architect/artist Ronaldo Lopes de Oliveira, with
whom she has two children. While in Brazil, she
published short stories such as “The Bath” (1975),
published in Amerasia Journal, “Tuscano” (1975)
and “Asako no Miya” (1979), published in Rafu
Shimpo. Her first play, Omen: An American Kabuki,
was performed in 1978.
When she returned to Los Angeles with her
family in 1984, she began working for KCET, a
local public television station, and between work
and family she continued to write. Among her
plays are Hiroshima Tropical (1984), Kusei: An En-
dangered Species (1986), Hannah Kusoh (1989),
Tokyo Carmen vs. L.A. Carmen (1990), GiLAwrecks
(1992), and Noh Bozos (1993). Her 1990 short
story, “The Orange,” won the American-Japanese
National Literary Award and was published in the
Los Angeles Times Magazine.
Following the completion of her third novel,
Yamashita was awarded another Thomas J. Watson
fellowship, which allowed her to return to Japan
for a second time, from 1997 to 1998. During her
stay, she researched Brazilians living in Japan,
which became the source for Circle K Cycles. Pres-
ently, Yamashita resides in Gardena, California,
and continues to write, while teaching literature as
an assistant professor at the University of Califor-
nia at Santa Cruz.
An effective reading of Yamashita’s works may
begin with an examination of her representations
of borders and border-crossings. This theme is in-
deed also a key to understanding the author, who
has resided in three countries: the United States,
Japan, and Brazil. As a writer she often puzzles
critics, who struggle to examine her writing within
a strictly Asian-American context. Recently, how-
ever, Ryuta Imafuku has proposed that there is a
new concept of geography in Yamashita’s writ-
ing, a new cartographic concept that reflects the
freedom of movement across the borders. These
conscious efforts to redefine and reexamine na-
tional and cultural borders are demonstrated in
Yamashita’s texts, which, Douglas Sugano says,
“describe a world with increasingly permeable
political borders.” In essence, Yamashita’s works
continue to contribute to the growing body of dis-
course that attempts to challenge and transcend
restrictive, nation-centered boundaries that have
existed for centuries.Bibliography
Imafuku, Ryuta. “The Latitude of the Fiction Writer:
A Dialogue.” Available online. URL: http://www.
cafecreole.net /archipelago/Karen_Dialogue.html.
Accessed October 21, 2006.
Murashige, Michael S. “Karen Tei Yamashita: An In-
t e r v i e w,” Amerasia Journal 20, no. 3 (1994): 49–
59.
Sugano, Douglas. “Karen Tei Yamashita.” In Asian
American Novelists, edited by Emanuel Nelson,
403–408. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
2000.
Eliko KosakaYamate, Sandra S. (1959– )
Children’s writer, editor, and publisher, Sandra
Yamate is a fourth-generation Japanese American
who lives and works in Chicago. She graduated
from the University of Illinois and Harvard Law
School. After focusing for 10 years on the legal de-
fense of insurance, she founded in 1990 an inde-
pendent children’s press based in Chicago called
Polychrome Publishing, whose slogan is “stories
of color for a colorful world.” The main purpose
of this press is filling a problematic gap in the
American book market, namely the lack of stories
featuring children of Asian ancestry as the main
characters. By doing so, the press aims to provide
positive models that young readers can emulate, to
eliminate stereotypical, exoticized representations,
and to promote religious tolerance and cultural
understanding in a truly multiethnic society.
Sandra Yamate wrote two books: Ashok, by Any
Other Name (1992) and Char Siu Bao Boy (2000).
The first volume tells the story of a boy who finds
it difficult to come to terms with his Indian name,
Ashok. He is ashamed of it since every schoolmate
seems to mispronounce it. Ashok decides to adopt
an American name, but at the end of the volume
and after many humorous mishaps, he decides to
go back to his real name, following a long talk with
Mr. Fletcher, a teacher of African descent who tells330 Yamate, Sandra S.