“Kiss of Kitty,” first published in Asian American Literary Review, vol. 7, no. 1, spring 2016.
Indian Summer,” first published in Boom California, Jason Sexton, editor. University of California Press, May 2, 2017.
“Colono:Scopy,” first published in DSM: Asian American Edition; Open in Emergency: A Special Issue on Asian American Mental Health, vol. 7, no. 2. Asian American Literary Review, Inc., fall/winter 2016.
““KonMarimasu,” first published in the Margins, Asian American Writers Workshop, September 2017.
“Shikataganai & Mottainai,” first published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine, Ken Weisner, editor. Cupertino, California: De Anza College, 2018.
“Omaki-san,” first published in Freeman’s, John Freeman, editor, 2019.
Acknowledgments
Many years ago, while in Brazil researching the history of Japanese Brazilians, I sent a short story to Dick Osumi, then editor of Amerasia Journal at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. I believe I even sent it with a long letter that explained the story. Unknown to me, Dick entered it in the first short story contest sponsored by Amerasia. One day in São Paulo, I received a letter saying that I had won their contest. Surprise. That was “The Bath,” the first story I had ever written. That award was a small blessing. With the prize money, I was able to travel to the north of Brazil, but the award itself was a confirmation that maybe I could write. Looking at that story and its newbie writer flaws today, I wonder. After that, I wrote short fiction only sporadically, thinking that it’s really not my forte. I enjoy the long distance of the novel. After a while, short pieces accumulated, and so here they are, these selected about growing up and living in Japanese America.
The first person I thank is the late Dick Osumi, whose support initiated me into a writer’s life. And I thank the many editors of anthologies and small journals who over the years have published my stories, in particular to this collection: Lawrence-Minh Davis, John Freeman, Jim Hicks, Ryuta Imafuku, Rie Makino, Kat Sayarath, Jason Sexton, Kazuko Takemura, and Ken Weisner.
For the “Sansei” side of the book, thanks to those who, long ago, shared ideas, stories, and histories that contributed to the writing of this collection: Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns, Marsha Furutani, Ryuta Imafuku, Earl Jackson, and Lucio Kubo. Thanks to Lucy Asako Boltz for research support and for coming along on that incarceration road trip. Thanks also to Frank Gravier at the University of California, Santa Cruz, McHenry Library Special Collections; and Paul Shea of the Yellowstone Gateway Museum in Livingston, Montana. Thank you Naomi Hirahara for helping me to create the J.A. timeline for these narratives. And thank you with apologies, friends and family, for my appropriation of your sansei recipes.
On the “Sensibility” side, thank you to Keijiro Suga for the Japanese translation of letters in the story “Omaki-san” and to Ikue Kina with whom I conferred in the editing of various Japanese phrases in the texts. To early readers of the Jane Austen–inspired stories: Ruth Hsu, Micah Perks, and Elisabeth Sheffield, a big thank you for your kind support.
As always, I am indebted to Chris Fischbach and the dedicated staff at Coffee House Press with special thanks to: Anitra Budd, Nica Carrillo, and Carla Valadez.
Finally, as must be obvious by now, this book is because of my only sister, Jane Tomi, to whom I apologize for my nonsense and thank for her always-generous support and astute sensibility.
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Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of eight books, including I Hotel—finalist for the National Book Award—and most recently, Letters to Memory, all published by Coffee House Press. She is a recipient of the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature and a U.S. Artists’ Ford Foundation Fellowship, and she is professor emerita of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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