Barbara Kawakami

Barbara Oyama Kawakami (August 24, 1921 – December 20, 2024) was a Japanese-born American author, storyteller and scholar specializing in Japanese immigrant clothing and Hawaiian plantation life.

Early life Kawakami was born Fusako Oyama in Kumamoto, Japan. She immigrated to Hawaii with her family in 1921 when she was 3 months old.

Her father died when she was six years old. Kawakami's mother was pregnant with her ninth child at the time of his death. She published Picture Bride Stories in 2017.