Naomi Hirahara and Kerry Yo Nakagawa held a joint book-signing at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Little Tokyo on Aug. 9 during Nisei Week. Hirahara, author of the Mas Arai mystery series, has just released “Murder on Bamboo Lane,” the first book in the new Officer Ellie Rush series, featuring a 23-year-old Hapa bicycle cop for the LAPD. Nakagawa, founder of the Nisei Baseball Research Project, is the author of “Japanese American Baseball in California: A History” and associate producer and cast member of the 2007 movie “American Pastime.”
Hirahara is pictured with Barry Lancet, author of the thrillers “Japantown” and the forthcoming “Tokyo Kill.” Both books feature Jim Brodie, a bicoastal (San Francisco/Tokyo) antique dealer and private investigator who is fluent in Japanese.
Nakagawa chats with former baseball star Masao Iriyama, who was born to Issei parents in the U.S., raised in Japan, and returned to the U.S. just before the outbreak of World War II. He and his brother Noboru were baseball legends in the Guadalupe region. While interned at Tule Lake, Masao played on the team that won the camp championship; Noboru served in the Japanese military and was killed in action. After the war, Masao played with the Nisei All-Stars in L.A.
Photos by J.K. YAMAMOTO/Rafu Shimpo