Kent Krueger at Left Coast Crime Reno! Left Coast Crime is an annual mystery convention held on the westside of the United States. My Prospect Park Books publisher, Colleen Dunn Bates, hosted a bowling party in my honor. Thank you, everyone!...

SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN won an award in April 2007!...