Letters to Home: Art and Writings by LGBTQ+ Nikkei Allies (2024—Okaeri, edited by Michael Matsuno, Cody Uyeda, and Rino Kodama) is a groundbreaking collection that redefines seemingly commonsensical notions of belonging, community, and identity within ethnic-specific communities and mainstream LGBTQ+ spaces. Most of the 42 contributors of this collection are Nikkei, an umbrella term referencing persons of Japanese descent from across the world, both in and out of Japan, and the majority also identify as LGBTQ+. A smaller subset of the contributors are allies of the Queer Nikkei community, including family members and friends.
With a dynamic origin story, Okaeri (https://www.okaeri.org/) has evolved over the past decade. Today, it serves as a community organization based in Los Angeles with a mission “To create visibility, compassionate spaces, and transformation for LGBTQ+ Nikkei and their families by sharing our stories and providing culturally-rooted support, education, community-building, and advocacy.”
A typical exchange in Japanese households when someone returns home, Okaeri, shortened for the more formal Okaerinasai, loosely translates into English as a warm greeting of “welcome back” or “welcome home.” While the metaphor of “home” is often attributed to positive memories in America’s dominant imaginary, it likely has traumatizing connotations for those Nikkei in North America whose families were forcibly removed from their homes and detained in government-sponsored concentration camps during World War II. The symbolic imagery of “home” may also trigger negative emotions among many LGBTQ+ individuals, especially those whose families/guardians and relatives harbored explicitly or implicitly heteronormative, heterosexist, homophobic, and/or transphobic attitudes that created lasting harm well beyond their childhood years. Thus, re/defining the metaphors of “community” and “home” are especially significant for Queer Nikkei as expressed throughout this collection because they likely have confronted distinct types of discrimination from both their families (in terms of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment) and the mainstream White-dominated LGBTQ+ community (in terms of racial exclusion and stereotyping).
Letters was collaboratively created through a volunteer-run Okaeri committee whose members ultimately “produced a dialogue informed by many perspectives and opinions, as well as occasional disagreements” (p. 17). The final collection comprises of six sections organized thematically. Each section is divided by a colorful multimedia print portraying an eclectic range of textually mediated and visual representations connecting to core themes shared throughout the volume, including belonging, community, home, family, and identity.
What is distinct about Letters is the inclusion of diverse Nikkei authors who, in addition to identifying as Queer, also represent several lesser-known subgroups within the co-ethnic community, including those who are bilingual, multiethnic, and multiracial. Other unique features include the wide variety of textual and visual representations throughout the collection that capture the nuances of each contributor’s intersecting sociocultural identities. For example, several contributors integrated more traditional influences from Japanese aesthetics, culture, and history into their pieces. In contrast, others included artwork, photography, or other personal writings that showcase hybrid representations of contemporary Nikkei culture. Some passages include bilingual English and Japanese text; others are exclusively written in either English or Japanese. The totality of this stunning collection thus reflects dynamic, emotionally moving, and engaging representations of Nikkei and Queer cultures, offering readers of all backgrounds innovative frameworks for understanding the power of individual self-expression as a courageous means to advance justice for the many communities the contributors represent.
I also had the opportunity to connect with Rino Kodama (they/them), a nonbinary Shin Nisei artist and organizer, for a dynamic Q&A. Kodama is one of the managing co-editors of Letters and serves as Okaeri’s Tech and Media Coordinator. We delved into the genesis of Letters, key takeaways for readers, and future dreams, hopes, and plans for Okaeri.
Q: This collection was presumably birthed and published before the 2024 US presidential election outcome. With our nation now facing extreme anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies under Trump 2.0, how might Queer Nikkei and their allies re/imagine what it means to belong and co-create community in these overly concerning times?
A: We began creating this book out of a desire for Queer and Trans Nikkei to find each other and as a potential resource for those seeking to find themselves mirrored through art and writing made by LGBTQ+ Nikkei.
At a time where LGBTQ+ rights, our bodily autonomy, and access to gender-affirming healthcare are at risk, we urge our allies to be louder in their support for us. The parent contributors are wonderful examples of how they support their Queer and Trans children. Many in our community are understandably afraid of the coming years, and we are here to remind you that we cannot face despair alone and must continue to lean on and protect one another.
Our Okaeri Connects (https://www.okaeri.org/connects) monthly virtual support group is how we show up for our community. We hope that providing this space allows people a place to land temporarily, as often, people are just seeking to be heard and for their experiences to be validated.
Q: What key takeaways do you want readers to have after reading this collection?
A: I hope our Nikkei LGBTQ+ readers are reminded they are not alone in their experiences. Our 40+ contributors each show they come from unique backgrounds and experiences, and no one story is the same. Many contributors are Shin Nisei while others are fourth- or fifth-generation Nikkei with a wide range of connections to Japanese identity and culture. Some come from supportive families while others have had to search for their chosen family or are still on their journeys of identifying “home.”
Q: Any dreams or plans for future editions of Letters?
A: I would love to see another edition of Letters, maybe when Okaeri reaches another milestone, like a 20-year anniversary (we recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary). As for the near future, we are currently on our book tour (https://www.okaeri.org/okaeri-book-tour) and will be hosting events highlighting our contributors in different places, where we will be hosting readings, book talks, and book signings.
A dream we are currently working toward is having our book available in more libraries. Personally, when our book was accepted into the UCLA Arts, East Asian, and Asian American Studies library collections, as well as the San Francisco Public Library, it finally struck me that this book is out in the world.
We have an oral history archive called the Okaeri Voices Project (https://www.okaeri.org/okaeri-voices-copy), where we capture stories from LGBTQ+ Nikkei and their families over the age of 60. We felt it was important to begin creating a record of these stories of resilience, trials, and triumph, as well as to provide glimmers of hope to younger LGBTQ+ Nikkei who are seeking Queer and Trans elders to look up to. These are individuals who advocated for LGBTQ+ APIs during the AIDS epidemic, who came out later in life, or found their partners in unexpected ways and showed that despite opposition from a larger culture to exist, they persisted. Sometimes just knowing that a Queer person has survived and is living out their life with joy is a necessary reminder of how life is possible, despite how challenging our everyday life may be.
The author thanks Rino Kodama for contributing to this story and the entire Okaeri community for creating supportive spaces for Queer Nikkei and their allies.
Rachel Endo is an award-winning educator, leader, and scholar who is currently based in the Tacoma area. She was born and raised in Nebraska and hails from a multi-generational Nikkei family. A first-generation college student, she graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with honors, where she also earned her MA in Education and MPA in Public Management . She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. To learn more, including how to contact her directly, visit her website at: www.rachelendo.com
