Life

He was a Sansei

Sansei

Sansei is a Japanese language term used in countries in South America, North America and Australia to specify the children of children born to Japanese people in the new country. The Nisei are considered the second generation, grandchildren of the Japanese-born immigrants are called Sansei and...

(a third-generation Japanese-American), born in the Poston War Relocation Center

Poston War Relocation Center

The Poston War Relocation Center, located in Yuma County of southwestern Arizona, was the largest of the ten American internment camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II....

 in Arizona in 1944 behind barbed wire.

He graduated from Pomona College

Pomona College

Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...

, from the University of California, Berkley with a Ph.D. He taught at California State University Sacramento.

He was the single parent of two girls, Shinobu and Yoi.

Awards

• 1982 American Book Award
  American Book Award
  The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
  
  
• California Arts Council
• Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission
• Foundation of California State University, Sacramento

Works

• Systems Models for Literary Macro-theory (1976)
• "On the Metaphysical Foundations of a Sansei Poetics", Journal of Ethnic Studies

External links