Hibiku Kotoba

Documentary film director, producer, and editor Nisha Balaram joins Kathleen on Hibiku Kotoba as they talk about Nisha's beginnings as an environmental reporter and how Nisha made a career pivot into visual media and founding her own production company, Mystery Squid Films. Premiering her most recent documentary film, "Meals That Made Us" at the 44th Annual CAAMFest, the film showcases the unique...

Food writer and journalist Soleil Ho joins Kathleen on this episode of Hibiku Kotoba. Coming to the Bay Area in 2019, Soleil was the restaurant and food critic of SF Chronicle during the pandemic and is a co-founder of the worker-owned independent news outlet, Coyote Media Collective. They share their story on how they became a food writer after working in the restaurant industry for a decade, on...

In a special episode to celebrate CAAM's 44th Annual CAAMFest, Oscar-winner director Steven Okazaki and San Francisco's first Chinese American poet laureate Genny Lim joins Hibiku Kotoba as they talk about their short documentary film, The Only Language She Knows . Directed by Steven Okazaki and produced by Amy Hill, The Only Language She Knows was filmed over 40 years ago in SF Chinatown and cove...

In this episode of Hibiku Kotoba, musician and composer Erika Oba joins Kathleen as they talk about Erika's musical journey as well as her special composition she did with her sister for the Fresno Philharmonic for David "Mas" Masumoto's family autobiography. Through her compositions, she finds the connection with music and activism and how that can bring awareness and conversation among musicians...

In this episode of Hibiku Kotoba, Dr. Jeffrey Velotta joins Kathleen as they talk about his career as a cardiothoracic surgeon and his current research in the rise of lung cancer cases among non-smoking Asian women and men. Dr. Velotta shares how his years in residency helped his career expertise, but moving back to the Bay Area in 2014 he realized the importance of representation in the medical f...

In episode 6 of Hibiku Kotoba, Oscar-nominated and award-winning documentary filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki joins Kathleen on the podcast. Together they talk about Ema's origin story as a filmmaker, her menteeship with Sam Pollard, and all three of her feature films along with her Oscar-nominated "Instruments of a Beating Heart. Ema's decision to go back to Japan and create documentary films about Ja...

In this episode of Hibiku Kotoba, Mayor Adena Ishii of Berkeley joins Kathleen as they talk about Mayor Ishii's remarkable journey on becoming the first Asian American Mayor of the city of Berkeley. Throughout the episode, they discuss how important it is to be engaged in local communities and politics, and how Mayor Ishii strives to bring together people of all generations and backgrounds to achi...

In episode 4 of Hibiku Kotoba, Tim Kawakami joins Kathleen as they talk about his incredible career as a sports journalist spanning nearly 40 years. Starting out as a beat writer in the late 80s for the Philadelphia Eagles, Tim found his stride and continued his path to cover the LA Lakers, LA Rams, Oscar de la Hoya and eventually came back to his Bay Area roots to cover the 49ers and Warriors. Ha...

In episode 3 of Hibiku Kotoba, Kathleen talks with Kelly Goto, a globally renowned lecturer in the UX design and research industry and founder of gotomedia and gotoresearch. The two talk about Kelly's journey into the UX and tech industry and her newly published book, "Seattle Samurai." "Seattle Samurai" covers the life of Sam Goto, Kelly's father, as a cartoonist for the comic strip "Seattle Tomo...

In the second episode of Hibiku Kotoba, Kathleen interviews Mia Ayumi Malhotra, a Bay Area Yonsei poet, editor and author. They talk about Mia's journey in writing, poetry, its hardships and joys, and how she found a deeper connection with her Nikkei roots while working on her most recent publication, Mothersalt. In Mothersalt, Mia shares her experiences of motherhood from pregancy to child-rearin...

In this episode, Kathleen talks with former Executive Director of J-Sei, Diane Wong, and newest Executive Director of J-Sei, Ky Lam. They talk about their backgrounds, their experience in the nonprofit world, what their excited for in that space and what hopes for the future of J-Sei as an organization. Hibiku Kotoba is produced by Kathleen Wong and thanks to J-Sei and the K/T Foundation for their...

Welcome to Hibiku Kotoba, J-Sei's newest podcast with host and producer Kathleen Wong. Episodes will drop monthly.