Author Interview: Naomi Hirahara on Research, Chicago, and What’s Next After Clark and Divison

Read & Run Chicago guide Chelsey Grassfield led a 4-mile run through Chicago’s Near North Side on May 22, 2022 inspired by the historical fiction novel set in World War II-era Chicago, Clark and Divison. Prior to leading the run, part of Grassfield’s preparations included an interview with Clark and Divison author Naomi Hirahara. Below is Grassfield’s run recap and author interview. Photos of this run are courtsey of journalist Elizabeth Hernandez who accompanied us for an article later published in The DePaulia.

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara was made for Read & Run Chicago; there’s an illustrated map of the setting on the inside cover, for goodness’ sake!

Wanting to run as close to the time of year for the period the book took place in Chicago, our group ran in mid-May on an unseasonably cool, but sunny, morning—completely opposite the humid conditions in the book. We made stops at many of the significant locales for the main character, Aki, and her family, which were conveniently packed into a few blocks. We began above the Red Line stop at Clark and Division Streets, marveled at the size and age of the Moody Bible Institute, envisioned where the police station Aki frequented would have stood, sampled some Milk Duds in Streeterville, imagined Aki’s first kiss at Oak Street Beach, and stood in front of Aki’s employer, the Newberry Library.

As part of my research and preparation for this run, I reached out to the author, Naomi Hirahara. Based in LA, she was unable to join our post-run discussion, but she graciously offered to answer any questions via email and to connect us with a few Japanese Americans who could share their stories. Thanks to her generosity, this run and discussion were a wonderfully enriching experience for all who participated. Special thanks to historian Mary Doi and Jean Mishima and Ross Harano, who lived in the internment camps as children, for joining us during the post-run brunch.

Mary Doi, Jean Mishima, and Ross Harano join the runners for a discussion about Japanese-American history in Chicago.

My questions and highlights from her emailed responses are below.

Japanese American Community in Chicago

One of the things I found most surprising about this story was the description of a burgeoning Japanese American community in Chicago since I wasn’t aware of one existing today.

She said the area surrounding Clark and Division Streets, as well as the South Side, were two important areas for Japanese Americans, but that later business and organizations moved to the Lakeview neighborhood.

“Many Japanese Americans have very nostalgic feelings about the Lakeview community.”

Understandably, most Japanese Americans who resettled in Chicago from the internment camps moved back to their homes on the West Coast, when they were allowed. Of course, some stayed, but most of them moved to the suburbs. Though offensive and politically incorrect, Hirahara recommended the 1950s book Chicago Confidential for its entire chapter on Chicago’s “Little Tokyo.”

Resources for further information: Clark and Division community, Southside community, and Lakeview community. This WBEZ story is an interesting visual and audio story about Lakeview.

Chicago Knowledge

Any Chicagoan would recognize Hirahara’s descriptions of the Red Line, Newberry Library, and the Aragon. I wondered if she’d been to Chicago before writing the book and what she relied on most to depict these places in the 1940s, especially those that no longer exist.

Hirahara had been to Chicago once before on a journalism assignment and came back in the fall of 2016 and summer of 2018 for the book. This explained why she didn’t want to set the story during a Chicago winter, having never experienced one. Speaking as a fellow native Californian, I can attest to not truly being able to describe the winters here until living through them. During her research trips to Chicago, she was accompanied by Erik Matsunaga or Bob Kumaki for tours of focal points in the book. She couldn’t emphasize enough how invaluable their help was.

For locations in the book that no longer exist, she relied on archival photos. I particularly loved how she described the patchwork manner in which she uncovered information about the Curtiss Candy Company: “reading corporate history, going on eBay and checking out addresses on old candy wrappers and perusing photographs, reading oral histories and tracing paths through Google maps.”

Reader & Runner Kelsea Offner eats Milk Duds as Chelsey Grassfield explains the significance in the book. Photo courtsey of Allison Yates.

Hirahara’s favorite places in Chicago

She recommended attending a summer festival at the Buddhist Temple of Chicago. True to her writerly skills, she painted a picture of rows of chicken teriyaki “simmering on the grill as well as families gathering together.” She also recommended visiting Rice ’N Bread and ordering an Akutagawa, a stir-fried concoction created by a Nisei. Or having your photo taken outside of the Nisei Lounge in Wrigleyville, conveniently located next door to Rice ‘N Bread.

Clark and Division

So much of the story is concentrated in one area of the city. What were some of the reasons for that?

As an outsider, Hirahara wanted to set the mystery specifically around Clark and Division. “I needed to find a location and time period relatively unknown to Chicagoans today. Since there’s absolutely no visible trace of Japanese Americans in that neighborhood, I felt that I could step into it and pull out stories from oral history interviews.”

She also noted that Clark and Division was a blighted area at the time, with a red light district on North Clark, making it “a rich location for a 1944 mystery.” Hirahara confirmed my suspicion that it was also helpful to have Aki constantly bumping into others, like Hammer and Manju, and have the reminder of Rose’s death ever present in her surroundings.

Japanese words

I’ve studied translation and love any opportunity to talk about multilingual books, translations, etc. There are many Japanese words in the story; some were simply names for things, like certain Japanese dishes. My favorites are souji, soul cleaning and Kurou, suffering, but deeper and like a guttural moan. I wondered her reason for including Japanese words and how she felt they enhanced the story.

Hirahara’s mother is from Japan, so she grew up in a bilingual household. Many everyday Japanese words were simply a part of her vocabulary, so she wrote how she naturally refers to these things.

“It’s not an analytical or brain thing. It really is more visceral. (It probably has some cognitive elements—for instance, my brain first goes to souji instead of clean because I’ve heard it from my mother.)”

I was also curious about Rose having an English name and Aki a Japanese name.

Hirahara really struggled with the main character’s name. Before settling on Aki, a few other names she considered were Dorothy (with a nickname of Dot) and Martha. She has two close friends named Aki or Akiko, so she assumed Aki felt right for that reason, but much later she realized it was the Japanese name of her brother-in-law. “I didn’t see it at the time!”

Though it’s not a Japanese practice, Hirahara also commented on Rose having a Japanese middle name, Mutsuko, but how “Aki is just Aki.” She says she addresses why that is in Evergreen, the follow up to Clark and Division, which she is finishing now! Here we’ll learn why her parents considered naming Aki, Annabelle.

Guide Chelsey Grassfield holds up the book Clark and Division before the run.

What’s next?

Be sure to check out Hirahara’s new book when it comes out! But be warned: “Oh, and sorry to disappoint Chicagoans, but the story moves to Los Angeles in 1946.” We got a lot of interest in this run from folks who couldn’t attend, so keep an eye on our events page (and sign up for our monthly newsletter) for a rerun of this incredible book.