Ikigai: Life's Purpose

Souen, Chiemi: - Chiemi Souen writes to give a voice to Okinawan-American descendants of contract sugar plantation workers who immigrated from Okinawa in the early 1900s and remain faceless in literature to this day. Born in Torrance, California, and raised in Honolulu, Souen earned her bachelor's degree in Japanese language and literature at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa in 1995. In 1998, she received the Okinawa Prefectural Government Scholarship to attend the University of the Ryukyus, where she studied Okinawan language and women's studies. She is also a member of Ryukyu Koten Afuso Ryu Choichi Kai USA/Hawai'i, an Okinawan classical music academy. She is currently the editor of The Hawai'i Herald, Hawai'i's Japanese American Journal.Kaneshiro, Flor: - Flor Kaneshiro is an Argentinian illustrator. Born in La Plata in 1983, Flor is nikkei, a third generation Uchinaanchu (Okinawan). She earned her bachelor's degree in fine arts from the National University of La Plata and studied in traditional arts at the Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts, Japan, where she was awarded a grant by the Okinawa prefectural government and the Okinawan Center of Argentina. Currently, she is a teacher at an art school in Junin de los Andes and San Martin de los Andes, Neuquén.