MariNaomi: Turning Japanese

MariNaomi presents Turning Japanese, an illustrated memoir that chronicles her experiences working at illegal hostess bars from San Jose to Tokyo. The story begins in 1995, when 22-year-old Mari has just moved from her hometown in Mill Valley to San Jose and soon finds employment at a hostess bar for Japanese expats. There she becomes determined to learn Japanese and connect with the culture that had eluded her since childhood.

MariNaomi is the author and illustrator of the SPACE Prize-winning graphic memoir Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22, the Eisner-nominated Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories, and her self-published Estrus Comics. Her work has appeared in over sixty print anthologies, and has been featured on such websites as The Rumpus, The Weeklings, LA Review of Books, Midnight Breakfast, Truth-out, XOJane, Buzzfeed, Bitch Media, and more. She is also the creator and curator of the Cartoonists of Color Database and the LGBTQ Cartoonists Database.