Contributor Spotlight: Yukiko Tominaga

Yukiko Tominaga’s story “My Father” is part of Issue 78 of Bellingham Review. Subscribe or purchase a single issue through our Submittable page here. 

What would you like to share with our readers about the work you contributed to the Bellingham Review?

My father cried when he heard the news of my husband’s death. I thought he was sad about losing my husband, because that was why I was crying. Later that day, my mother told me he cried because he wouldn’t be able to rescue me from pain. This time, he felt completely useless to his daughter.

Growing up, I often thought my father never pursued his passion because he was too scared to fail. But in fact, he found a better love than his art—my mother and his kids. I’ve never seen my father stressed about anything. He lives his life like a joke. His work, his art, or even my failed math exams (which was pretty much my entire school life), he didn’t take them seriously. Of course, he got upset once in a while, just like any parent would, but only for the moment and for the incident. My father was incredibly content—and perhaps confident—that as long as he loved his kids nothing would go wrong.

It’d been thirteen years since my husband passed and my memories at the time were becoming vague. Even the love for my husband, I sometimes questioned, “did I really…?” But my father’s tears, I cannot forget. I needed to use fiction to respond to my father, otherwise, it was too overwhelming to face his love.

My strength as a writer is to capture something tangible in an ordinary moment and put it together like a jigsaw puzzle. I built this story in one sitting, up to the last scene. Then I left it alone. When I returned to the story a year or so later, I knew what was missing and completed it.

Tell us about your writing life.

When I was six, my father gave me a Hello Kitty journal and said, “If you finish this journal, I’ll buy you any journal you want.” I wanted a Winnie the Pooh journal, so I wrote. I figured if I filled the pages faster I could get the new journal faster. Eventually, writing became a habit and best friend.

I’ve been writing fiction since 2007. I wanted to see if it was even possible to write a story in my second language. I thought that would be the most challenging thing in my life so I wanted to try! The wonderful thing about having two languages is when I am stuck in English, I switch to Japanese. When I’m stuck in Japanese, I translate the Japanese passages into English. By the time I finish translating them, I’m ready to go back to writing in English. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

What writing advice has stayed with you?

My mentor, Peter Orner tells me, “Just keep writing. Do what you do. Don’t stop.” That’s my mantra.

What is your favorite book (or essay, poem, short story)? Favorite writers?

My absolute favorite writer is Amy Yamada. Especially her short story collections. If I have to live on a desert island, this is the book I’ll take! She is the master of compressing time. A master of subtraction. Just under fifteen pages, you can imagine everything about the protagonist. Amy Yamada will teach you that drama is everywhere in your life. I hope to bring her short story collections to the U.S. one day.

Banana Yoshimoto’s books are my security blanket. Sometimes I just hold her books, then I know I’m not alone. I remember every single story. Just by holding it, I can bring back the emotion.

Teru Miyamoto’s short stories will show you no matter how ugly people might appear, there is a reason to love them. If he writes about your worst enemy, you’ll end up loving them dearly. Imagine “Winesburg, Ohio” by Sherwood Anderson written by Japanese spirit. Oh, I love, love, love “Winesburg, Ohio” too!

Also, my mentor, Peter Orner’s short story collections and his essay collection Am I Alone Here? When I’m struggling to write, I go back to his books as if to ask him, “Lead me to the next line.” Of course, he’s never guided me like that. But reading his story reminds of me of the brief time our lives crossed. I remember he’s writing and teaching a few thousand miles away, just as he used to five blocks away from my home. Then, I feel I can write again.

What are you reading right now?

I don’t think it’s available in the U.S. Her name is Eto Mori. Her writing might be considered YA.

What project(s) are you working on now, or next?

A short story collection about the exchange between a Japanese family and a Jewish family, and a nonfiction collection in Japanese about people I met in the U.S.

Anything else our readers might want to know about you?

In my family, there are no hugs, kisses or “I love you’s.” In Japan, love is something you’re supposed to “sense.” We say it’s in the air.

The Jewish family I married into is the opposite. They don’t end their phone conversation without saying, “I love you.” My mother-in-law says “I love you” until I say, “I love you too.” I often tease her by repeating “Thank you.” Then she tells me, “That’s not the correct answer.”

My mother-in-law also tells me I hug her like I’m hugging a dog. I often get a “hugging lesson” from her, which according to her, I still haven’t mastered yet. I see beauty in both ways verbal and nonverbal.

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Featured Image: “the four of us” by Sharon Hinchliffe