"we were imperial translators. we met the jesuits! you know, anyone with the name 'Hamashima' is related to you. Our name: there is only one family of us."I would call my Auntie Reiko after school and an invisible wire would connect us from my landline in North Carolina to her landline in Seabrook, New Jersey. She would tell me these stories about the family. On her visits, when her health was good, the stories were even more vibrant. She was like a Herald preaching the histories of some royal family.
HAMASHIMA is a New York based Japanese American Writer. His works have been produced and/or developed by Seattle Public Theater, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, National Queer Theater, the Hub Theatre, and the University of Michigan among others. |