I’ve been living in the greater Cleveland area for a quarter century. I was born and grew up in a small city called Miyako in Japan, which is located along the Pacific Ocean in the northern part of the main island called Honshu. It is one of the cities hit by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which is one of the greatest and most devastating earthquakes in Japanese history.
When I was 23 years old, I moved to the United States for a college education. After earning a B.A. degree from Cleveland State University, I worked for CSU Professor and the award-winning photographer Masumi Hayashi as a studio assistant until her tragic death in 2006.
While working as a studio assistant, I self-taught WordPress as well as web design technical skills such as HTML, CSS, PHP coding, and website management, which ended up becoming my freelance web graphic design career.
Despite a restless yet meaningful life with the birth of my three children (twin sons in 2010 and a daughter in 2016), I continued to work on small projects in my spare time to keep my skills up to date. In the meantime, I also contributed my time and skills to the local communities participating in the annual charity event Cleveland GiveCamp and the local non-profit organization Westshore Mothers of Twins Club.
One of my major achievements in the past 10 years was founding the Japanese online community, Cleveland Japanese Yurudarakai in 2015. I initiated the idea of an online community platform where local Japanese people can easily communicate with each other. As a result, the website has grown to accommodate more than 100 members.
In the wake of the pandemic, I gravitated toward the issues of social injustice and inequity. As I educated myself with books and news media articles to learn more about the deeply rooted sociological issues and human rights, I became eager to take action to change the world for our children’s future.
One of the actions I proudly took in 2021 was initiating a monthly book club to educate people in my Japanese community, of which I have now 8 participants at most. I believe that education is the most important tool to advocate social justice and human rights. Even if it’s such a small action in a small community, I believe that any grassroots movement on any scale could make a difference and have a great impact on the world.
It’s been such a wonderful journey to become who I am. There were indeed so many unexpected social obstacles to overcome in my life. Yet, I’ve always managed to resolve issues to have a better life and happiness.
This website mainly showcases my professional work, but I hope to share some personal stories as a woman of color to encourage other people with similar backgrounds.